Plastics Refresher Course

[Condor]

Condor,

You might want to consider using some plastic (or steel) window screen and lay pieces of it over the wet repaired area, then cover it with more of the repair plastic, thus embedding it within the plastic for strength...

you can always drill thru it later if you wanted to add a hole for attaching something, but it will provide strenth to weaker areas.

 

And in case I didnt explain that right.. here are the steps of my thoughts..

 

Eck- The problem is that the area that needs to be repaired has to be kept as thin as possible, or the L hinge bracket and trunk support will not fit afterwards. That's why I'm going to stick with the more pliable glass matt. Metal screen would be a good idea if the damage were located somewhere else, but it's right underneath all the metal plates and front supports. On one side the damage actually takes in the corner of the leading edge.

[Eck]

 

So what your really saying then is:

The problem is ..."you have a a 1st gen".....

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[Condor]

 

So what your really saying then is:

The problem is ..."you have a a 1st gen".....

 

.......................

 

One of many......

[Gearhead]

I'm a fan of JB weld for smaller repairs and had success with larger cans of marine epoxy (I already had it) on a large trunk repair like ReinyRooster's. I actually sandwiched what was left of the trunk material behind the backrest between two sheets of alum, epoxied and screwed in place. I drilled the whole assy for the backrest and little light / mirror. Strong like moose now!

 

The PO did some repair of damage more like yours, Condor, which is holding up (although ugly but mostly out of sight). He used 'glass and polyester resin, which didn't adhere perfectly to the painted ABS, but is good enough so far.

 

When I see a spider crack I like to stop-drill it. Find the very end of the crack (look VERY carefully) and drill a small hole,

 

This ABS is definitely brittle and the mounting points are not adequately load-distributed. I think the stress on them is very high. I would guess that your trunk did not suffer a blow, but was repeatedly overloaded, perhaps ridden on rough roads while overloaded. Perhaps is has carried a passenger who leaned very heavily on the backrest; check carefully the plastic behind it as well.

 

Jeremy