Repairing a small mishap

[funflair]

Isopon Fastglas Resin.

Isopon - U-Pol

The new ISOPON range has been specially developed so car enthusiasts can repair and restore their vehicles quickly and easily at home.

www.isopon.com

Thanks, however it was only the trial run (whacked the other side a few weeks later!)

Before
View attachment 423669

View attachment 423670

The joint between the panels still needed a little tidying up.

Perfect picture, plastic below and fibreglass above

You are now officially a Bl---y hooligan

M

 

[Abgs]

Either insist police prosecute or attempt to bring it yourself, failing that insist that the police supply his name & address , & then small claims court or knock on the door.
usually if I get a half wit who looks like he is going to run down the side of me or isn't dragging the hedge is side te I move rigt over to force them to stop or have a head on.
If they do hit & fail to stop I always go after them.

Couldn't turn round fast enough - I was on a small Cornish lane! If the damage was more I'd have pushed the Police for the info but I can't really justify using tax payers money for them to chase up something which I can fix for £120.

 

[The Coops]

Hardly worth it . bound to be hit again even in a car park.Migt as well wait & get it done before moving it on.


Either insist police prosecute or attempt to bring it yourself, failing that insist that the police supply his name & address , & then small claims court or knock on the door.
usually if I get a half wit who looks like he is going to run down the side of me or isn't dragging the hedge is side te I move rigt over to force them to stop or have a head on.
If they do hit & fail to stop I always go after them.

No injuries no prosecution complain as much as you want and show video evidence but will get the reply that they cannot prosecute as don't have the funding/resources to do it thanks to Govt cuts! However if your neck/back hurts then it is an injury RTC and WILL require further examination

 

[Gellyneck]

You are now officially a Bl---y hooligan

Yes, it's a bit of an acquired art, isn't it!
However, any more of your lip and you're in trouble.
Such an expert now I'll come down and see to yours!
btw whacking it not sorting it!

 

[funflair]

Yes, it's a bit of an acquired art, isn't it!
However, any more of your lip and you're in trouble.
Such an expert now I'll come down and see to yours!
btw whacking it not sorting it!

I have a little job already when I get some pigment RAL9001, I think a buckle on the tie down straps on the delivery truck might have rubbed under the front valance but it took me 3 weeks to notice so a bit late to complain

M

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[Gellyneck]

I have a little job already when I get some pigment RAL9001, I think a buckle on the tie down straps on the delivery truck might have rubbed under the front valance but it took me 3 weeks to notice so a bit late to complain

M

well you know what I mean.

 

[airwave]

Good luck with your repairs/restoration hope all goes well and you get the finish you desire.
One question maybe would be if my bumper is indeed plastic, and not very thin GRP, would it be possible to reinforce behind the cracks with some fibreglass strips, bonded with resin if a suitable roughed up key was achieved?

I think 50/50 . I washed the unit with a strong washing up liquid mix and very hot water , before roughened the area with 60/80 grit emery cloth , brutally with a Dremel and 50mm disc , finally using white spirit to clean the area . Even with this method , i had some problems with adhesion, Often during the fairing process , where the newly melted plastic sometimes failed to stick . Though i also think the key reason this may have happened was due to fairing process itself , an electric sander , warming the plastic up too much .
The key is flexibility , plastic is , fibreglass isn't . This is the main reason i think it more likely your bumper is plastic , as opposed to fibreglass . Plastic will deform , sometimes reverting back to it's original shape , but fibreglass won't . It will crack , often splinter . It's strength comes from curves , and the more the better , yet even a small deflection can cause it to crack . Modellers flirted with grp , to produce fuselages for model aircraft , they were kept thin , mainly due to weight , and many beautiful fuselages were produced , yet i can't help but notice , many now use carbon fibre .
The original owner of this van , was a master bodger . I've found many areas where his fingers have been , and i'm gradually removing them one at a time . Oh , and that's bodges , not fingers . This is the reason i've become bogged down on another job . He used a car body putty for the repair , and in the case of the bumper it completely fell off , leaving the tell tale stain behind . However , it stuck to the spat , i think more by luck than judgement . But he packed it in , and it took a while to remove it . Not wanting to damage the original moulding any further , and it's valley like location . Even so , it had still cracked , along every failure from the original impact , possible due to the flexing of the bumper it was attached too . Would reinforcement have changed this , well maybe . I melted a special stainless steel mesh into the plastic , and it's solid now .

Now in the case of my indicator recesses , i used a flexible epoxy . I came across it by accident , while looking for something else , and is claimed to have more flexibility than standard epoxy . Originally earmarked for another job , it's flexible claims made it ideal for this repair .
However , i'll be honest here , i have no idea if it will stay put . My choice was made from an unestablished claim , so only time will tell . I also think it was expensive for the amount received . Results are favourable , however it's not road tested yet , and for these reasons , i can't recommend it at this time , but i would if required supply the name .

 

[TinaLes]

Thanks for the useful very responses chaps.
Looking at Gellyneck photos my rear bumper looks the same, maybe even a tad thinner if you could believe that. I when given time will have a look to see how I can remove the rear bumper completely but I have a meet & a van service booked in for this month, so I will wait until October to get stuck in.
One thing that does concern me is when enquiring about the price of a new rear bumper, I was asked "do you want a new fixing kit also with that" I have no idea what that meant, but will no doubt discover why if one is needed when I get round to it, lets hope its not stuck on!.
The Isopon Fast Glass Resin that Gellyneck mentioned looks ideal, like a fast acting general purpose resin, so will order some of that with some filler to finish, maybe the Primer also.
Thanks also airwave for your keying advice, I had envisaged using a very course grit paper and widening the cracks with a dremel out to about 3.4mm, as witnessed on a you tube video for cracks on a boat, however that was GRP, not just injection moulded plastic.
I will get the whole bumper sprayed whilst its off, I will have to ring around for some advice & quotes when ready.
Well I better get the van packed at the weekend for our trip away next week, thanks again everyone, well done great job Gellyneck ,thanks airwave , & funflair for your support, lets hope I can get the same result 1st time.
LES

 

[g3cwi]

Trade the van in and get a new one.

 

[Gellyneck]

Thanks for the useful very responses chaps.
Looking at Gellyneck photos my rear bumper looks the same, maybe even a tad thinner if you could believe that. I when given time will have a look to see how I can remove the rear bumper completely but I have a meet & a van service booked in for this month, so I will wait until October to get stuck in.
One thing that does concern me is when enquiring about the price of a new rear bumper, I was asked "do you want a new fixing kit also with that" I have no idea what that meant, but will no doubt discover why if one is needed when I get round to it, lets hope its not stuck on!.
The Isopon Fast Glass Resin that Gellyneck mentioned looks ideal, like a fast acting general purpose resin, so will order some of that with some filler to finish, maybe the Primer also.
Thanks also airwave for your keying advice, I had envisaged using a very course grit paper and widening the cracks with a dremel out to about 3.4mm, as witnessed on a you tube video for cracks on a boat, however that was GRP, not just injection moulded plastic.
I will get the whole bumper sprayed whilst its off, I will have to ring around for some advice & quotes when ready.
Well I better get the van packed at the weekend for our trip away next week, thanks again everyone, well done great job Gellyneck ,thanks airwave , & funflair for your support, lets hope I can get the same result 1st time.
LES

I looked at removing the panels however they were "spot welded" (for want of a better word - you'll see what I mean in post #30 photo 1) and felt I could end up doing more damage to the panels themselves and the adjacent ones they were attached to so repaired in situ. There was also some metal bracing that is pop riveted that would have required drilling out. I know removal and repair is the proper way but .........
I too considered "dremelling" out the cracks but thought I'd have a go just filling, sanding and spraying as I could always do that later if any of the cracks were to reopen. So far so good but it wouldn't surprise me if one of them did as I couldn't get any reinforcement fully in behind it.
On the resin make sure you measure out the parts correctly as I under-did the hardener a touch and it took ages to go off and fully set!
I didn't respray the full panel (well, I got a local repair guy to do one of them so I could see how it was done properly!) as the paint I got mixed was a perfect match. Just make sure the area you mask off does have a sharp edge by fold the masking paper under itself to mitigate this.
Anyway, enjoy your trip away and best of luck with your repair.

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[airwave]

widening the cracks with a dremel

Yes , i forgot to mention that . I also did this , to good effect . However , i actually used an engraving bit , which left a nice rounded groove . The plastic repair process is very similar to fibreglassing , in that you repair both sides , in effect meaning your actually tying the two sides of the repair together , by forming a clamp . The principle difference is your using heat to fuse the repair , with what is basically an overgrown soldering iron .

Another thing i would mention is cleaning media , be very careful with what you use . To many people plastic is plastic , however , it may surprise a few , that not all plastics are the same . There are several different types of plastic used in the car industry , and this is largely why plastic welding is so difficult . One plastic type will generally not stick to another . Identifying the plastic before attempting a repair is paramount , and the use the appropriate repair medium for that particular plastic essential , else the likelihood of failure is extremely high . Solvent based cleaners as a cleaning agent are perfect , however they also react to different plastics in different ways . They have the ability to completely destroy one type of plastic , while harmlessly cleaning another , so for that reason i would not advise the use of any solvent type cleaner . The reason i used white spirit .
In my boating days i even remember reading somewhere , acetone can actually softened years old cured fibreglass .

Be warned !!