bonding agents for mk 3 skirt

[sickrabbit]

The mk 3 skirt I won off ebay arrived today , its a bit scruffy , but has potential..the original owner had it screwed into place , but I would like to make a more cosmetic job of fitting this item , filling all the gaps and blatting the lot with a shade of miami blue....
I,ve worked with loads of resins for the R A F , so I,m more than aware of the sheer strength of these chemicals, ( but none in the auto types )and the problems that can occur - ...can anyone recommend , or inform me what I should use to do this job...? I did think of useing tiger seal , but have been warned off...
all info / advise appreciated .

[ade]

silkaflex (or sikaflex) - thats a good bonding material - compatible with resins - used by most car manufacturers. Comes in clear white or black but I'm sure it can be painted over.

If theres no fixings for the skirts I'd make wooden blocks and counter sink then onto the sills using self tapers. then bond some wooden blocks on the back of the skirts using epoxy resin (araldite or similar) or build up an area of fibreglass so you can counter sink a scren into the skirt so this can then be screwed to the block. All you have to do then is skim over the screw for an invisible job.

It means you'll never get the skirt off - just make sure you seal the top using sikaflex (?) and leave drainage holes.

Ade

[sickrabbit]

Cheers m8 will give it a go - when the weathers better - lol.
I really want to get this right and make a good job , so I,ll pop out and have a word about the product you mentioned ....it will be a permanent fixture - so caution will be the word of the day...and a steady hand to follow. As for the condition of the skirts themselves , I,m beggining to wish I,d brought new ones first off , but hell , its a bit late now , i fear lots of filling , sandpapering and swearing on its way........

[ade]

got a pic of the skirts?

If theyre fibreglass, should be okay to repair - depending on the state of course.

just make sure yoiu line them up properly.

Ade
:wink:

[sickrabbit]

sorrry m8 no pics ....yep the skirts fibre glass , so heres hoping i can spruce em up a bit before fitting em.

Ade , have you any experience in recovering the front door cards ? Mine are blue n red piped and look well naff. Is it possible to remove arm rest and door compartments before recovering ??
Its either that or go for carbon look, or alloy cards front n back and then respray the arm rest ect ....
If its possible to recover and refit the rest / compartments plain grey vinyl will be the choice to match the dash and rear quarters....

cheers m8

oz -aka sickrabbit

[ade]

yeah you can recover door cards easily.

depending on your model (mines a mk2) Theres about 6 screws on the bottom of the door under the lower door pocket and 2 big ones underneath the upper arm rest. You also need to prise off the door handle surround and remove the window winder (if not electric) - watch when doing this coz the clip always pings off! (see haynes for how to).

Then you carefully pull the door card off. Its on pegs. Its just make of plywood

To remove the armrest, simply turn the card over and unscrew it.

To recover mine, I used a hot glue gun and carefully followed the contours of the vynal/materialglueing on the reverse of the material and then folding over to get a clean edge. you could dtaple it but its a bit of a faff. Practice 1st though. My door cards were the basic merit ones - the SR ones are a tad harder because theyve got that round bit where the winder goes.

I was gonna stain my grey vynal with black vynal stain (halfords) but couldnt be arsed.

Hope this helps

Ade

[sickrabbit]

cheers ade , as soon as easters upon us I,ll give it a go , gonna be plain grey all over on the door cards as I too cant be bothered with recolouring the rests ect. I think I,ll use carpet spray adhesive to bond the fibres together...( Ive a sneaky feeling bad language will follow ) keep em crossed all will be fine n dandy ..

regs - oz