Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 09:20:36 -0800
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Bad plastic(s)
In-Reply-To: <E817FD40-B069-4834-83A4-B3D2FD39642D@ocotillofield.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 2:50 AM, Mark L. Hineline <hineline@ocotillofield.net
> wrote:
> There is an awful lot of plastic in a Vanagon, and an awful lot of it
> is not much good after 30 years. Is there any kind of general fix for
> the parts that screw together, like the steering column cover? Some
> sort of epoxy - drill - tap trick?
>
> Mary
> '82 Westy
>
You *can* fix the plastic parts with epoxy. It takes some skills that
must be learned and it takes good epoxy with some varied additives. As
everyone said in the other posts, you are probably better off just finding
replacement parts..It is a bit tedious to do a functional repair, but I
sometimes do it anyhow.
I have no luck with cheap 5-minute epoxys that are found in chain
stores...Worthless stuff, IMHO.
but the general process goes like this...
First you need to rough up the area you want any epoxy to bond to. Dremel
tool or fussy hand work with a file or sandpaper. I use WEST System epoxy
for any repair I want to actually work...there are other good epoxys out
there, but I am familiar with the WEST System stuff and have it around my
boat shop/workshop.
There are various additives that modify the characteristics of
epoxy...micro balloons, micro fibers, cabosil, mill fibers, carbon/graphite
powder, etc etc. There are online sources of information on how to use this
stuff.
Your general task will be to form up, in epoxy, whatever is needed to
allow you to insert the mechanical fastener into the repair and to leave it
in there while the epoxy hardens...and then be able to get the fastener
loose after it has hardened. (and not make a big mess while doing this)
I use waxed paper or saran wrap to contain the "blob" of epoxy that will
accept the screw-bolt-or clip. I put some car wax or other slimy substance
onto the screw/bolt..whatever and insert that into the un-cured epoxy mix.
Let it harden and then back out the screw...Clean up the new "casting" again
with your dremel or whatever...and you now have your repair. The
microballoons are a pretty close match to the brown plastic in my 84 van...
I did all the corners of my map pocket a few years ago and it is still on
the door just fine. My dash pod is in need...but for now I am using washers
there.
