Repairing Plastic Parts
Over time you will find that, no matter how careful you are, you will end up with a broken mounting tab on a piece of plastic somewhere. I have been making various repairs to plastic parts on teh 960 that worked out quite well so thought I would share.
Here is one example to guide you- On my '93 960, the door speaker grillwork is a slide-snap fit. The rear end being two tabs that slide into slots, and the front end has two hollow, cube protrusions molded into the back of the grill that fit over two plastic ?T studs? that protrude from the door panel that get captured in the two slotted cubes. All it takes is one idiot trying to remove the grill by pulling instead of sliding to break or crack the mounting ?cubes.? As my grill had gotten to the point of falling off all on its own I figured that I had little to lose, so I did the repair this way-
Using some plastic stock of some sort (for this repair I used an old
3.5? floppy diskette) and a tube of ?Grip-Ton-Ite? super glue for plastic from Devcon (or equivalent). I got mine at Lowe?s. It specifically states that it is for plastic. This stuff, from what I can tell, is superglue with a solvent in it. The theory seems to be that it melts the plastic surface then glues it together with the super glue when the solvent evaporates. I will say that from my various experiences with the stuff in the garage and in the home that it really works, even in small surface area, medium-high stressed parts like little hanging tabs on kitchen tools and the like!Split the floppy case into its two halves and discard all the innards including the white slippery stuff that lines the halves. You can now cut new parts from the plastic case. If you need to form angles, chuck the part in a vise and using a heat gun, gently heat the area of the plastic closest to the vise. When the plastic seems soft enough, use a piece of sheet metal or equivalent and bend the angle you need. Let it cool for a minute then remove from the vise.
Using a sharp pair of scissors you can trim the pieces to fit over the contour of what is left of the original broken plastic. To cut openings or other shapes, use a rotary tool on low speed. If too much of the original plastic part is missing, some creative cutting and gluing can fabricate what you need. If too much is missing, find some thicker plastic to work with, or build up the part using multiple layers of the repair plastic.
For more robust repairs, use thicker plastic. I have made a couple of high stress repairs using scrap pieces of a ?corner guard?- the 90 degree stuff that you put on corners of walls to protect the wallpaper from wear (also purchased at Lowe?s). I cut it to shape with sharp scissors much the same way that I did for the speaker grill. I used this stuff to repair ('replace' actually) the tabs on the front edge of the flat plastic panel under the radiator area- the one in front of the large, plastic splash pan.
Another I did yesterday was to repair the interior panel. The one on the inside, rear quarter panel- the panel with the access cover for the tailight bulb access (it's a wagon/estate). The panel was split through at the bottom center of the tail light access hole where it is the narrowest. Children and shoifting cargo break that panel in that area. I filed the back smooth, and cut and filed a repair patch from that clear plastic I mentioned. I sanded it to give it a "tooth." I first glued the split to keep it in places and when that was dry (it actually held!) I and primed both the panel and the repair patch with a coat of the glue. I let it set for about fifteen seconds then hed the patch in place with small clamps and clothespins. In less than ten minues it was ready to install and felt as strong (or stronger!) than new.
With some care and patience, these sorts of repairs can be easily accomplished, and save the unnecessary replacement of expensive parts that won't be any stronger then what ws broken, and probably weaker than the repaired part. You will find this super glue for plastic will quickly become a 'staple' in your repair kit! from Randy & Valerie __ __ \ \ / / \ \/ / \__/olvo 1993 960