Citroën ID/DS Alternative body panel repair

Below I will describe an alternative technique which can be used to repair body panels without welding.

The repair method can be used for body panels and is based on a very strong flexible industrial Glue. The main advantages of this technique are:

• Low cost, the glue with primer cost around $35. So no rental cost or investment needed for a welder.
• Can be done anywhere, no fire hazard.
• No heat distorsion, this is important for surfaces as e.g. a door.
• No rust can enter between two glued elements, this is very likely to happen with an overlap weld.
• It is not nessesary to use an angle grinder to finish the panel and therefor again no heat is build up in the panel causing a distorsion.
• Only very little plastic filler is needed to finish the repair.

The materials used.

The basic materials used are:

• Sheet metal
• Tools to cut and bend the sheet metal and tools to hold the glued piece into place.
• The glue. The glue I used is a flexible glue. It looks like a sealer but has stong characteristics if applied properly in combination with the correct primer. A short product description of the glue I used can be found below. There are probably other manufacturers of industrial flexible glues but I only have experiences with this make.

Hints and Tips

This technique has a number of advantages but a few things have to be kept in mind;

• Do not use the technique in constructions where the plates are pulled (see figure)
• When applying this technique make sure that its applied only where its allowed. For instance in the Netherlands this means that this technique can only be used in non-structural parts of the body. In the case of an ID/DS this means that it can not be used on the chassis.
• The technique can be used for:
  • Doors, Door corners, Door lower half repair sections, Door skins.
  • Attaching the metal strip on the lower inside part of a door (holding the sealing rubber).
  • Trunk lid box sections.
  • Front wings below the indicator lights, the wheel arch.
  • Rear wings.
• The glue can be easyly peeled off where no primer was used. Aceton will easyly remove stains. A sharp knive can also help to remove too much glue.
• Fastening the parts can be done using C clamps, welding clamps or anything else that can hold the parts together during the hardening (24 hours)

Repair of a door corner.

In this Example I will tackle a typical job for this technique being a door corner repair.

1. Decide which part of the door corner to cut out. Do not cut very closely around the rust but make sure that all the material not cut out is without major rust damage.
2. Cut the rusted part outoff the door. For this job you can use a hacksaw, tin snips and or an angle grinder.
3. Make a patch out off sheet steel to glue behind the edge of the repair patch. Make sure that this patch overlaps the door and repair patch at least 3cm on both sides.Also make the door corner repair patch and bend the edges of the repair patch around 90 degrees.
4. Clean the surfaces thoroughly with the adviced cleaner and put primer on all the surfaces to be glued. Wait a couple of hours (see manufacturer product sheet) for the primer to dry and then apply the glue on one side of the surface to be glued.
5. Join the parts together and use e.g. clamps to hold the parts together during the period the glue needs to dry (see product sheet of the manufacturer).
6. Remove the clamps and use a hammer and dolly to finish the edges. Use a good sealer for the edges.
7. Protect the inside of the door with a good primer and a WAX product.
8. Finish the outside of the door with plastic filler, primer and a topcoat.

Product information

Below you will find some information about the Glue I used. Of course there will be other suitable makes, but good results are achieved with this product. The product is called VIBA PURAFLEX. I used as a primer (for galvanized and clean metal) PP 5003 (time to dry 2 hours) and PF 2005 as the glue (It looks like a black sealing kit). The time to dry for the glue is 24 hours. The product is imported in the Netherlands by VIBA NV, Zoetermeer. The product sheet explains all the ins and outs of using this technique together with the technical information and lists other glues and primers for other materials or demands. One disadvantage of the product is the limited shelflife of 9 month. Loctide has a similar glue in thier product offering. I have no experience with the loctide product.

• www.schaalbouw.nl/citroen © 2014 E.Paijmans
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