[at-l] [TR] Questions about sill replacement on a TR3

[Doug Mathews]

Guys and gals,

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!  When I was in the auto 
collision curriculum at our VoTech school, we had a 3m rep come and 
talk about panel adhesives, and if this ol brain remembers, I posted 
something about that to the list.  Panel adhesives are used and 
preferred today by a lot of manufactures and insurance companies as 
the body coatings are not removed by welding and rust is 
prevented.  From what I remember, these adhesives can be used to 
attach body panels where there is no chance of "peeling" in the event 
of a collision. Those areas that may be subjected to "peeling" are 
still supposed to be welded as they were at the time of 
manufacture.  As a note to the strength of these adhesives, The Panoz 
vehicles (manufactured just north of me) have and aluminium  box 
frame that is assembled with adhesive, although they do run 1 bolt 
/nut through each joint point as a safety/fail soft  point. We were 
told that these adhesives were used on aircraft and had been for 
years.  So I assume its strong and able to take extreme temperature swings.

Would I use it to attach body parts on a TR, especially the older 
ones?  Not on those parts that I felt were helping with structural rigidity.

Here is a link to a 3M page that can get you started on your own research.

http://tinyurl.com/yckv62

Doug


At 10:01 AM 11/29/2006, you wrote:
>-----Original Message-----
>From: dorpaul at negia.net
>
>  ....I am not a great welder, so today when I was at Lowes (Home Depot) I
>looked at their Structural Adhesives.  I am wondering that since rails,
>crossmembers, outriggers and sills are 'under' my floorpan, I am wondering if
>my POWDERCOATED FLOORPANS AND SILLS, could be attached in certain places, with
>these adhesives?
>This might mean fewer places were I would need to grind (or sandblast) the
>powdercoating.  Of course, any area requiring integrity would be mig welded.
>
>==AM==
>I am so NOT a structural engineer (nor any other kind of engineer), 
>hence my possibly naive question here. "Pound for pound" (or 
>whatever SAT-style analogy you care to use here), are these 
>adhesives as strong as an equivalent spot weld or plug weld or other 
>kind of weld? Or (maybe the same question, but asked differently), 
>is there any difference in design of two pieces to be joined via a 
>structural adhesive rather than by conventional "mechanical" (weld) joining?
>
>I realize that Standard-Triumph and Mulliners, etc., probably did 
>not have such structural adhesives when that car was first designed, 
>engineered and tooled.
>
>Also, can one really get an appropriate automotive structural 
>adhesive at Lowes or Home Depot?
>
>I'm really NOT trying to be flippant here; I really AM curious about 
>this as I've heard much talk about structural adhesives in 
>automotive applications of late, and I really wonder if they are 
>applicable to body designs dating back 20-50 years.
>
>Thanks in advance to anyone with authoritative information!
>
>--Andy  Mace
>
>*Mrs Irrelevant: Oh, is it a jet?
>*Man: Well, no ... It's not so  much of a jet, it's more your, er, 
>Triumph Herald engine with  wings.
>-- Cut-price Airlines Sketch, Monty Python's Flying Circus  (22)
>
>Check out the North American Triumph Sports 6 (Vitesse 6) and 
>Triumph Herald Database at its new URL: <http://triumph-herald.us>
>
>________________________________________________________________________