I was looking at a Matra Murena frame lately, and Paf it got me thinking again! The fibber-glass body is glued to the steel frame… Yes glued, the car is almost 25 year old now and still very sound and rock solid!

So here's the old “What if” :knockedou

Aren’t we going the hard way to repair big flat panel with welding when we could just treat the rust by cutting or POR15 and glue a metal sheet ?

If the surface was wide enough, would it have the same strength?

Where are we today on glue tech? Any 3M guru on this forum? Glue is everywhere today, and I bet aircraft and spacecraft use it more than we think, maybe it’s an area of improvement for us ?

Eastwood sells panel adhesive and tools to do just that. I considered it as a way of replacing door skins, just cut off the old one and glue a new one on.

As sticky as diaper goo is, I am not sure it would make a good pannel adhesive :stupid: ! How is that youngster?

Will

Tim couldn't do better, he is still working on double clutching but it's looking good so far!!!

Hmm... Actually recently on other bodywork forums, I have read about many modern methods that I have never seen on this board. I know many here are "classic z" fans, as am I. I am just stating I never read about many modern bodywork methods on this site. Maybe some of our sites body gurus could bless us with some information....

Will,

Door skins are not welded on in the first place. Even new ones are glued. Just a FYI.

Since the Z is a unibody glue won't work in any stress areas, which is most of a Z. In your example, fiberglass body steel (tube?) frame the fiberglass imparts almost no strength to the system, it would run just fine with just the frame. A lot of newer cars are using 3M epoxys for panels but are still welding in stressed areas. It has it's place just not in the Z world I'm afraid.... except for patching a fender or doorskins!

Dogma,

In an S30, the door skins were wrapped around the door shell, crimped, and then painted, there is only a little sealer-no adhesive-in the seam. The crimp was the only structural fastener used.

Will