3m panel bond front latch panel???

[jimtweet]

I'm in the process of removing my 79 front latch panel to convert to 73 front latch panel. I talked to my body shop and he recommended 3m panel bonding this in place.

Any insight on this? I was going to weld, but obviously this would save countless hours. I'm not sure how "structural this piece is?

[mreid]

Done correctly, panel bonding it very strong. What gives me concern is that the latch panel is both and primary and secondary frunk latch. If it were to come loose, there is nothing to prevent your hood from embracing your windshield.

[jimtweet]

Originally Posted by mreid

Done correctly, panel bonding it very strong. What gives me concern is that the latch panel is both and primary and secondary frunk latch. If it were to come loose, there is nothing to prevent your hood from embracing your windshield.

I was thinking if I used panel bond, I'd throw a few stitch welds down some of the edges.

It will also be a fiberglass hood, so a lot less weight and force on it.

[962porsche]

HOLY CRAP NO !
the front panel is part of the cars structure you do not use a weld bond product in a place like that !

the best is to spot weld/resistance weld the panel back on like it was done at Porsche .
another OK way is to plug weld the panel on . this is strong but doesn't give you the same look as OE with resistance welded /spot welds .
if you were racing the car you could go in and spot weld like OE then stitch weld the seam lines .

when products hit the market like panel bonding adhesives made for bonding things like door skins , non structural panels worked and they work good .
people start to over use the products in thinking it's ok to do because it worked good for the QTR panel they used it on .
with panel bond adhesive you still have to weld the corners . you have to do this because even though it makes a good bond if you try and pull the two panels apart that have been bonded you can easily peel them apart .

[962porsche]

as for a FG hood I have to be totally missing some thing with that ???
weight on the latch and striker?
please explain the physics of that and what they have to do with just the two hods being only a couple of LBS different .
when driving and you have the hood popped and on the 2nd catch or safety catch it's air pressure when driving that wants to open the hood and flip it open into your window shield .
this has to do with pressure and shape . not weight of the hood it's self .

when you have your hood bolted to the hinges and on the car when you have it in a closed position it should be sitting there all by it's self and you should not need a latch or striker keeping it closed . this cancels out any weight of the two hoods rendering weight unimportant .

if you hook up the hood struts to either hood you will find one hood will open with more speed but this weight of the hood has no more effect to the latch in either case as the shock/strut is still only pushing the same amount of pressure (say 12 LBS ) .
the fact you should change your hood strut pressures to match the hood your using so it doesn't open to fast is a hole other matter ! not doing so could cause fitment issues ,cracking FG and a host of other headaches .

[jchamness]

There are structural adhesives out there. I've used fusor 2098 "crash durable structural adhesive". It is approved by some auto manufactures for structural repairs.
You can use it to bond, weld bond or rivet bond. I weld bonded with a spot welder. I liked the idea of using it as a seam sealer & for additional strength.

I'm a bit old school, I like having the welds in for piece of mind. If you use it, I would recommend you still put strategic welds in a few places.
Another thing to consider is that you may have to clamp it every 1"-3" depending on how the panel fits so you need a lot of clamps.
You have very little time to waste so have everything you need close at hand & do a trial fitting to make sure you can get it on smoothly.

[962porsche]

there are structural adhesives out on the market . I have used them many times as some cars today are bonded in conjunction with other force load holding methods such as the aluminum chassis we just repaired that is bonded and riveted or like the E92 M3 that is resistance welded and bonded .
but the key thing about this is the word in conjunction with .