Rebonding Hood Skin To Frame

T

tekuhn

Hi there. I'm restoring a '70 GTO Judge and the hood skin is separated from the frame at almost all of the factory glue joints. What is the correct process and adhesive to re-bond the hood to the frame? I assume I need to remove as much of the original adhesive as possible and also prepare the underside of the skin and frame for proper adhesion. I feel like I need to fix the bond prior to any refinishing since the contour of the skin will change slightly. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Tom Kuhn
 
Thanks, Don. I just looked at the NVH literature and it looks like exactly the right stuff. Now I just need to know if there's anything I need to do to pull the skin tighter to the inner frame, or just fill the existing gaps with the NVH. I see no damage to the hood and assume this is where everything just naturally aligns. Since it's a Ram Air car, the foam seal from the lower air filter assembly will exert some pressure against the underside of the hood, but I can't imagine that it would be enough to flex the inner frame upward toward the outer sheet metal skin.
 
I would not alter the existing gaps unless there is damage, in which case you just try to make the gaps uniform with an undamaged area.
 
Yep, just leave the gaps alone & get a little alcohol cleaning done for best adhesion. A urethane adhesive caulk would be a lower cost product, though the nvh is targeted for this type of use.

Honestly, I was glad for you personally that you thought of this, Saw too many people with good body skills fight to get hood straight, constantly re chasing spots when even something as basic as even a fire retardant spray foam in the gaps would have been a life saver.
 
Thank you all for the responses! There is moderate surface rust on the underside of the skin and frame. I'm sure there is also plenty between the skin and frame where I can not see and have no way to access. What's the best product and process to clean all that up before paint? I, of course, plan to use SPI epoxy once it's ready to be coated.
 
I use denatured alcohol bought by the gallon, usually sprayed from a simple hand sprayer as a lower cost general purpose starting cleaner, wiping with cotton rags before getting into the more expensive wax / grease removers for final cleaning.
But in this case, I'd probably turn the thing upside down & scrub first with your plain basic dawn, water & scrub brushes a few times first off. You can be creative & wrap a rag around the end of a thin putty knife, for example, to get into some of those corners & tight spots.
 
Should I use any chemical to remove the surface rust between the skin and frame, or just sand and scuff as best I can the surfaces that are accessible? I know POR-15 has a horrible reputation here, but I was not aware of it's drawbacks and used some on a frame of a different car. I have a gallon of their water-based degreaser and also their metal-prep product which dissolves rust, etches, and leaves a zinc phosphate coating to promote adhesion. It seems to work really well. You fully rinse it off with water when finished, but I don't want to find out too late that it is not compatible with SPI Epoxy primer.
 
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