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It's my body


TommyK

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My Saturn SL-1 is in need of some body work. I cut a corner short last winter and rode up on a frozen snow bank. It cracked the lower portion of the passenger side door. There is one crack from the horizontal crease from the door latch side to about 3/4 of the width of the door that extends to the bottom of the door and another crack emanating from that to the lower latch side corner. All pieces are accounted for.

 

My plan was to take the skin off, line up the cracks, then reinforce it on the inside with a steel or aluminum strap, with holes in it by spanning the cracks the gluing with epoxy. I'd span the fractures like cleating a cracked guit tar top.

 

My other thought was to apply a resin soaked fiberglass mat to the inside, after lining up the pieces. I'm thinking the resin will wick into the cracks and help them stick together.

 

I'm liking the fiberglass option as the resin is transparent and the epoxys I have available to me are icky colored opaque. Do you think the fiberglass mat, after the resin sets will be stiff enough to keep the cracks from flexing after installation, thereby opening up on the outside? Any wick-through drips would be easier to clean up ... or not.

 

The door skins on this car are composite. I.E. Reaction injection molded (RIM) plastic.

 

Given the location of the cracks it should be nearly invisible.

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