We are replacing the bottom 10 inches of a 55 Nomad and there is going to be about fifteen hundred spotwelds when done. I know many use far fewer and cover the seams with some kind of pooky which I guess is okay but for every factory weld that is drilled out I want one put back. The rear cargo floor has 370 ( I counted ) and it isn't that big of an area. On the front seat floor reinforcement and the rear seat bracket we used panel bond and it looks like the way to go. Many times faster, no grinding and clean up, and no welding required. The metal must be clean and roughed up with 36 grit and held together tightly but the bond is stronger than weld. Chevy pickups have the door hinge bonded to the pillar and airplanes no longer use rivets so it's both strong and dependable. The panels end up smooth, not full of filled and ground weld spots. First pic shows the spotwelded cargo floor and second shows the bonded seat anchors (the short dark channel) with no grinding to do.
Many new cars actually reccommend repairs with panelbond. Just use lots of clamps or sheetmetal screws. That stuff works like a charm, and no moisture gets inside to rot it out.
Metal adhesive I was in the sign industry 12-yrs ago and we started useing an epoxy to glue aluminum to steel. The 2 did not have the same thermal expansion. The aluminum expands more and faster than steel. When used to bond the same metals it worked great (no weld marks to dress and fill). Its important not to join different metals with glue. If the metal wont weld together it will warp when the temp changes when glued. Maybe thin metal would do better than the thicker stuff.
It's nice as you have a continuous joint , much stroneg , like one bead of weldment but not heat distortion nor cleanup.... L.A.P.D. uses this when repairing the radio squads now too .
Lotus If i remember rightly, the aluminium chassis of recent lotus cars are completely bonded with no welding whatsoever. and the body is the same i think. not sure about longevity but i know that when that stuff goes off you end up wrecking the parts trying to get them apart! its tuff stuff thats for sure!
