Body pics please...

I have raw unpainted pics in my photos. Are you looking for pics of painted cars?

If you do it, BOND the bumpers to the body, not not just bolt and then lay on some glass. It WILL crack. I bonded w/ epoxy adhesive, then bolted the strips in place and finally ground out the groove and laid in some glass to create a uniform surface for finishing.
 
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Now I have to ask. If you do this, and have a small fender bender, will it cause more damage, or would it cause the same amount of damage regardless?
Our 81 has had a few bumps in the past. In the front, all damage has been limited to the bumper. In the rear, the previous owner replaced the rear bumper, but there are residual cracks on both rear fenders where the bumper ties in anyhow.
 
Twin_Turbo said:
I have raw unpainted pics in my photos. Are you looking for pics of painted cars?

If you do it, BOND the bumpers to the body, not not just bolt and then lay on some glass. It WILL crack. I bonded w/ epoxy adhesibe, then bolted the strips in place and finally groud out the groove and laid in some glass to create a uniform surface for finishing.
Click to expand...
Sorry TT, not sure I follow you. Did you put adhesive on the mating surfaces and then bolt the bumpers on? Don't know what you mean by "bolting the strips in place"...

Thanks for the pics Mark :thumbs:
 
Loosen the bumpers, put a few wedges between body and bumpers to keep the gap open, put adhesive in there, remove wedges and tighten up the bolts... don't use a lot of activator to prolong the curing time. Then smoothen the transition with SMC panel adhesive or SMC filler, the fiberglass resin will not stick to SMC. I used UScomposite's products and they seem to be pretty good. I also used Evercoat SMC adhesive with good results.

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Damn, that does look good with the join line filled. Trouble is, I seriously doubt I'll be able to get any of that stuff out here. I'll have to order it all online, IF it's safe to transport by air :(

Thanks again for the input guys :thumbs:
 
I should have mentioned that this only works with fiberglass bumpers. If you try to bond a urethane bumper to the body it will crack.
 
Just buy epoxy resin and hardener and some microballoons or fibers so you can brew your own batch and thicken it up. Do NOT use too much activator, it'll get too hot, to the point where you burn the glass.

Yes, I used epoxy adhesive to bond the mating surfaces, I roughted them up, bonded them together and then installed the freshly plated (so no rust!!!) strips.

As Karsten says, do not use urethane or flex bumpers.

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Taper Grind the bumper snd the body away from the seam a bit, same as you would for a crack repair. The stuff I am useing is 3M 8115. Its a 2 part epoxy for SMC. It requires a dual tube gun tho. When you run the bolts down it will squeeze out the top, use a spreader and smooth it in along the seam and let it setup. That will minimize the sanding and filling later.
 
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