Repairing luggage rack holes?

[Edward M.]

A comment by Dennis Clark got me wondering about this. Has anyone successfully repaired the holes when a luggage rack was removed from a shark? I have seen it attempted on three different occassions, but I could still see the impressions from the holes.

How would one go about repairing these holes, short of replacing the entire deck panel?

[Rob M.]

Re: Repairing luggage rack holes?

I guess willing the holes, wait for 3 months to allow the filling to shrink. Then sand, prime and paint...

I guess it drills down to patience...

greetings,
Rob.

[Edward M.]

Re: Repairing luggage rack holes?

A friend tried this on a 71 coupe. He put a fiberglass patch on the underside of each hole, waited till it dried, then ground out a depression around each hole from the top. He then filled the depression with fiberglass, and worked it in carefully. He did this a couple of times. The car then sat for a whole year, so it had plenty of time to cure.

After primeing and painting it looked fine, but after driving the car for a while, the outline of the holes is slightly visible. Vibration? Exposure to sun?

FYI: This is a warbonnet yellow car.

[Joe M.]

Re: Repairing luggage rack holes?

Cut out some fiberglass discs larger than the holes. Use scrap body panels to cut the discs. Epoxy from underneath. Make sure the top depression is free of excess epoxy. When dry overnight, cut additional fiberglass discs to fit exactly in hole depressions from the topside. Epoxy these in. Wait overnight and next day slightly grind a depression larger than the repaired hole. Fill with fiberglass mat wetted with West systems epoxy or regular polyester resin.
Finish the repair as fine as possible to avoid body filler.

[Jack H.]

Re: Repairing luggage rack holes?

As others have said, the key is getting solid bottom side support for the repair and using FIBERGLASS (not just bond) to fill + overfill and sand flush....

[Terry F.]

Re: Repairing luggage rack holes?

You need to minimize shrinkage. Reinforce the underside with a small piece of fiberglass cut from a broken panel as someone has stated. Bevel the edges to the hole using a dremel tool or something similar. Be as precise as you possibly can. Before you grind on a surface clean it with laqure thinner and let it dry. Get all the grease and road grime off the underside before you grind it or attempt to glue to it. Cut a plug of fiberglass from a broken panel and bevel it to fit the hole. The better the fit, the better the results. Use original formula panel adhiesive. I wear vinyl gloves to keep my finger oils off of the fresh ground glass and it makes for a cleaner job. Make it nice and rough on all the bonding surfaces. Use a heat lamp and warm the area to be repaired. Mask off the area around the hole. Work the glue into the beveled out hole with your gloved fingers and onto the plug then put the plug in the hole. Remove the heat lamp and cover with cling wrap or something similar. I would place something smooth over that and then put a weight on it. Let it dry over night and then pull everything off the next day. After it has sat about a week, rough sand it and apply the heat lamp and bake it for 3-4 hours. Don't start your car on fire. But, it needs to get good and hot. Let it sit as long as you can before you have to finish it. If you have the time, take the time to let it breath. Rough sand the area around the repair and the repair and apply the heat lamp to warm the area up. Mask around the edges of the sanded area and skim coat it with original formula adhiesive and a soft plastic spatula. Let it dry a couple of days, lightly sand and bake with heat lamps. Should be stable. Finish it like you would finish the rest of the car. Just my thoughts. Time is the best thing. Heat only speeds the process. Let the adhiesive cure on its own before hitting it with heat. Never use fiberglass mat and resin by itself because you can never approximate the same density of the surrounding body pannels. Plus, it will be heavy in resin and shrink and shrink and shrink and get brittle and brittle and brittle and you will eventually see it (shadows in the paint or depressions or waves in the finish, etc). Just my humble opinion. Terry

[Bill W.]

Re: Repairing luggage rack holes?

I agree with Terry and would add all the natural u.v.(sun) you can get.Try and use materials with the same shrink rate. Give it time to shrink before primer .Bill

[Dennis C.]

I sincerely wish all who try to fill these holes,

with no tell-tale signs, the very best of luck. I am NOT saying it can't be done, but I am saying, I tried very hard and was unable to do it. In this case it was a '71 LT1 with great bright yellow color. I would note, it might be easy to do if you never expose the car to heat or sun after you think it is perfect. I'm certain there is some person with superior knowledge that can get it done - I just wasn't that person. Best, Dennis

[Bill W.]

Re: I sincerely wish all who try to fill these hol

Dennis part of the secret is having the right color (light),the proper orange peel & gloss.Base coat clear coat sanded smooth and buffed you'll see em first hot sunny day.