M62 wrecker

[Wayne Hingley]

Originally Posted by rob love

...I have to fight the urge to go back in after supper, or on the weekend.

Could this be an indication that you do not have enough projects at home to keep you occupied? ...surely that's not the case with you Rob.

Your work on the cowl/firewall looks good. What's the scoop on that 3M structural epoxy? Is it something you have to mix up and apply, or is it delivered/mixed via tube? Have you used it before... results? It sounds like a useful product.

[rob love]

It is two tubes side by side. You need to buy the special caulking gun, which can be fairly expensive.....our price was $140 but the list price was about double that. Of course, you can buy them off ebay for about half that if you don't mind waiting a few weeks. The tubes come with a pair of mixing nozzles. You discard the nozzle after each use (although you leave it on just to seal the tube until you use it again, then you place on a new mixing nozzle. The nozzle swirls the two parts of the epoxy together. It comes out a grey colour, and as it sets, changes to a purplish Hugh. You have a few hours before it starts to set, so plenty of clamping time. I applied a bead to both surfaces. It is actually fairly thin, and will run a little. As it sets, I ran a paper towel to absorb up the excess, and also worked it in the seams as a seam sealer. You can weld an inch away form it, but if you get too close it will splatter.



The next day, when everything had hardened, I sanded some of the excess, then brushed POR-15 over the seams as there still would have been bare metal.



While I had my edges reasonable flat, I was working with used panels, so there was bound to be a little distortion. Add to that the two panels were off vehicles that were made 30 years apart....fortunately there seemed to be very little revisions to this area.


I can see me using this stuff again. Although my MiG welding didn't blow any holes thru the areas I did weld, it does not waterproof the seams...this stuff does.



Yes, I have plenty of projects at home, but in the evening, by the time I have supper, and get the wood furnace running in the shop, I am just about out of time. My own shop time is mostly on the weekends.

[Gordon Yeo]

The another great advantage of the body panel adhesive is it seals up the joint between the two panels and stops rust from forming in the seam. Not an insignificant benefit.

[rob love]

That, Gordon, is the biggest reason I used the stuff. I want these vehicles to last for the long term....despite my Manitoba upbringing, cheapest (in this case spotwelding) is not neccessarily the best. I welded (both spot and at the edges of the seams) at the door pillars, for strength as well as that area is fully covered by the dash.

[Gordon Yeo]

Rob

I've used several tubes on the seams in the HUP body re-build and as you say the value for the money is very well spent. I would tell you about using it on the Iltis but, that would be trowing good money after bad.

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Gordon Yeo

Rob

I would tell you about using it on the Iltis but, that would be trowing good money after bad.

Kind of the reverse about the silk purse/sows ear analogy.....good money after bad.

[chris vickery]

A local body guy had been using this stuff for a while now.
Apparently it works really well for putting in replacement patches on vehicles.
He usually allows and extra 1/2” or so to adhere the new panel to and uses a tool to form a bottled lip that the panel with sit into.
He uses clamps where psossible as well as a few sheet metal screws to hold the sandwich together until it dries. Afterwards a quick skim of filler to smooth it all out.