On Mon, 19 Mar 2018 09:25:50 -0400, Frank "frank wrote:

On 3/19/2018 8:38 AM, dadiOH wrote:
"Nil" wrote in message
...
On 18 Mar 2018, Oren wrote in alt.home.repair:

On Sun, 18 Mar 2018 17:33:18 -0400, Nil
wrote:

The plastic cowl that covers the front bumper of my 1998 Mercury
Grand Marquis is broken underneath and the loose ends are dangling
down and will surely get caught on something before long. I'd like
to repair it before it gets worse.

What it used to look like:

https://www.carid.com/images/replace...fo1000518v.jpg

What it looks like now (taken from below, looking up toward the
radiator):

http://i68.tinypic.com/oiu492.jpg

How can I fix this? the broken surfaces need to be strong against
pulling-apart forces, so I guess simple glue or tape won't cut it.
I was thinking of maybe drilling holes on each side and lacing the
breaks together with wire or plastic zip ties. Appearance is
unimportant, as this is underneath the car and not normally
visible.

Any suggestions?

Have you thought about epoxy? A chemist will be here soon.
Is the material plastic or carbon fiber. Dang If I know.

No, I haven't. I've used epoxy a couple of times for filling holes, but
not for bonding. Do you think it would hold butted edges of plastic
material like this against being pulled apart? Maybe a combination of
that plus lacing them together would be good.

Not without some sort of backing to bridge the broken pieces.

As long as you don't care about appearance. I'd get a piece of stout
aluminum - or maybe polycarbonate plastic - and back the two sides with it,
attaching with aluminum pop rivets.


I don't know what the plastic is but if it is ABS even PVC glue might
work. I would also reinforce the back with glued on fiber glass to get
a good joint. If the plastic is polyethylene it will be tough to glue
but maybe you can pop rivet with metal backing.
It will almost certainly be some sort of polyetheline or
poly-urethane -there is a product made for repairing the urethane
bumpers - a 2 part epoxy-type p[roduct - one I have used is Dynatron
#660 dynaweld. Works reasonably well - but NOT cheap at $81 US from
Napa.