Front valance repair

[Dougal9887]

I had always been aware of cracks in the front valance lip, that's the lip between the radiator and chassis, both where it is bolted to the chassis and at one corner near the wheel arch. I imagine this may have occurred from beaching the nose on a kerb or similar, although there is no evidence of other damage.
Anyway, as the chassis came away from the body, in preparation for outrigger repair, the cracks became tears, so a more major repair is required.
I decided that, due to the critical positioning of this lip tight against the chassis ends, that it would be best to cut out a section, tidy it up and take a mould, laminate up a new section then wait till the chassis is back in position before bolting the new section to the chassis and finally laminating back onto the valance. The joints will be tapered away by 2 or 3 inches allowing a good lay-up and invisible joint. I think I'll change the brass 'ferrules'? used by TVR for Lotus body fixing 'bobbins' which spread the load rather better.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/Pjh0R1Au[/url]



One question - there is a section cutout of the top of the lip on the right hand side fro the wheel arch to near the centre. The effect of doing this cutout has been to remove the bond between the inner and outer skin lips which will have much reduced strength in this area. Does anyone know the purpose of this cutout and whether it is original? I can't remember any clearance issues there when the chassis was in place but then I wasn't aware of the cutout. It may have been made to provide easier access to something at sometime.

[Dougal9887]

Can anyone get a photo of this area please?
Dougal.

[Steve_D]

I don't think that step in the flange is normal but will look at some bodies on Monday (we have a few sitting around!!!).

For your repair I would get a piece of aluminium angle (or bend a piece of sheet ali) and clamp it to the front of the flange with a piece of polythene sheet trapped behind. Then drill a hole to bolt the bobbin in the correct place. You can then lay-up GF behind the flange having already prepared the area for a decent bond.

Steve

[Dougal9887]

Thanks Steve.
Unfortunately you cannot laminate this from inside the nose due to it being a double skin. Hence the mould.
Dougal.

[Dougal9887]

Made a start on this today.
First job to repair the section cut out ready to take a mould from.

[Dougal9887]

[Dougal9887]

[Steve_D]

Checked 2 bodies and found the cut-out but when I checked a third car built up I realised it's to clear the bottom hose so has to be there.

Steve

[Dougal9887]

Thanks Steve, makes sense.
Strange that it's such a poorly executed cut and that it effectively separates the two skins by cutting away the lip join.
Dougal.

[Dougal9887]

A few more pics of progress.


The mould.
Bobbins in place and gel coat.
Out of the mould.

[Dougal9887]

Now that the rest of the car is pretty much back together, I've made some progress with this repair. Here are some photos

New section in place and tapered along the joint ready for glassing in.

Same from the inside. You can see that the new section is a tight fit to the inner skin. Previously there had been a bonded gap of 1/4" or so, making the chassis fit a forced in fit, hence the cracks I think. Just the nature of a handmade glass fibre body.

Glassed in.

First coat of filler.
Dougal