I don't know if anyone has posted on this subject previously, but thought I would warn of possible poor adhesion of the black powder coated "stop plates" that are epoxied to the underside of the hood at each trailing corner. The rubber height adjustable stops at each rear corner of your front compartment bump up against these plates which I assume are provided so that the rubber bumpers have something more rigid than fibreglass to butt against. I opened my hood the other day and the right side plate let go and bounced off the top of the right fender before hitting the floor. I was very lucky that the plate hit flat, not on its edge, so no dent on the fender resulted. Upon inspection, I found a coating of epoxy was still stuck to the inner fiberglass panel however, it had almost completely released from the underside of the plate taking the powder coating with it. The steel that was exposed showed surface rust so my guess is after stamping, this part rusted while sitting in a parts bin before being powder coated, thus resulting in poor adhesion between the coating and the steel.
The fix was simple. After cleaning up the surface rust from the underside of the plate using the wire wheel on my bench grinder, and then drilling a single 1/8" hole, I mixed some two-part epoxy and after removing the remnants of the old epoxy from the inner hood panel, I re-epoxied the plate holding it in its former location with masking tape until I could drill through the hole in the plate and through the inner fiberglass panel in order to pop rivet a single (black) rivet for extra security just in case. The left side plate seemed secure however for peace of mind, I also drilled a single hole and pop riveted that one in place without removing it from the panel. The rivets are virtually undetectable and now, even if the epoxy were to fail, those plates are no longer a threat to dislodge and possibly strike the front fenders causing a major ding.
I suggest everyone check their stop plates for good adhesion as it's likely there are others out there that rusted before coating. If you have or can borrow a center punch, drill and a pop rivet tool, I also suggest you perform, or have someone else do this simple 5 minute rivet fix in place for added insurance and peace of mind. usmcfred
The fix was simple. After cleaning up the surface rust from the underside of the plate using the wire wheel on my bench grinder, and then drilling a single 1/8" hole, I mixed some two-part epoxy and after removing the remnants of the old epoxy from the inner hood panel, I re-epoxied the plate holding it in its former location with masking tape until I could drill through the hole in the plate and through the inner fiberglass panel in order to pop rivet a single (black) rivet for extra security just in case. The left side plate seemed secure however for peace of mind, I also drilled a single hole and pop riveted that one in place without removing it from the panel. The rivets are virtually undetectable and now, even if the epoxy were to fail, those plates are no longer a threat to dislodge and possibly strike the front fenders causing a major ding.
I suggest everyone check their stop plates for good adhesion as it's likely there are others out there that rusted before coating. If you have or can borrow a center punch, drill and a pop rivet tool, I also suggest you perform, or have someone else do this simple 5 minute rivet fix in place for added insurance and peace of mind. usmcfred
