Classic Alfa Forums

anybody got any ideas on products suitable for the repairs?

i have got this stuff laying around, fairly flexible, but still fibreglass so will most likely crack when the spoiler gets fitted to the car.

must be something that is made for this job?

What will you repair those splits with Kev?

Ignore the above, posted before I saw yours above...

Veesix75 wrote:What will you repair those splits with Kev?

Ignore the above, posted before I saw yours above...

any suggestions welcome tim, gonna do some searching in a bit, must be some product out there suitable.

did watch a wheeler dealers a bit back where they repaired a plastic fron bumper on a bmw with a 2 part epoxy resin, made holes in both sides of the split them mesh on the back of the repair to bond the epoxy to both repair sides...

The blue bmw

alfachris wrote:The blue bmw

think it was blue chris, whole front end came off in one up to the bottom edge didn't it.

i have used this to good effect and bridge some quite large gaps in bumpers and things successfully so far


Upol SMC with Carbon Fibre

such as this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Filler-U-Pol-PL ... B005920HSE

but i couldn't recommend it 100%, becuase the thickness and flexibility of that component is quite different to what ive repaired so far i reckon.

come and grab my tub if you like rather than buying one?

worth a try possibly?

KevJTD wrote:had a look at john's mx-5 this afternoon, so had a bit of time spare when that was done.

decided that it was about time that the front spoiler was given a long awaited clean up.

it will need a few repairs before paint but first job was to get rid of years worth of underseal that had been sprayed up the back of it. with the spoiler being plastic i can only assume that it was overspray from the front panel being undersealed, even suds can't rot plastic!

messy job but it all got chipped off and cleaned, eventually

I remember what a sh#ty job mine was to clean Kev, had loads of underseal

I used an epoxy-resin (araldite sort of thing ) to fix my split, but to be fair they were smaller than yours. Yours look tricky. A good key up is really important and a brace on the back will help if you can get one in.
I haven't used the stuff Shrew has, as I don't have much experience with modern cars with plastic so it is probably ideal for you to use.
Good luck, you may need a bigger heating box its getting colder

wonder if this stuff will be any good?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAR-BUMPER-PL ... 259b05e262

That looks the sort of stuff Kev.
Those spoilers are quite hard plastic. Modern stuff is more rubbery.

this vid is a bit on the dull side but does show how simple stainless mesh can be melted into the back to make a strong bridge to hold the halves together, could be worth doing?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmTWCzJbNBw

Worth a go Kev, You can also try the good old soldering iron in the splits after it is braced.
Or even use it to tack it up first.
Good luck.

Kev, I PMd you, let me know if you received it.

dralf1965 wrote:Kev, I PMd you, let me know if you received it.

nothing mate



bought some aluminium mesh today, gonna try and melt it into the plastic like on that youtube vid.....
plan is if the gap is reinforced it should prevent it seperating and cracking again..

KevJTD wrote:

dralf1965 wrote:Kev, I PMd you, let me know if you received it.

nothing mate



bought some aluminium mesh today, gonna try and melt it into the plastic like on that youtube vid.....
plan is if the gap is reinforced it should prevent it seperating and cracking again..

That sounds like a good idea mate with the mesh, you could also try plastic hot melt, you know the glue sticks that go in those guns that heat up, I think whatever you use in the end the best think is going to be to roughen up the back face of it with a dremel attachment or a carbide cutter or something, make it the rougher the better then it should stay in place and not crack. Another way I have used is to drill a couple of hols through either side of the crack, counter sink the hole from the front side and fibreglass though the holes at the same time as the back side it would be strong and not crack (I did this before on a plastic spoiler and it was fine even after several years) If you run into trouble mate I think I have some spare spoiler pieces although there's no guarantee they would be any better than what you already have but if you need one I will check to see what I have available.

Kev, I think I managedto send PM now.

dralf1965 wrote:Kev, I think I managedto send PM now.

got it, and replied.
cheers mate, i'll be in touch

apinting a couple more bits tonight, making use of the new "oven"

gonna have a stab at mending the lower front spoiler this week also so keep watching to see how succesful i am, or not

Kev, I have 1 side of a S1 front spoiler, if you let me know which side yours is cracked I'll see if its same.. It's yours if you want it..can't see me ever needing just one side ever!

York Sud wrote:Kev, I have 1 side of a S1 front spoiler, if you let me know which side yours is cracked I'll see if its same.. It's yours if you want it..can't see me ever needing just one side ever!

the one i could do with is the n/s one mate, have an offer on a new one but always open to a bargain

Kev, if you do manage to replace the spoiler, don't just bin the old one. It has got to be worth a go at fixing.

I like the oven. Cool idea!

painted the bonnet bits tonight in the oven, good idea indeed. don't know how i managed without it
eventually found a decent, complete hand-brake lever so stripped that and primed it for painting later in the week.

did have one good arrival in the post though, have managed to get a brand new wind deflector for the websato sunroof. my old one was in two pieces and it seems not easy to find replacements at a sensible price, too near or wrong side of £100 for my limited funds

this one though was more to my liking, £45 delivered

had a go at repairing my lower front spoiler halves that are cracked.
tried it monday with aluminium mesh but although that bonded really well to the plastic it wasn't strong enough across the gap, when i pulled hard at it to demonstrate how strong it was it sheared across the middle at least it showed the theory of melting the mesh into the plastic works

so today the stainless steel mesh arrived so i burned out the old aluminium mesh and melted in the stainless. bit more messy now as it's been heated 3 times instead of one but it's made for a really strong bond between the cracked parts

i will put some of the fibre-glass bumper repair filler through the gap at the weekend to smooth out the gap, should ooze through the cracked part and be spreadable across the rear of the repair too to make a strong bond

as the o/s one repaired pretty well i decided to have a go at the trickier n/s one. it has some more awkward breaks to mend

first job was the bottom lip where a mount point had split above it's whole length and cracked wide open down one side, which had previously been repaired with a strip of steel and pop rivets

pretty pleased with the results, mount is really strong now and shouldn't cause anymore problems....

chuffed with the repairs to that part i thought that maybe this half may be saved after all so "V" ed out the cracks at the outer/wing end ready to bond some stainless into the back of them tomorrow.
the cracks have also been drilled out at the end of the split to stop the crack travelling, an old tube repairing trick
just need to make sure that any repairs don't sit proud of the top lip and chafe on the wing, shouldn't be too bad. the mesh seems to disolve into the plastic rather than sit on it, so should be fine. can always put some protection over any sharp edges but in reality once sanded they should be smooth enough

i'll take it to work tomorrow to hopefully resurect what i thought was way beyond saving.

Good work! I repaired a S1 front spoiler half a few years ago using an industrial plastic glue. Worked well but crack was smaller than the ones you have been repairing. Filled it with bumper repair like you mention and then smoothed it all off with wet and dry. Finally gave it a couple of coats of plastic primer from a rattle can. Was very plesed with the result. They are not an easy thing to repair as they flex a bit with air pressure when you are at motorway speeds. Any weakness in the bond will lead to the crack redeveloping.
New ones are Euro 72 - 99 on flea bay Italy at the moment so not a cheap part to replace. You have saved 150 quid or more by repairing your damaged parts.

took the n/s half to work today to repair the bad parts, i need the oxy/acetylene torch to heat up my tool for melting the plastic to "solder" the mesh into place
although i feared it would be way beyond saving i'm really chuffed with the results.
before i started you got the feeling the end could be twisted off pretty easily, cracks at top and bottom allowed the end to flex.
once the srainless mesh was shaped and the plastic melted through it then it became really strong again, a great result! had to take care not to leave it sticking proud as it sits close to the wing around the top, don't want sharp edges chafing

trial fitted it to the sud tonight to make sure the shape is ok and seems fine

gave both halves another sand down then a layer of the bumper repair fibre-glass paste. should be able to get them shaped over the weekend


a good few quid saved, as alfasam says

i'm always up for saving a few quid, trouble is i usually spend hundreds to save that few quid

Good repairs there mate, I think you will be fine with them now these are always damaged whenever you find them so best to repair what you have when you can, its all the fun of a restoration I think

I agree.
Nothing more satisfying than taking something knackered and bringing it back to life.
That's the charm of a Sud !!

sanded the 2 halves of the front spoiler, managed to get it to shape it one pass which was nice for a change
a local bodyguy who owes mea favour has offered to paint it for me so will save me making a huge cardboard box oven, and may even look better than with an aerosol can. not that i'd mind doing it, done whole doors before and turned out ok so could be done...
trial fitted it to the car to make sure it won't need any chopping once painted, seems to fit ok


whilst around the front of the car i took off the bonnet hinges which need painting.
shouldn't really be able to take the hinges off as the S1 cars were welded on, so i found out a while back. we wondered why the bolt heads were touching the front panel when the bonnet was lowered, front panel hadn't been changed but it is a new bonnet. with hindsight welding the hinges on would have been simple enough but no-one realised the concequences of bolting them in place, i certainly wouldn't have thought of it.
no hardship.
a conversation between the 2 johns (previous owner john and justsuds john) and myself came to the conclusion that fitting tapered cap screws and drilling the hinges to suit would give the clearance needed, so that has been done.

did a few more little jobs so things are still ticking along

Nice work.