Front shell fasteners

[Leogasp]

Hello petrolheads!

I took my car to home a few weeks ago and i am carefully checking the whole car.



Lots of things were fixed, some works still to be finished.

I have discovered something that seems to be a problem with the front clam fasteners.



You can see the cracks on one side of the gpr. The rh is a little better but is not even properly fixed.

Someone had the same problem?

Edited by Leogasp on Thursday 3rd May 07:29

Edited by Leogasp on Thursday 3rd May 07:32

[MarkWebb]

Usually caused by grounding of the front of the car.

[738 driver]

Its a delicate area ..... in many contexts ...

The body is moulded around a very fine line of weight/strength/finish... Those mounting areas are quite small but in most cases do the job.
A piece of mesh about 50mm square supports/bonds the exposed boss to the clip moulding. If anything has been binding during the body-fit or main build, cracks will appear in the area.
The area can be carefully ground back, the steel mesh extended to a larger GRP surface and then re-laminated without damaging the gel-coat finish.. But care has to be taken when grinding and how much hardener/heat is present during lay-up.

Best to very carefully check for binding of the clip against the chassis/radiator etc first.

Have repaired broken ones and reinforced my mouldings around this area.

G luck.

[Steve_D]

Mine have failed on both sides over the years.
Both now have reinforcement plates welded and bonded.

Steve

[Graham-P]

Mine also, passenger side, reglassing/reinforcing is the only way I'm afraid.

[Leogasp]

Thank you all for the anwers!

This is my fasteners,



in not fixed from the inside but only with a thin sheet of fibreglass on the outside.

Do you think it is better fo fix it from the inside, exploiting the inside layer of the fiberglass?

[Verde]

Mine recently failed. I noticed that when driving a particularly rough part of the local interstate that the right side (U.S. passenger die) of the front clam was vibrating up and down much more so that the other. I opened it up and found that the original had vibrated itself loose from the bonding. As I do not weld (I am not the builder of the car; it has been done well above my skill level) I brought the whole clam and removed parts to a local shop specializing in supporting private racing teams and other custom cars and machinery. He fastened a new backing plate, TIG'd the collar piece on to it, and I recommended that we use West System's new structural repair epoxy rather than resin to affix it all. It looks and feels very solid. I just took it for a ride and all is well.
Seems to be a weak link in the design.
B

[MHunter]

mine failed to, on the right rear.

[hedgefinder]

MHunter said:

mine failed to, on the right rear.

same here.