Repair or replace?

[RQB1820]

I browsed through all of the threads in this and the 63-64 forums and didn't come up with any threads on the subject.

In your experience, is it more cost affective to repair fiberglass body panels, or replace them?

My 72 took a pretty good whack at some point, cracking the pass front fender by the bumper bracket, the lower grill panel has some "really nice" cracks, the upper grill panel same, and the nose panel is cracked at the headlight (both) cutouts, and up at the hood hinge areas.

The car also sits lower on this corner, so I'm guessing bent or broken spring (or something).

With the labor involved in fixing the fiberglass damage, would it not be cheaper to buy the panels and have them replaced by a shop?

Thanks, Brad

[mfg]

It really depends on who's doing the repairs Brad.....What I mean is, if you are sending your Avanti to a professional body shop for repairs, it would probably be more labor intensive (read that $$$$) to repair what is there than replace with new parts.

But if you are doing the work yourself, or a friend with fiberglass repair experience is helping you,.....well,.....a gallon of polyester fiberglass resin and a couple packages of fiberglass mat will go a LONG way in bringing your Avanti back into shape.....for well under $100.

If you do go the 'repair what's there' route though, it's important that you saved all the major original broken fiberglass pieces.

Edited November 1, 2015 by mfg

[RQB1820]

Yep, I have done some fiberglass work myself in the past, but the way the lower grill panel is cracked I thought about taking the structure apart for the repair anyway...

Then my mind wandered and I thought to myself, "You know you like the round light 63 front end better...."

How much of a pain is it to separate the panels - any past experience? The book just says cut and bond... not a whole lot of help. OTOH, the hit separated the bottom of the fender from the grill panel anyway. I wonder if the DS will separate cleanly like that...

Thanks for the discussion.

Brad

[ron@crall.com]

Currently doing glass repairs on 2 Avanti. I have only done a little prior to this summer, however; I am very happy with current progress. Did some preliminary work on the 71, then got to work on some sizable repairs on the 63. So far so good, and happy with the results I am getting.

Brother has done a fair amount of panel replacement and told me to repair if practical. He has had seams show up on most of the panel repairs many years later.

[Gunslinger]

Fiberglass can be funny...it has to be done correctly or you're wasting your time and money. When I had my '63 a crack formed over the front wheel arch at the body seam. It turned out the ear on the radiator support that supports the front body had broken and the right front of the body was more or less "flapping in the wind" unsupported. I was about to have the car painted anyway so that was "repaired" by the body shop, plus the body support was repaired.

Well...within a couple of years the same area of the wheel arch started cracking again. I eventually sold that car and some years later when I bought my '70 and sent it for reconstruction, I talked to the shop manager about my previous experience. He said what the previous body shop did wrong was they sanded down the damaged area and filled it. He said they should have cut it out and completely joined the area with new 'glass and formed it into the body. When the previous body shop just sanded and filled they left a porous area under their filler.

The body shop manager told me that most any fiberglass can be repaired...it simply comes down to cost effectiveness. Sometimes it's simply more cost effective to replace a panel than the effort involved in repairing it.

It all come down to what you prefer to do. As Jack Vines is find of saying..."Your Mileage May Vary".

[ron@crall.com]

Another recent project is a 75 GMC motorhome that I acquired earlier this year. Rear body damage was repaired just as noted above, sand / bondo / paint.

I am beginning to like fiberglass. The repair class that they had in South Bend a couple of years ago has really been a help. Currently working on 2 Avanti and the GMC and pleased with progress on all 3.

Recent change to a 3 day work week gives me the time to repair instead of replace.

[Charlie Kile]

Everyone seems to be using polyester resins and glass matts for the repairs. As it cures a "wax like" film is left on the surface making it a little difficult to finish.

Personally I have been much more successful using "Epoxy" resins. They seem to, adhere better, be much stronger, and wet the cloth better. They are however much harder to sand.

I have also had excellent results using a Bidirectional cloth rather than a matt.

Charlie RQB3921

[GlennW]

Charlie, there are wax & non-wax resins. Short story is when you do fiberglass work that's exposed to open air, the exposed surface will remain tacky for quite a while which is a real pain if you're waiting to sand and finish it. If you're using a closed mold process like LRTM or RTM there's no problem. If you're doing free-form or open molding there are a few ways to have the surface cure nice & hard. You can spray it with Poly Vinyl Acetate (PVA) which is water based and peels off easily later like a bad sunburn, and any remainder washes up with a wet rag. You can also use the resin with wax in it for the final layer of fiberglass. The wax will migrate through the fabric and resin to form a layer on the outside surface that blocks air from the surface. That allows the resin to cure hard. "Back in the day" everybody had their secret recipe for wax/resin. Personally, I do not care for the wax as it means more cleanup afterwards and a better chance of surface hassles later. There's also a chance for entrapment if proper procedures aren't followed. I use PVA for anything I want to cure without tackiness.

I make motorcycle fairings, here's a master pattern for a Road King fairing front;

http://woodysfairings.com/images/plug3.jpg

and here I've carved it up and done a custom nose for my twin headlamp Fat Bob;

http://woodysfairings.com/images/plug5.jpg

Then I masked off the custom area and sprayed it with white gelcoat followed by PVA. The following day you can pull off the PVA;

http://woodysfairings.com/images/plug9.jpg

After that I simply washed it down with warm water and began the usual wetsanding progression from #220 to #1500, followed by buffing and sealing to make a mold from.

As for "repair vs replace" it really depends on how bad the damage is, are replacements readily available and affordable, do you have the skills & equipment to do the work, etc. There's no grit sandpaper that will save you if you put a body panel on cocked

Edited November 4, 2015 by GlennW

[mfg]

Brad,...about your question on separating Avanti body panels....from my own experience, it is possible to separate bonded panels successfully....Once you begin a 'tear' at the panel's edge, the two panels usually can be 'torn' apart at their connecting joint cleanly.....Not all the time...but more often than not!

[RQB1820]

Brad,...about your question on separating Avanti body panels....from my own experience, it is possible to separate bonded panels successfully....Once you begin a 'tear' at the panel's edge, the two panels usually can be 'torn' apart at their connecting joint cleanly.....Not all the time...but more often than not!

...which makes sense, as I said... the PS fender seam at the lower grill panel "popped" apart cleanly at the seam. Still deciding on whether to go "63 nose" or not...

Thank you all for your input.

Brad