Repair early VALANCE panels with soldering iron!!!

[bugdewde]

Ronnie has 26+ Vegas and a few Monzas at his place. He has a website: http://www.vegaguy.com/
And has regular ads on Knoxville, TN Craigslist.

He took a few minutes to show us how he repairs the early Vega Valance panels.... the ones that are a hard-type plastic ('73 in this case).

He uses a butane powered soldering iron.

First, he places the two pieces together and simply "welds" the two pieces together with the soldering iron tip.... the one that looks like a flat-head screwdriver (Sorry that I don't have a pic for that process... my cell phone camera didn't work like I wanted it to so it got lost).

He says if you remove the paint first and clean up the area to be fused, it works even better. This was just a demo, so he simply "welded" the pieces together blending paint and grime all together. It was surprisingly strong.
Simply use a circular motion down the crack to "weld" (melt) the two halves together...... just like welding.

Second, he uses the spoon-type attachment to scrape the excess/buildup off... making the surface more smooth.

Valance cleanup.jpg

valance fill in.jpg

Third, he then uses the same attachment to melt some shrink-wrap tubing onto the repair to act as a filler material.

finished.jpg

This valance was completed in less than 10 minutes..... obviously, more time would be used to clean/prep the area but since this was just a demo it wasn't a pristine job, but you get the idea.

[cjbiagi]

I have fixed a number of urethane parts like that. Just did my daughters 2009 Pontiac G6 front bumper. A large rock hit it and pushed a hole in it. Fortunately the piece was still being held in place along one edge. So, I pushed it back into position and melted the remaining perimeter with a soldering iron. That secured the piece in place and then it was normal sanding and filling, prime and paint. You are basically melting the edges together for a good structural bond and then do your bodywork. Works like a dream.

[kgroombr]

I have fix several 71-73 valances with this:

http://www.urethanesupply.com/PlastiFix/

Much easier than welding, and super strong. Files and sands just like the real plastic and doesn't require filler if done right.

Doesn't work on 74+ plastic valances though.

Ken