Anyone bond their own ERA panels?

[*13*]

Lippy, this is my old gallery. There are many pics of my car through the process. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. I put my hands on many parts of the car. I had ERA put the rear assembly together for me, bond & powdercoat the frame. Most everything else, I did myself.
Tongue Pirate Gallery - Club Cobra Photo Gallery

[DanEC]

I did it all myself after having ERA powder coat the frame.

The bonding part is relatively easy and just about idiot-proof. I think the guys who fret over this have the prior ERA model. I don't see how you could mess up the newer model.

I will admit that riveting in all the panels is a chore and takes considerable time. It's not especially difficult - there are a few places it's tight to get a drill into to drill the holes. A smaller drill, right-angle drill, or shortened drill bit can help. The holes that have to go into the frame material take some effort to drill. I probably went through a dozen drill bits all together. The panels are all punched for the holes so there isn't any guessing. It's just a matter of drilling through the panel underlying it, or into the frame.

After drilling the panels you have to pull them out to at least clean all the cuttings out and apply sealer between panels. When installing them back I did have some problems getting the rivets into the pre-drilled holes in a few cases. The trunk and rear wheel well area is kind of painful. I can see ERA going up on their pricing for this. Even just a hair of misalignment was enough to hang up a rivet. So, I had to re-chase some holes with the drill. I drilled all my panels out before raising the body (like a 1/2 inch) and bonding it back. I had no problem with the panels all lining back up after bonding the body other than a couple holes I just barely had to chase with a drill.

An inexpensive pneumatic rivet gun from Harbor Freight is invaluable because there are a lot of rivets.