Thread: Bonding Fiberglass to metal

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I say just cut it out & get wider tires....

Dave---Its obvious from your answer that you live a cleaner life than I do. I always fix things the correct way now, with a hand-formed patch, and my mig welder. But----being desended from a long line of horse thieves and land agents, I know every cheap, crooked fix in the book.----Sawdust in the differential for whining gears, a canfull of wood ashes thru the inspection panel onto a clutch that is slipping because of oil from a bad rear seal, a peice of leather cut from an old welders gauntlet under a rod cap to quiet a knocking rod, and how to build cars from the doorhandles down with play-dough.
I remember being a kid with no money and little time, and sometimes the cheap and nasty fix lasted for the life span of the car before I blew up the motor or ran it off the road whilst drinking whiskey on the way to a square dance. I know you are giving good, sound advice----but sometimes people just want a quick nasty fix "for now".

Originally posted by DennyW
Matt, can you take a picture of the repair area ?

just did

ewwwww....that's bad. I don't think your gonna be able to patch that one.
JMO.

U do not have to build the patch outa 1 piece ,its best to make it 1 piece,....but even if its 5 or 6 pieces of metal and out a 1/4 of an inch ,it can be floated with bondo.That will be way better than the fiberglass.A solid base of metal will last and the bondo will stick to it and not peel away!!!

Hey Matt it's 1/4 panel time now not a quick fix patch. Looks like an inner wheel house too. Use Daves advice and find a Wheel opening on something newer that will fit . Check out late 80's/90's Mustang front fenders, I've used these on a few occasion.

I am no expert body man, but would like to share this with you. I did a similar repair on a 70 Mach I. I really took my time and did the best I knew how with a body man of 20 years advising me all the way. In the backgound he was always saying no matter how well you do this its only a temp fix, and since your spending all this money on paint, filler, primer and paper just spend the extra $ on the right part. 2 years after repair, it cracked...more and more each month. Every time the car was driven hard it cracked more. In the end I ended up buying the rear wheel well sheet metal and welding it in place. Fix is now 12 years old and in perfect condition. JMO. Good luck to you in whatever you choose to do.

PICK---N---PULL !!!!!!!!

Matt, there were thousands of Falcons sold in this country and many of them were in Arizona, New Mexico, Georgia, etc. You can buy used, rust free quarter panels cut the way you want them. I've had very good luck using Desert Valley Auto Parts in Arizona. They will cut the panel outside the factory seams and it will include the inner wheelhouse. This will allow you, or a qualified shop to cut tyhe quarter panel off at the seams to make this job easier.

Eastwood sells just about everything you'll need to drill out the factory spot welds so that you have a fresh seam to weld on. This is how we fix cars on the insurance end of things. If you can't buy new, buy used.

EDIT: DVAP does show a '68 Falcon 4-dr in their inventory.

Originally posted by Swifster
Matt, there were thousands of Falcons sold in this country and many of them were in Arizona, New Mexico, Georgia, etc. You can buy used, rust free quarter panels cut the way you want them. I've had very good luck using Desert Valley Auto Parts in Arizona. They will cut the panel outside the factory seams and it will include the inner wheelhouse. This will allow you, or a qualified shop to cut tyhe quarter panel off at the seams to make this job easier.

Eastwood sells just about everything you'll need to drill out the factory spot welds so that you have a fresh seam to weld on. This is how we fix cars on the insurance end of things. If you can't buy new, buy used.

EDIT: DVAP does show a '68 Falcon 4-dr in their inventory.

They did show a '67 4dr in there invintory when I checked. from them it would cost $500 shipped ( emailed them ) , American classics has a listing for a '67 4dr driver side panal, $350+ shipping, I emailed Memory lane on it but they just emailed me there phone number, and I never got around to calling.