Date:         Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:52:32 -0600
Reply-To:     Max Wellhouse <dimwittedmoose@CFU.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Max Wellhouse <dimwittedmoose@CFU.NET>
Subject:      Re: plastic blower assembly fix(long)
In-Reply-To:  <499D85A7.2050605@myfairpoint.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Mike is right.  I would buy some 8 oz fiberglass cloth in one of
those Bondo kits and wet out 4-5 layers of it with a good epoxy.  If
you're going to go the easy way and use one of the $3 syringe units,
make sure the epoxy is NOT one of the 5 minute ones.  I'm pretty sure
you can buy those syringes with a 2 hour cure time and then speed the
cure up with a moderate heat source.  I would adequately sand the
plastic area on the housing back an inch or so so the glass and epoxy
will bond to it, and then reinstall the blower unit so it's up flush
as if it were screwed down.  Using clamps or weights or tape to hold
it in place is a good thing, but I wouldn't tighten down the two tabs
that are still good as that would tend to pull the other two away
from the body.  It isd also a good idea to use a couple of 3-4"
squares of the Saran or Glad Wrap to cover the body area(taping them
down is fine) so you don't get resin bleeding down into your threaded
holes.  The epoxy and glass won't bond the the Saran wrap and keep
the roll handy after you get the matrix on the assembly as you'll
cover the repair with the Saran wrap to work the last little bits of
air out of the laminate.

Once you're satisfied that it's in there snugly,  make yourself a
palate from a piece of plastic or Saran Wrap-covered wood(snugly
attached with tape on the edges) or equivalent and mix your epoxy on
the palate and add the glass pieces.  If you cut the cloth
diagonally(called "on the bias"), the cloth will conform to the funky
curves better.  Put on the exam gloves, unless you're good with a
throwaway brush and popsicle sticks, and mush the epoxy into your two
stacks of cloth squares.  Once you get all the air out of them and
they are totally saturated with the epoxy(they'll take on a
transparent appearance), you're ready to transfer the stuff to the
heater tab area.  Work the pieces down over  the broken areas having
half of the laminate on the housing and the other half over the area
where the screw hole is.  Give yourself some surface area to spread
the load out with.  You can always trim the excess off later if
needed.  When you have it in place, cover the work with the second
set of Saran Wrap Squares and work all the excess resin and air out
using your fingers(by now yo can shed the gloves and use bare hands
to work on top of the plastic wrap).  Play with it until it's fairly
smooth and to your liking, and then take a rag or paper towel and
clean up the excess with acetone or similar solvent.  Allow it to
cure.  It iwl be fully cured when you can easily remove the plastic
wrap from the repair.  You can speed it along some with a trouble
light, but if you se a hair dryer, be careful not to melt the plastic
wrap.  Once it's set up for good.  remove all four pieces of plastic
wrap and  mark where you want to drill your holes.  Remove the unit
and drill and trim anything you'd like to get off the edges of the
repair(it's always nice to have a sanitary repair even if no one's
going to see it).  Reinstall it and you should be good to go.

Good luck

DM&FS

At 10:15 AM 2/19/2009, Mike Collum wrote:
>Greg S wrote:
>I will check out the JB Weld thanks.
>
>While JB Weld is wonderful stuff, it doesn't work well where there is
>stress.  If you put the tabs back on with that stuff, you'll soon be
>taking the dash apart again.
>
>Mike