Well, no one else has responded yet, so I will give the overview and
let the other more body work oriented fill in the details.
Basically, you're screwed. The acrylic panels are non-repairable in the
sense of fixing them to keep the acrylic showing. Acrylic panels are
also very hard to come by depending on the color of the car (white
hood extensions in pristene condition are I believe impossible to come
by). But, if they are to be found, on this list is probably your best bet, or
you could try Terry or Bob.
The acrylic had serious design flaws leading to the cracks and ripples
you describe. Basically, your options become a) leave the cracks and
ripples and have an acrylic brick, or b) repair with fiberglass and paint
and have a painted brick, or c) scoure the country for replacement NOS
panels and shell out a fortune and have an acrylic brick.
It should be noted, that if you are going to repair and paint, you need to
pay close attention to the primer the others will tell you about (sorry, I
have a minorly cracked and rippled brick, not painted and don't know the
details). Most paints and primers don't like to stick to the acrylic, or if
they do, they like to eat it.
Seth
#1544
On 11/12/01, at 2:10 PM, jugeauj@gdls.com wrote:
>My Bricklin's body panels are riddled with cracks and ripples.
>The cracks were filled in by some previous owner and the entire car
>painted.
>With the car painted red (and now faded) it overall looks like a
>topographical map of Mars.
>The paint job is pretty crappy so if I own the car long enough I'm fixing
>to strip the paint off and hopefully refurbish the acrylic.
>
>Question:
>Has anyone had any experience in repairing the acrylic on these body
>panels?
>i.e. filing in a crack with the same type of material possibly using some
>sort of solvent to "melt"/blend the area together.
>I don't know the chemical properties of acrylic nor what solvents would
>lend the best working properties.
>I realize that color matching will pose problem.
>Or, is there an acrylic patch kit readily available?
>
>Question:
>When a body panel cracks, does it crack all the way through (ie: to the
>fiberglass side) or is localized to the surface.
>I haven't done any exploratory surgery yet so I'm wondering what the depth
>would be when digging and cleaning cracks.
>
>What I'm trying to get away from is painting.
>Part of the selling point of the Bricklin was the acrylic panels and is
>what's often quoted about when now talking about the car.
>So, I'd like to keep the acrylic showing even with blemishes dismissing it
>as one of the Bricklin's idiosyncrasies when explaining to those curious.
>
>
>Thanks All,
>
>Louis
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