Ok, well it came up in another thread and I've been thinking about it for the past day or so as I was working on some of my own rust. I'm really leaning towards putting the inner fender apron, kick panel, lower cowl together with panel bond. This seems to be just as strong as welding and it should resolve the issue of water getting in there and re-creating the rust since acts like a sealer.

To me, the only barrier right now is the cost of the applicator. So, does anyone in the club have one that they'd be willing to either A) lend out for a weekend or B) come and help in exchange for beer/food?

Feel free to call out any potential issues I may be overlooking. I don't mind welding but where those panels come together seems like a great spot to use panel bond versus welding.

Also, if anyone knows where you can get the applicator for cheap, speak up. Amazon had a manual one for $150. I'm also assuming/looking at the 3M brand stuff.

Best stuff ever.Most new cars are assembled with this process,along with spot weldining areas.It's been used on aircraft for years.Some shops have a spot welder that has a preburn cycle that burns the panel bond back a certain amount and then welds it.Good stuff.

They say its as strong or stronger than welding. Some new cars are using it in a lot of places. For example, we glue truck bedside skins on, along the top rail, and the wheel well, but weld the front panel, rear tailgate opening & at each stake pocket in the top rail.

At least, I'd spot weld some, and panel bond some, on structural stuff. I like the idea of using it between the bottom of the inner & outer rocker panels. But a carefully applied, high quality seam sealer will do as good a job as necessary to keep water out.

We use the 3m Automix stuff, but I think SEM & Valvoline make products that fit in the same gun. Our paint & supply house offered to sell me a generic gun for $60 when I asked about it. Here is one on Amazon that is cheaper.

http://www.amazon.com/3M-8571-200-Ml-Ap ... utomix+gun

I have a gun you can use.. this is the one i have.

Screen Shot 2016-03-14 at 7.59.11 PM.png

They glue together large chunks of airliners. You should be fine, and it seems like it'd be faster and more accurate than welding since warp would be as big an issue.

Well, this is why I love this group. You all either completely enable me or just encourage the . Landshark, I'll ping you when I'm ready to glue it all together.

We will also be using panel adhesive on our tailgate repair. I used it on my 74 for the rear quarter that I replaced and it has worked out very well. I bought the adhesive from my local PPG shop and they lend out the gun with a deposit when you buy adhesive from them.

On a tailgate repair panel, there will be a couple very long seams. How well does this stuff sand down if you goober it on? when I did the rear lower quarter, none of the adhesive was exposed so I had no occasion to sand it down that time.

The 3M 8115 is toolable,meaning it can be sanded and primed.

Sands ok, kind of tough, you'll probably want to use 120g on a DA sander. Or use one of these on a die grinder (there are less agressive discs too)

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_fb ... tive%2C167

http://www.amazon.com/3M-07480-Coarse-S ... B0002STR90

or clean it up with lacquer thinner before it sets up.