Bonding Strip Adhesive and Front end paint?

[Tony M.]

Gentlemen,
Hope you are all well!

I am doing some regluing on my 59 bonding strips on the front of the vehicle. The nose panel bonding strip in no longer properly attached. I called Corvette Central and they suggested their Bonding Adhesive and Filler product called Fiber Glue. It seems it can also be used as a filller.

Question 1: Is this the right product to use for Bonding strips?

Question 2: Is this the right product to use as Filler?

Question 3: Was the lower Radiator baffle...behind the front grill painted??? I replaced my baffle and am wondering whether to leave it bare fiberglass or painted?

Thanks again to all for the support!

[Joe R.]

Re: Bonding Strip Adhesive and Front end paint?

Tony,

Your question should be directed at people who make their living doing this work. People who work with Corvettes all the time and have the reputation to back it up.
The opinions (my apologies to a number of people) will lead you to ruin!!! You don't need opinions here, you need experience from the people who work on Corvettes every day!
Please consider calling Gary Nabors in Houston at 1 713 664-5018. The Nabors brothers have rebuilt and/or restored more Corvettes than anyone in the business. They have lived with many adhesives thru the years and only use the ones that work best for adhesive properties and look like factory bonding!
Gary will take time to steer you in the right direction.

JR

[Mark D.]

Re: Bonding Strip Adhesive and Front end paint?

THAT, is some rock solid advice!

[Dick W.]

Re: Bonding Strip Adhesive and Front end paint?

There are a few body and paint professionals that post here, Bill Williamson, Wayne Womble, Tom Ames just to mention a few. Why not contact them thru the community..members tool bar at the top of the page.

[Bill M.]

Re: Bonding Strip Adhesive and Front end paint?

Question 3: Was the lower Radiator baffle...behind the front grill painted??? I replaced my baffle and am wondering whether to leave it bare fiberglass or painted?

This part from my '59 was blacked out with the inner grille area. I've stripped the black off mine. The backside is raw fiberglass with just a hint of black overspray.

[Tom A.]

Re: Bonding Strip Adhesive and Front end paint?

Tony,
There are as many opinions on what to use as there are types of adhesives available. In my shop I use primarily two part epoxy products which are applied with a mixing gun (somewhat the same as a caulk gun but it dispenses two materials at once). I know this is not what the factory used but the strength and durability far exceed the factory bonder and with their extended tip its easy to put it right where you want it. They come in a variety of set times from a few minutes to about 90 minutes giving you time to work the bond until you get it where you want to. If you need to position your panel at a specific height just use small shims to get the height as the epoxy is not heavy bodied and wiil not maintain a specified thickness. There are a number of companies out the with good products, Lord Fusor is popular as is 3M, Norton etc. When buying be sure to get and epoxy based material not a urethane. Urethane's will do the same job but if they are contacting fillers primers or topcoats the will always leave a seam that shows.If the material that pushes out between the bond strip and panel is visible you may need to find a products that is close to the correct color. Many bond strips are either not visible or get blacked out so it may not be an issue. There are also many other ways to get a correct appearing color if you are a little creative. I have never had a restoration called for bonder color but I guess there's always a first time. There are also many original type bonding materials available, many have different names depending on the supplier but often they have the same source. I don't have a particular favorite it depends on the look I want to determine which product I use. My preference is always epoxy unless I need the appearance. A word of warning, be sure your panel is where you want it before the epoxy cures because it is a devil to separate after.
As for fillers, a good high quality body filler will work fine, just don't go cheap on your filler. Also where ever I fill over a bonded seam I always "V" the seam and fiberglass over it to avoid having seams show through as the work cures fully (it sometimes takes a year or more for everything to fully stabilize).

[Timothy B.]

Re: Bonding Strip Adhesive and Front end paint?

In my younger days I used a bonding adhesive called don baileys, it worked very well as I don't believe there were the bonding products available like today.

Some people I know actually used fiberglass/resin to bond panels before the baileys was available, talk about a mess.. :-(

[Tony M.]

Re: Bonding Strip Adhesive and Front end paint?

Gentlemen,
Nothing like good honest responses...thanks to all!