Reynard Floor Panel - To bond or not to bond.

Hi,

The chassis for my '84 Reynard FF is shortly off for powder coating back to semi-gloss black as it would have been from the factory. Surprisingly, the chassis is quite straight and with very little evidence of previous damage. There is light surface rust, but nothing too bad - probably a legacy of coming from Arizona!

I know the topic of bonding the floor panel has been well covered on here but my question is 'should I bond it on'? It wasn't bonded from the factory, this was a good car in it's day and I wonder if bonding the floor on will change the characteristics of the car. I recognize that it could probably 'improve' the car, but is that really the idea?

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has one of these cars on their experience and if they bonded or not, the pro's and con's generically to bonding etc.

Thank you.

Max

If the car has not yet gone to powder coat, definitely hold off until you make the "bond or not" decision. You want the glue on freshly cleaned, dried bare steel.

I know nothing of rocker arm cars, as to whether they like a flexy chassis or not, hopefully others chime in.

A good powder coat shop will mask the areas that need masking with a heat resistant tape and silicone plugs for all the fastener holes.

You can buy both on Amazon, do the work yourself, and have it done right and cheaper too.

I can't stress this enough, you want to mask all the fastener holes or buy a reamer for each size bolt (not a drill bit!).

Not sure I'd coat after bonding. The oven is hot enough to break down the glue to some extent.

9/10 the lack of factory bonding was due to cost and not performance.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rick Kirchner

A good powder coat shop will mask the areas that need masking with a heat resistant tape and silicone plugs for all the fastener holes.

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Agreed, my comment was meant to prevent the possible case of "send a masked chassis to coating, get it back, then decide not to bond the floor".
Now the chassis is bare on the bottom after coating...
cheers

As someone who has peeled about 18" of the pan away from an off at Buttonwillow, I vote for bonding. There is nothing like realizing as you come into the paddock that the floor of your car is scraping on the ground and your fuel cell has pieces of asphalt packed underneath it...

His Purpleness had it even worse with his FC.

I used to race an 84 Reynard FC. They are very good and forgiving cars. But I would definitely bond the floor and use the proper rivets (as has been discussed in another thread).
I had a constant issue with loose rivets and pan due to a lack of bonding. Maybe that’s what makes the car so good, but the constant maintenance was a bit of a chore.

I too wonder if bonding the floor will change the characteristics of the car at all, but I have also seen floor panels un-zipped and the driver left sitting on the ground! Going sideways on grass in that case. So for safety reasons I will be taking the advice given here and bonding the panel on.

Thank you all,

Max

Avex. And get a cheap air riveter to speed up the job. Plenty of Clecos, and 2*4s and c clamps to hold the pan in the perfect position once you lay the ally onto the chassis.

It sounds like it is too late to install the 1.25" strips along the bottom of the tube frame that would allow you to solid-rivet to the floorpan...... But if it isn't, do it.....

bt

If you want to avoid drilling more holes in your chassis, these are ideal to match and drill your new pan depending on hole size. Worth every penny, along with the box of clecos...

https://www.aircraft-tool.com/search...rap+duplicator

Hi,

I'll be refitting the original floor which is in good shape, so no problem there, but I have seen these - quite ingenious!

Max