Glassing a truflex front bumper to body

C

Cherry

DREAD NAUGHT
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Mar 24, 2008
Messages
416
Location
western . AZ
This is a first!

Mounted the new Truflex front bumper to the body of my 76. the top of the bumper fits almost perfect! It is the the sides of the bumper are not perfect,,at places there are 1/8" gaps. I want to glass the truflex to the body,,, I have the mat and the rosin.

Should I cut a "V" between the two edges and fill that "V" with mat and the rosin? But first place mat on the underside before matting the top side.

Those who have glassed before please share some advice.

Thanks

Rich
 
I couldn't find anyone to answer me a while ago to say if Tru Flex could be glassed over. I needed a new rear bumper and wanted to glass over the seam and while Tru Flex ones were cheaper, I ended up going with a glass bumper so that I could definitely glass over the seams when I fit it.

I didn't mean to rain on your parade but better to check now than later...
 
What is a Tru Flex bumper made out of? I'm guessing it is polyurethane.

Not sure you can reliably bond the two together.
 
TPro advertises that the truflex bumpers are 70% less rigid than the glass ones. Well wtf is that supposed to mean. The last one I saw wasn't even close to the flexability of the oem bumper which that statement would lead you to believe.

As I have mentioned several times before, it doesn't matter what type of composite you are using, an epoxy or polyester variant, a good epoxy has many times the adhesive power. So why use anything less.
The ONLY REASON any composite builders such as boat builders, trailer builders, overtheroad truck manufacturers use a polester variant is the COST invloved. It is much, much cheaper.

Since you dont care about originality.
http://www.vettemod.com/forum/showpost.php?p=20039&postcount=17

This method is identical to the method the body panels were installed at the factory. It is more labor intensive than just a bolt up and fill.

This will give you the strongest attachment and almost certainly eliminate the possiblity of joint cracks down the road, by using the oem method and simply v'ing out and filling.
If you are worried about bonding, take a little resin of your choice, prep an underside, unseen area of your bumper, and glass a small patch to it. After it cures you can test it for adhesion and flex. It will never be seen anyway.
This is a job you don't want to do twice.

You should prep all the surfaces with 20 grit if possible.

Anyway, that's my side of the story, good luck :bounce:
 
I just experimented yesterday with a patch on the underside of a truflex. I used epoxy resin and glass mat. The patch bonds great, even during the little flex the bumper does have. I prepped with a 24 grit pad.
 
Gkz, did you epoxy the bumper to the body before glassing it to the body? That procedure was recommended because of vibration.
 
Cherry said:
Gkz, did you epoxy the bumper to the body before glassing it to the body? That procedure was recommended because of vibration.
Click to expand...

I'm not even close to mounting the bumpers yet; but when I do, I'll probably epoxy the bumper/body joints AND bolt them. The epoxy has enough work time for this. After curing, then I'll grind down and fill with epoxy to fill in the seam. I basically did what 010752 suggested about testing the bonding on the underside and it seems to hold.
 
What's rosin? Is it like resin? :D If you're not going to get a glass one, glue it to the body, grind a groove over the seam and fill it with Evercoat Fibertech. Kevlar reinforced filler for use on... everything :) Other than plastic. You might want to call Evercoat to see if it will stick to your TrueFlex bumper.
 
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