GODDAMNED RUST

Conor ( snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Sorry - just remind us how long ago this bloody bonnet was sprayed...?

This summer, wasn't it?

And they didn't see the rot because of "road muck" when they were painting it...?

Sounds to me like the paint's doing well not to have fallen off before now. I'm no expert on prep for paint, but even I know you need to at least wash the damn car.

Erm, I assumed the road muck had accumulated since the respray.

Although I do recall this paint job being done on the cheap at 'mates rates' - I've experienced paint jobs done in this way before, they were usually only any good for a quick tart up before flogging the car.

Yeah. Looking back through the photos, it's come from somewhere which was actually good metal and showed no signs so you can imagine it came as a bit of a shock. Got a funny feeling it may have been rot that's been hidden in the seam weld for the frame.

...which is how all the rot repairs on my car were done.

I reckon all Capri bonnets are now pretty much knackered and it's only by luck that it's not broken through.

Time for a new one methinks. That'll be a good few hundred quid.

Lead rusts?

No. It's actually broken through on the leading edge which was good metal when the paint was stripped off it. I was merely making a point that it was a proper job, even though it was a mates rate job ( although £1250 with me supplying all materials and panels is hardly a £100 wag over) and not just "Ooh look - a bit of rust, lets slap some gobbo over it."

Had a look this morning and it has gone where the frame is so that's why we didn't see it before respray.

Having had a proper objective look at it, it may be worth repairing it after winter. No point doing it before then in case something else rears it's head.

Considering the condition of the car before the respray, it's not done that bad and I suppose I always thought something would show up over winter if it was going to.

It's the only real answer. I wouldn't go for fibreglass on any part of a car TBH, you just can't get the strength in a shape that was originally made in metal (fibreglass has to be thicker for the same strength).

My answer is usually to cut it out and weld in new metal, but as we all know, it's really difficult to get all the rust out, especially when there's a frame, so it tends to come back. It has on my Elf, where I thought I had got it all. And I don't have the option of a new one on that!

Chris Bolus realised it was Sat, 09 Dec 2006

I wonder if you really need strength in things like bonnets or bootlids. They're only there to shape the car and keep rain out, but they aren't structural. A shaped sheet of ABS glued onto a well designed framework would suffice, I'd think. The front wings on many modern cars (my 2002 Renault Laguna II being one of them) are made from fairly thin plastic and I don't imagine the wings on a Capri are much more structural items. If they could have made them economically out of plastic in the seventies or eighties, I think they would have.

One thing you can't do with fibreglass is to pretend that it is steel and design your new panel exactly the same as the steel one it replaces. In the case of a bonnet I see no reson why a double skinned affair - where there is sufficient clearance, perhaps not the bit just above the engine - with a foam filling between the layers (think surfboard) shouldn't be just as rigid as the original and probably a lot lighter. All you have to do then is solve the problem of bonding the hinges and fastener(s) permanently into it and Bob's your uncle. There is however a problem: if you have a head on accident, the fibreglass bonnet won't crumple - it will probably come straight back and try to cut your head off. This did actually happen to the MD of AC Cars when they tried a fibreglass bonnet panel on the Ace. Luckily he ducked in time. I wonder what some of these Cobra replicas use...

Ron Robinson

DOnkeys years ago, I actually used to work in a GRP shop as a trimmer/finisher. What you should find is that they've glassed in a metal bar and hopefully done it with captive nuts on or threaded it.

Conor ( snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

So they leaded over rust...?

No. Where did you get that idea from?

However they are made of that by design, as were a number of panels on my Citroen BX as far back as '86. Those panels had reinforcing webs on the back.

But my point is that you can't make a replacement panel that will fit correctly and have enough strength. You're right that a Capri bonnet isn't structural, but it would need enough strength to prevent flexing when open on a stay, or even the uplift force from the wind while driving. Have you seen the size of a Capri bonnet?

Lead may have been 'the thing' once upon a time, but not anymore. There are far better alternatives.

Lead itself of course doesn't rust, but it promotes corrosion in the surrounding steel due to electro-chemical action. It was commonly used as a body filler before better alternatives became available. And I don't mean porous fibreglass filler.

Was having a conversation with an acquaintance of mine who used to have a few Capris a while back. He did the fibreglass bonnet thing but said that once you started to get up to motorway speeds, both corners would try to lift up and it'd end up shaking. He put bonnet pins in to stop this but I'd rather not. Also mentioned that the area around the hinges cracked but having worked in the GRP industry myself once upon a time, that's down to cheap s*it manufacturing as they could have used core mat in those areas which is as strong as steel.

Looking like it's going to be a metal one or repair and hope.