Covering the Holes.
To fiberglass or not to fiberglass!
As of 11-31-2006
The Project has passed the 1 Year mark!
For some reason, this has given me some trouble deciding. If I fiberglass around the roll-bar mounts and shock tower holes, then I won’t have future access to the shock mounts and if there is flex between the body and frame, cracking probably will happen. I decided to purchase 16 ga. aluminum sheets and cut them for covers over the holes. I will use Transtar Ultra-Flex seam sealer to fill any gaps that are left. I also plan to use the same product to seal between the firewall foot-box and the frame. This will give me a little flex if needed. I also used a aluminum L bracket to mount the two panels together. I riveted the front piece and screwed the rear piece to the bracket. I riveted the front to prevent bumps from the screw heads to cause problems. I plan on using an epoxy to further bond these together as this will hold it firm until the epoxy cures.
I
also used the same aluminum to make a cover for the e-bake handle gaps.
I
wanted to get this taken care of before I reinstall (for the final time, Ha!)
the body on the frame and finish the body work. I have taken my time on this
part because I know that once the body is bolted and bonded, I will have to
work around it to finish any areas that I didn’t think of before. These are a
lot easier to get to with the body off!
Update:
After
installing the panel covers, I sealed the seams with Transtar Ultra-Flex seam
sealer which works great. I also
used this product to seal between the footbox and the frame. This will fill the
gaps but allow some flex to keep it from breaking loose. It dries to a pretty
firm consistency. This would also work very well as a glue for applying various
parts like the louvers on the fender. Of course I didn’t use it for this
purpose because I bought a much more expensive epoxy for this and was going to
use it for that purpose or else! Below are some pictures of the sealant
applied.
