[VAC] Re: 1966 Safari

[Jim Dunmyer <jdunmyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Terry,
 You can get the fiberglass cloth in a kit with the resin & hardener or
you can buy the components seperately. Available at most any autoparts
or good hardware store (look in the paint department).

You mix the resin and hardener, soak the cloth, and apply as needed.
It's very messy, so you want to mask off the areas where you don't want
it, especially when repairing things like the fridge vent. I used
masking tape and newspaper. Full instructions are on the package and
include working out the air bubbles as much as possible, etc. It goes
without saying that the surface to be repaired must be clean, no wax or
paint.

It sets up fairly quickly and you can add another layer or 2 if you feel
the need. IIRC, we used 2 layers on the stone guard/awning, but only 1
on the fridge vent. It can be sanded and painted as required.

It can be tough to get it really smooth, I find it about impossible, but
I'm not real experienced. Been using it for many years, but only on rare
occassion. The same stuff is quite suitable for repairing things like a
leaking fuel tank; I've done a couple of those. It's not uncommon for a
gas tank to rust or corrode under the holding straps, and it's easy to
repair such damage. My method includes removing the tank, cleaning with
a wire brush, then applying the cloth & resin. Never had a failure,
including on a 100-gallon aluminum truck saddle tank that I mounted on
my trenching machine. (lotsa vibration!)

It may or may not stick to the water and holding tanks used in an A/S;
they're some sort of plastic and bonding might be quite iffy.

A small kit is very inexpensive, less than $10.00, IIRC. In most cases,
it's much cheaper than replacing the component; the stone guard would
have cost $300.00 and my repair was well under $50.00, including the bug
bomb to paint it. The fridge vent didn't have to be removed and a new
one riveted in, either.

                                      <<Jim>>