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Would appreciate info on bonding metal to fiberglass?


Guest Anonymous

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Guest Anonymous

Nate's Velo Rossa body panels are finally lining up and we need to bond the fiberglass door skins to the steel Z doors. Most likely the Velo Rossa body parts are polyester resin/fiberglass. I understand that epoxy resin is the best bonding agent/material but may not be compatiable with polyester resin fiberglass. There is this polyester fiberglass and gel mixture called Dyna Glass that looks interesting and also Bondo makes about the same substance ($ 30.00/gallon). I used this product called Sea Goin Putty by Permalite Plastics for my door panels on the Tomahawk but it went for $200.00 a gallon from Blue Ray/Stable Works (250 GTO). Also we checked out this Corvette fiberglass gel and it was polyester based. Also had recommended by a fiberglass shop some $8.00 a tube adhesive caulk that was currently being used to bond perforated stainless steel panels to fiberglass panels.Need some input Thanx

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Guest Anonymous

You might want to check with RacerX, he was discussing a method he wanted to try that he felt was going to really bond them together using a product that hasn't been used for that before. Typically there isn't really a bond that will last forever (unless Ernie is right!), although if you rivet and bond it on with epoxy resins it'll stick pretty darn good, over the long haul though most are of the opinion that glass bonded to metal will ALWAYS crack at some point. I have no idea if the epoxy will eat your poly/glass though.

 

Regards,

 

Lone

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I'd wait for RacerX to reply to this. I would think the epoxy would be ideal, just as the GM product. He should also be able to answer your primer question too. He has much more experience in this subject than I do, and I would like to read his reply too.

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Guest Anonymous

Go to your friendly auto paint store and ask which of the new 3M bonding agents will bond fiberglass to metal. They will have the answer. I used it before but I just can't remember the product code.

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Guest Anonymous

We went to one paint store, and knew more than the clerk after Nate read the label and interpreted for me. I will look in the yellow pages for 3M. I have this old stuff called Sea Going Putty by Permalite Plastics that is capable of bonding even underwater. Opened the two cans today and it looked good after mixing. We prepared a sample for testing. The stuff looks good. It worked great 6 years ago bonding fiberglass door skins to steel doors.. LOL Hoping Racer X knows of some magic elixer that cost pennies..

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Guest Anonymous

Need help! Racer X and Terry ....We have made some steel mounting brackets to attach the Velo Rossa's rear tub to the square 2X2 inch tube strut bar welded to the rear strut towers. I plan to bond a 2"X 2" X 20 inch piece of 1/8 th inch angle iron perforated with holes drilled into it to the fiberglass body and attach the angle iron to the strut bar by 3 mounting locations. "The question"...... should this mount be rubber cushioned or can it be directly bolted to the strut bar???? What I am concerned about is stress fractures a year from now by a solid mounting method without any type of cushioning. The bonded area will be spread out by 2 inces X 20 inches to the fiberglas body We have been using this two part "old" Sea Goin Epoxy Putty by Permalite Plastics (1-800-633-0302) that seems age did not slow down and is bonding good. The stuff is expensive but gives you plenty of time to make the bond.(over 30 minutes and easy to mix and kind of like JB Weld)

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Guest Anonymous

The 3M Auto Mix sounds interesting since, I need all the time I can get in the application process before things get real STIFF. What is a good companion primer for 3M auto mix. Do you recomend drilling holes to perforate the steel for better adhesion? Thanx again for your help, since this body kit thread could use some expert bonding info. Question: will the fiberglass body panels take the vibration of being bolted directly to the Datsun chasiss?

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Guest Anonymous

Thanx Racer X.....I did some research on the 3M site for bonding and apparently they now may have a two part auto mix epoxy that requires no primer for steel to fiberglass bonds and will ask how it stands up to the primer/2part automix epoxy. I will also visit a PPG store and pick up the data sheets on the primer. I am assuming that the two part epoxy bonds are somewhat flexible to allow a direct attachment to the chassis from a bonded steel mount to the fiberglass rear tub.I am doing a mount of my own design since the Velo Rossa rear tub depends on expanding foam to secure the rear tub in place. The Thunder Ranch 250 GTO fiberglass front clip is warped but only one area now is presenting a problem.

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Guest Anonymous

Thanx again Racer X, if one is to contemplate installing fiberglass body kits then your info is important and will be of a help because as Blue Oval Z cautions Steel and fiberglass does not bond very successfully over time.

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Guest Anonymous

Did I tell ya? This guy is incredible, thanks Ernie, your knowledge of this stuff is invaluable here at Hybrid. (if you get a chance to meet him, you'll find he's as incredibly nice in person too. :D ).

 

Regards,

 

Lone

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Fibreglass WILL NOT bond to metal, for very long, the better the adhesive the longer it will last but not for long. The different thermal expansion of the 2 materials will cause movement of the joint and eventual failure.

Especially where the rear clip meets the roof.

I fitted a 250gto kit (first one) and learnt the hard way that nothing on earth will hold well enough. Even a small amount of slip from a hot day will cause the paint to show your joins.

The trick is to conceal ALL metal by bonding the glass panels to the metal in the same way a metal skin is fitted to a metal frame, you have to wrap glass around your steel frame so that in cannot let go and no indifferent movement is noticable, on the roof joint you need to wrap the whole roof in one layer of glass and feather out to the wind screen. Also the resin has to bond through holes in the steel so as not to delaminate.

Thats my 20 cents worth.

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Guest Anonymous

sball, your comments did not go un-noticed. I see the Puckett GTO kit comes with a full fiberglass roof line to overcome the problems you described. I am hiding the jointing mounts and trying to design them to offer some support after the bond eventually loses adhesion.I am initially worried about the epoxy bond being so strong to the steel mount that it will cause stress cracks in the fiberglass body part.This stress fracture worry maybe unfounded. If you have a GTO 250/Datsun...please sign up in this thread about your car so we can begin a registry of member's GTO s

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  • 7 years later...

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