Hot Rods metal to fiberglass

I want to use aluminum sheeting for the interior of my T-bucket. Would there be any issues fiber-gl***ing aluminum or steel square tubing to the interior walls of the fibergl*** body to give me a base to rivet the aluminum sheet to?

Thanks
Sm

 

I would make sure your aluminum or steel was very clean and had a rough surface.I had to gl*** a couple of pieces of 1" square steel tubing into a fibergl*** body once and that was what I learned about the process.By "rough surface" I mean about 36 grit.

 

Use an epoxy based panel bonding adhesive. It will be much stronger than fibergl***ing it. You can get some from Evercoat that can be used in a caulking gun if you don't have access to the side by side gun that most use..

http://www.evercoat.com/adhesives-sealants/us/

 

SEM 39747 Panel Adhesive. This is why body shops don't use welders much anymore. Everything is glued on. It's tough.

This stuff is made for steel, aluminum, wood, fibergl***, etc.

 

Thanks very much for the responses. Learning new stuff everyday.

SM

 

The problem with bonding metal to fibergl*** it will pull the gl*** in and the shape will be visible from the back side. HRP

 

A fibergl*** wholesaler will have a product like "Corebond" made for boat industry for bonding wood down in the bilges...kinds looks like a superior product as Bondo.

 

Panel adhesive is fairly pricey, milled gl*** strands or chopped gl*** strand is cheap like borsht. Get your metal reinforcement close to the contour (1/8" is OK) grind the inner gl*** to rough it up, sand the metal at the attachment point with 36-40 grit and make a thick paste with polyester resin and the chopped gl*** (available in 1/32 to 1/4" lengths at my local marine supply)- 1/8th would work good for you. Save some resin back, brush a light coat of catalized resin onto both parts first, then put the paste on your metal reinforcement, put it in place and hold it till it kicks, while smoothing/brushing the squeeze out, to form a fillet and remove any excess. You won't be able to pull it apart and because it is filling the void with gl*** consistently, it shouldn't imprint to the outside.

 

What if I bonded wood strip to the fibergl*** and then a strip metal to the wood for the rivets?


Sm

 

T bucket builders did and still do gl*** wood strips inside of gl*** T bucket bodies. That may or may not be simpler than gl***ing the metal strips in place. That would allow you to fasten metal strips to the wood (that was used to give the bodies structure back when they didn't come with any reinforcement) to the wood. Several ways to do it and the only wrong ones are when you cause damage to the outside of the body that you have to repair.

 

Years ago there were some articles in the rod rags about gl***ing wood into T bodies. A lot of those bodies came just as a very basic shell/skin with no reinforcement.

 

3M 8115 or 8116 is made for composite bonding to metals. The SEM product mentioned above is good too.

 

According to the builder of the body, it does not need wood reinforcement. It is very stiff. It is made by Street Rod Fab near Orlando Florida if anyone is familiar. To make sure if I have this straight,
1. If I bond metal tubing to the inside you will be able to see it on the outside?
2. If I bond wood to the inside would I still be able to see it from the outside?
3. If I fibergl***ed wood to the inside I would not be able to see it from the outside?

Thanks for everyone patience while I figure out the best way to go about this.

Here is a pic of the car so far...

 

Aluminum can be one of the tougher materials to get a strong bond to fibergl***.
Methacrylate adhesive was recommended by Karl Wescott for bonding my aluminum trunk riser to my fibergl*** roadster body.

http://www.compositesworld.com/arti...-of-methacrylate-urethane-and-epoxy-adhesives

 

Duncan has it right. That's how I did it.

Sent from my SM-G900V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Thanks, I think this is the direction I will go in...

SM

 

Since your building a bucket, I would recommend checking out this thread for a ton of excellent info on building a great looking T-bucket! You won't be sorry for checking out the info you can glean from this thread.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-bucket-of-ugly-a-de-uglifying-thread.824491/

 

Thanks for the link, mine is going to be a replica dirt track racer, something a little different...

SM

 

Since you are fairly new here you might want to do a little internet searching for HAMB member Marty Strode, he has done a bunch of T based dirt track cars.
https://www.google.com/search?q=mar...tdDUAhVH-GMKHTcZAz8Q_AUICSgB&biw=1280&bih=752

 

Thanks

SM