[Craig T]

Hi All. I have an early Superformance MKIII, chassis SP139. The car was built in 1996. I recently purchased the car and as I am just getting to know the car "hands on". I have discovered that the bonding between the outer body and the inner body has failed in several areas. This bonding seems to have consisted of a very heavy bead of black urethane sealer that has failed to adhere to one or both of the inner fiberglass surfaces causing movement between the panels. I first noticed the problem in the right rear wheel wheel behind the rear wheel. Much of the seal had failed and water (flung from the tire, early cars had no splash guard behind the wheel I believe) was allowed to enter the trunk as well the rear outer body/fender had excessive movement. I have since repaired this area buy removing the old sealant (an inch thick in some areas), roughing up both surfaces of the fiberglass then refilling the gap with fresh urethane sealer using embedded 2 inch wide fiberglass tape to reinforce and strengthen the joint, This was not a high stress joint and appears to be holding up.
My problem now that I have since discovered, is that most of the front inner body/engine compartment panels, where bonded to the outer body have also failed. Unless I have missed something I see no structural support (except maybe where the quick lift supports pass through the outer body, but there is no real support here) for the outer nose, fenders and hood. There is in some cases more than an inch (especially at the inner fender and the nose) of space to fill between these panels. Has anyone else experienced this problem and would it make sense to remove the old urethane and again rough up the surfaces and actually fiberglass the inner body to the outer body to create a more rigid structure??
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

CraigT