Ive finally gotten a chance to work on my Bricklin a bit and have been
fitting the new roof panel and the A-pillar panels (all fiberglass) and in
doing so have come up with a few questions. Ill be posting this both via
email and in the BI forum, so please respond to either place.
John Blair, since you recently went through all this, Id especially welcome
your input.
1. Due to either the shape of the replacement roof panel or the bird cage,
the edge (flange) of the roof panel does not have a flush fit with the bird
cage all the way around the door openings. There are a couple of gaps that
are maybe 1/16 and one that approaches 1/8. Ive tried drawing it down
with clamps, but Im afraid to put too much pressure on it and crack it. Am
I better off using an adhesive like Sikaflex Marine Caulk (which as Rick R
has mentioned works and is paintable) to attach the panels and fill in the
cracks or should I use some other panel adhesive and go back and fill in the
gaps with something else??
Either way, should I grind off the POR-15 and Tie Coat Primer at the point
of contact so the adhesive will have bare metal to grip?
Do most people who have replaced panels use pop rivets, like originally
used, to hold the panels in place while the adhesive cures and maintain the
stock look, or do they go custom and skip the rivets and use clamps??
2. Those of you who have painted, what type of paint (2 part polyurethane,
Imron, acrylic lacquer, acrylic enamel, etc.) did you use on the exterior
and what did you use for the underside of the hood??
3. Door hinges- in order to judge how much to grind off the roof flange at
the hinge opening, I reinstalled the hinges and the shims to their original
positions. Sure enough, at the top of their swing, two of them (left front
and right rear) scrape against the top of the new roof just like they did on
the old roof. By taking 2-3 of the shims out of each one, I can get them to
clear the roof, but now Im worried that by raising the hinge a bit, Ill
also be raising the door enough so that it wont fit properly. There is no
way to hold the roof panel in place and fit the doors (unless I use pop
rivets or glue it in place) so I can check this out. Have any of you had
to change the number of door shims and if so, was there a substantial and
adverse change in the fit of the door??
Any help with any of these questions would be greatly appreciated. Im
trying to get this project done so I can attend the meet in June which will
be the first National meet since Hershey in 1976.
Alan Coleman
#246 Original Owner
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