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showcrop

showcrop

Well-known Member
I am working on my old '67 Datsun roadster. I am cutting out rust areas and welding in new metal. To repair the bottoms of the fenders I was planning to cut off the rusted bottoms, clean good both front and back, and glue repair panels in place. I would be doing these the proper way, so I am not looking for instruction in that. Various people have told me that gluing is the currently accepted way of doing it, but a friend who builds street rods and does high dollar restorations of old rusty vehicles professionally, told me that the panel bond method can fail way earlier than expected. He says that under bright sunlight and the normal vibration of driving, the differential expansion and contraction results in the paint cracking at the joint. What is your experience? Or what have you come to know about longevity of panel bonding?
 
If that fender has an inner verticle brace connecting the bottom bolt with upper bolts like some "older" fenders did then basically you are just replacing the "skin" of the fender bottom and I see no problem "gluing" it. If it has no reinforcement like most since the '80,s then you are asking a lot of that glue joint and I wouldn't do it.
 
(quoted from post at 19:24:56 01/12/15) If that fender has an inner verticle brace connecting the bottom bolt with upper bolts like some "older" fenders did then basically you are just replacing the "skin" of the fender bottom and I see no problem "gluing" it. If it has no reinforcement like most since the '80,s then you are asking a lot of that glue joint and I wouldn't do it.
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Randy, it is attached to the door post by by bolts about every five inches. At the front at the wheel well there is no brace, but it is only about twelve inches from front to back at the bottom of the panel. Is that too great a distance and too little support?
 
Depends on intended use or lack of. If you plan on this being driven much then I would weld it. A lot of air buffets inside the wheel opening of a fender when going 60 mph. The "glue" tech. came about as a better, corrosion resistant alternative to spot welding on the outer skin of doors. Works very well in this and a few other applications where the panel isn't going to move or support itself anyway. I ,personally don't think this is a practicle application. I think you would encounter problems once you started using it. I have "glued" patches over top of small holes before but this was for used car dealers who wanted "fast&cheap" and car would be sold or auctioned before anything became of it.RB
 
Showcrop, I used to have a '67 roadster back in the late 70s. I loved that car, but it didn't do too well when I moved to the Colorado mountains. I'd pick up hitchhikers and they would ask me to let them out so they could get a ride in a warmer car. Would love it if you posted pictures of your progress.
 
(quoted from post at 08:04:30 01/14/15) Showcrop, I used to have a '67 roadster back in the late 70s. I loved that car, but it didn't do too well when I moved to the Colorado mountains. I'd pick up hitchhikers and they would ask me to let them out so they could get a ride in a warmer car. Would love it if you posted pictures of your progress.
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OK
 
I guess everyone has their preference and a specific need. There are many products out there for many needs. Personally, if it's a rusted steel fender I'm going to repair, I'll mig in a steel patch panel. I feel like that is a more permanent repair. I have covered holes in other areas with various products, but for a steel body on an exterior panel, if I were going to keep it, I'd do my best to make it as permanent as possible. For me, that's doing it the way the factory would. Now for a synthetic body such as a corvette, panel bonding is the correct method for sure. For a chevy truck or a steel body roadster, applying synthetic material over steel where moisture can get is will certainly fail at some point. The big question is, doe this solution meet your needs and requirements?
 
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