Bobberuk is finally on Euro - Nova

[Dirk]

Very nice, the lovers are very flexible even with a center support you will find they flex. Glassing in some 5mm ally rods full width on the under side will give a lot more support and not add much weight.

Dirk

[steve]

Looking great - well done

[Gaisa]

Nice work! What a transformation

I'm interested in the shiny studs down the centre in the last couple of photos. I think I can see a black strip under the centre of the louvre in the 2nd last photo ... presumably some spacers to prevent droop/vibration in the middle of the louvres? I'd be interested to see more details underneath.

Alistair

Thanks for pointing that out Alistair, a second look and I saw what you mean and I THINK I can see what he did, nice!

Very nice, the lovers are very flexible even with a center support you will find they flex. Glassing in some 5mm ally rods full width on the under side will give a lot more support and not add much weight.

Dirk

I was going to ask how Rob fixed the cracks and whether this is a long term fix, but you made a fair point.


Rob, would you share how you repaired the cracks please?

[bobberuk]

Nice work! What a transformation

I'm interested in the shiny studs down the centre in the last couple of photos. I think I can see a black strip under the centre of the louvre in the 2nd last photo ... presumably some spacers to prevent droop/vibration in the middle of the louvres? I'd be interested to see more details underneath.

Alistair

You are correct, there is a central bracket that I made up to try and stop some of the droop. The slats weren't too bad after all the repair I had carried out. However, I'm fairly sure that after time, sitting in direct sunlight etc, they will inevitably start to drop. So the bracket I have made up clips onto the lip of the slat above, then loops under the next, all the way down. The theory being that although they will flex, essentially they can't drop without the one above also dropping. As the top is fairly stiff and has the return towards the front of the car then hopefully one of two things will happen. Either they stay good, or they all droop. Only time will tell.

DSC_1338.jpg

DSC_1434.jpg

They are also fixed down with some aeroclips with a rubber stand underneath, so this I hope will stop some of the vibration at least.

DSC_1332a.jpg

I was going to ask how Rob fixed the cracks and whether this is a long term fix, but you made a fair point.


Rob, would you share how you repaired the cracks please?

Sure, the repair was pretty standard really, although teadious and time consuming. First I sanded all 7 layers of old paint back to the gel coat. Then marked all the hairline cracks I could see with a light [pink] paint pen so they were easily visible. I then ground them all out using a rotary die grinder slightly deeper and longer then each of the cracks, to try and stop them reappearing. I also removed all the old repairs filler using the same die grinder.

Once this was done I used Upol Fibral fibre glass repair paste to fill the newly ground gaps [3rd and 4th photos]. When this had gone off I sanded back using 40grit, then applied another thin layer of Fibral as it seems that part of it's chemical reaction is that it melts the orginal gel coat/fibre resin to bond and this results in a dip in each if the ground out cracks. At this point I could also see any cracks I had missed had started to open up due to the chemical reaction, so out with the paint pen and grinder for a second time. Again once it went off, sanding this time 40grit follwed by 80grit, then applied a top coat skim of normal Upol body filler. Sanding with 80grit. Applied a coat of grey primer and a couple of coats of filler primer, [mustard yellow coat in the photos, I ran out and used white for the bottom slat] then carefully eyed over to fill any pin holes with knifing putty. Wet sanded with 800grit, followed by a couple of coats of grey primer. Sprayed a guide coat and wet sanded with 800grit. Then lastly 4 coats of satin black, and mopped with 2 grades of compound to take out any orange peel.

It's not bodyshop perfect but I'm pretty pleased with it.

[Peter]

On the catches I would suggest reinforcing underneath the area about 1" forward of the pivot, they snap off there. I used 'Sealey Fast Fix' powder/super glue combo, works very well.

Fer example
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-SC...8AAOSwTF1dSpC2

[Gaisa]

Thank you Rob

[BlueNova]

Thanks for sharing the further details of what you've done behind the louvre ... looks great!