Anyone bond their own ERA panels?

lippy · #1 (**permalink**) 04-25-2012, 07:54 PM

Apparently the cost to for ERA to bond and rivet the panels on a 427 kit has gone up from $1,300 to $2,800. Peter at ERA also told me that with the newer kit it's a much easier process and would take me about 20 hours. He also said it's not too hard and it will turn out great. Since I'm trying to conserve cash where I can, I'm thinking of doing this myself. Has anyone done this, and if so, any words of wisdom? Thanks!

xb-60 · #2 (**permalink**) 04-25-2012, 09:11 PM

Lippy - no words of wisdom coming from actually doing it, but if it's much easier now, shouldn't the price have gone down?
Cheers,
Glen

*13* · #3 (**permalink**) 04-26-2012, 06:36 AM

NO, why would you want to, other than price? Have you ever done a frame off resto? If you have & you are familiar with getting everything lined up, I would say go for it, if that's your desire. But...This was my thinking. The car is going to travel to you 3000 miles on a truck, load & unload. One less thing to go wrong. The other issue is that they have done this (how many hundred cars?) so many times that it's probably less of a skill & more of a practice at this point. I just didn't think it was worth the risk(& I was on a budget!!!). Had them powdercoat the frame & bond it. When it arrived on dollies, it was trouble enough to get it up in my garage. I can't imagine it all in pieces

*13* · #4 (**permalink**) 04-26-2012, 06:43 AM

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 · #5 (**permalink**) 04-26-2012, 10:35 AM

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.

DanEC · #6 (**permalink**) 04-26-2012, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by *13*

NO, why would you want to, other than price? Have you ever done a frame off resto? If you have & you are familiar with getting everything lined up, I would say go for it, if that's your desire. But...This was my thinking. The car is going to travel to you 3000 miles on a truck, load & unload. One less thing to go wrong. The other issue is that they have done this (how many hundred cars?) so many times that it's probably less of a skill & more of a practice at this point. I just didn't think it was worth the risk(& I was on a budget!!!). Had them powdercoat the frame & bond it. When it arrived on dollies, it was trouble enough to get it up in my garage. I can't imagine it all in pieces

Without the factory bonding or riveting, the car still is shipped all assembled. The body is secured to the frame with steel alignment plates and pilot screws and all the panels, dash, foot boxes, rear suspension, windshield, major accessories, radiator, etc are installed and secured or in the case of aluminum panels installed with a few alignment screws. The other screw holes are all punched on the overlying panels. My car came on dollies and it was just rolled off the truck and into the garage. I do recommend the powdercoating - that precludes having to pull the body off the frame entirely.

*13* · #7 (**permalink**) 04-26-2012, 11:22 AM

Well that doesn't sound so bad... I had visions of things coming apart, not lining up & so on & so forth

Maybe I'd give it a shot if I do another...Bodywork? I'll let someone else next time.

Dusty mess of fiberglass is for the birds

ERA 778 · #8 (**permalink**) 04-26-2012, 03:28 PM

I bonded the body on mine myself. It wasn't bad at all. ERA will ship the car "sort of" assembled with everything aligned. I completely removed the body on mine to provide easy access to the footboxes and several other items. While I had the body off, I turned it over and completely painted the underside with a flat black trim paint; something you'll never get a chance to do again.

Removing the body and installing it requires some help. I had three friends help during the removal and maybe 4 helpers for the install. The whole process took only about 30 minutes each time. It's a good idea to drill many of the rivet holes for the aluminum panels before you take everything apart. This actually will help make sure everything goes back correctly.

For me, the decision was made based on my desire to do everything on the build that I thought I could handle. As well, bonding the body myself provided an opportunity to do some things to the car that would have been much harder the other way.

In my opinion, mounting the new body is a very practical place to save money on the build. I think it was only $1,300 when I did mine. At the new price, it's a no-brainer!

The only negative: Bob has never updated the manual to reflect the new, improved body and mounting details, so the manual won't give you good insight into the details.

If you can do all the other things in the build, you can bond the body. It's that simple! Good luck!

wolf k · #9 (**permalink**) 04-26-2012, 03:41 PM

I wish I would have bonded my own, I would have caught and corrected the 1/2 inch twist that exists in my body.

DanEC · #10 (**permalink**) 04-26-2012, 04:21 PM

This is what the car will arive looking like - except the interior will be filled with a number of boxes. My seats came separately by UPS or Fed Express - I forget which.

Also they installed a set of old junk tires and wheels on the rear and temporarily removed the dollies. The Jag rear is heavy and they don't like to ship it installed and riding long distance on the dollies.