HGC

Typical floor/rear wheel housing rust. Cut out all the rust, fabricated a lot of patches, put it all together. Harder than it looked. The inside patches not only had to conform to the various shapes on the floor, they also had to have the outside downturn to connect to the rear wheel housing. I don't know what caused the strange rust hole directly over the frame rail, but there was no rail rust. For those interested, this is a weld-free job. Everything is done with Panel Bond. Same stuff the manufacturers have been using for years to attach parts like door skins. Incredibly strong stuff.

The Inside



The Outside



A few of the patches in process

sideshow_downs

That is a nice patch job

hightower2011

Looks great! Interesting to see oh went with panel bond. I don't doubt it's strength, I've just welding everything personally.

4reboy

Looks good HGC, glad to see you're still workin' on the car. Keep it up!

LynnBob Mustang

Very interesting!!
What kind of prep is needed for the panel bond?

Is it the the 2 part stuff you can put in a regular caulking tube, or is it the 2 part stuff that needs the special gun?

Lynn

HGC

The panel bond is the Evercoat Maxim brand. It comes in a caulk size tube with a long mixing nozzle. Since I don't have a caulking gun powerful enough to force it through the mixing nozzle I just squeeze it out and hand mix it. Works fine that way. It comes out in even proportions since the tube actually contains both parts on different sides. Cost is about $40 and you get roughly about half of what a regular tube of caulk would have in it, so it is pricey. The prep is make certain the metal is clean...no paint, no grease, no rust that sort of thing. Body shops use it for quarter panels these days. The manufacturer says no structural parts but everything else seems to be OK to use it on. My lower rear quarters and wheel well flares have bonded patches. The lower rear front fenders do to, including the lower part of the inner fender brace. Some of those patches have been in place for years. They have seen 20 degrees below zero and summer sun so hot you cannot touch the metal, plus road vibration. You don't want to use it on a long repair, like a belt cut on a quarter. Expansion and contraction over a big area like that can cause failure. But using it to attach a quarter at the door and the tail panel is fine. No need for seam sealer since this stuff seals the seam and cannot rust. Getting it on your hands is kind of like geting POR 15 on your hands. It's there until you sand it off or it wears off.