Author Topic: 68 grille center plastic repair  (Read 6384 times)

DAVEN1256

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 421
    • View Profile
68 grille center plastic repair
« on: September 14, 2013, 04:00:28 PM »
I have a corner broken off of my 68 grill center. Broken off in three pieces. What is the best adhesive to repair this plastic?

Thanks........Dave


Steve68

  • CRG Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 521
    • View Profile
Re: 68 grille center plastic repair
« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2013, 04:32:15 PM »
Dave,

Try some Loctite super glue.  Professional liquid.  Got mine at Lowes.

Steve

I have a corner broken off of my 68 grill center. Broken off in three pieces. What is the best adhesive to repair this plastic?

Thanks........Dave



ggtsvnv

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 190
    • View Profile
Re: 68 grille center plastic repair
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2013, 09:41:53 PM »
I like JB plastic weld. Once dry you can sand it and it will fill in the cracks so once painted you'll never see it. Any hardware store sells it.

68Zproject

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1868
    • View Profile
Re: 68 grille center plastic repair
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2013, 01:44:05 AM »
I use a soldering gun and melt both sides and then press together, welds it together like new.  I'd practice on some old junk plastic first.  Then sand and ?
68Z28

68rs327conv

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 111
    • View Profile
    • The build
Re: 68 grille center plastic repair
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2013, 12:17:50 PM »
JB Weld Plastic
Mike
68 RS Conv 327/210hp, Powerglide Factory AC

DAVEN1256

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 421
    • View Profile
Re: 68 grille center plastic repair
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2013, 02:43:20 AM »
Thanks for the replies and suggestions............ The grille I am trying to repair is an NOS GM grille I bought that was damaged during shipping. This is what I have tried so far. I have been cutting test pieces out my old beat up grille that the NOS one is replacing and tyring different adhesives. I make sure the mating surfaces are clean and sanded................I have tried ABS plastic pipe glue, Testors model airplane glue, Loctite super glue, regular JB Weld, and JB  Plastic Weld. I have some Gorilla epoxy curing now. With each,  I have glued two flat pieces together and then tried to pry them apart after they are cured. The ABS pipe glue, Testors, Loctite, and regular JB Weld all failed pretty easily. The strongest bond was the JB Plastic Weld. It was more difficult to split apart than all the others and it was the Plastic Weld itself that broke apart. It's bond to the pieces of the grille did not not break where all of the others did.

I was hoping one of these would melt the plastic together or bond strong enough where the plastic would break before the adhesive.

I also tried melting with a soldering iron but the soldering iron I have doesn't seem to get hot enough to really make the plastic flow.

It seems from what I read that you really need to know what kind of plastic you are dealing with in order to find the correct adhesive. There are some plastic adhesives that say they won't work on polyethylene or polypropylene plastics.....Does anyone know for sure what these '68 center grilles are made of ?

Anyone ever heard of Plastex and tried it?

Thanks.....Dave

JohnZ

  • CRG Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4365
    • View Profile
Re: 68 grille center plastic repair
« Reply #6 on: September 22, 2013, 04:16:22 PM »
Most automotive plastics like that are either ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) or something else close to the ABS family of plastics.
'69 Z/28
Fathom Green
CRG

firstgenaddict

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2882
  • caretaker of 1971 LT1's 11130 & 21783
    • View Profile
    • Groome Family Automobiles
Re: 68 grille center plastic repair
« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2013, 06:57:16 PM »
BTW - most plastic welders have ABS rods included.
James
Collectin' Camaro's since "Only Rednecks drove them"
Current caretaker of 1971 LT1's - 11130 and 21783 Check out the Black 69 RS/Z28 45k mile Survivor and the Lemans Blue 69 Z 10D frame off...
https://plus.google.com/photos/112392262205377424364/albums?banner=pwa

cook_dw

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3981
    • View Profile
Re: 68 grille center plastic repair
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2013, 08:43:29 PM »
The 2 part epoxies have worked for me in the past.  I've also used old pieces of the same plastic & a soldering iron. But the latter was not good as far as apperance.. 

 

anything