I have my FD and a AE86...
I seriously do not want to drop hundreds of dollars on used pieces.
Everything from door plastics, dash tears, bumper plastics, etc...
So I am going to fix everything myself.
I bought a plastic welder, have been reading about the different types of plastics and a got a new heat gun.
Today was the first time I have tried this and it did not go too bad...




















This is how it fit, thought it would need some fitment modification but it didn't.


And no, its not anywhere near done, I still have to sand down and needs a flat black paint job.
And yes, its dirty... damn pollen is kiling me.

 

...how does that work? do you put any fiber mesh to strengthen on the back side? i'm a cheap bastard so this might work for me

 

More people should do this, I'm repair my pieces once the plast-aid comes in. Mines all broken studs tho no actual snapped parts.

 

I could have tried to add the mesh but the pieces are so small its near impossible.
The plastic welder comes as a kit and brings instructions... not expensive but not exactly cheap. I bought it for a little over $155 dollars shipped.
You have your different plastics, all have different methods of fixing, I used fiberflex to get this done.
The plast-aid is my next buy for sure, I have some bolt holders also broken.

 

Reminds me of the 1970's toy that allowed you to friction "weld" plastics, called SpinWelder.

Discovery Toys now has something similar.

:-) neil

 

I would definitely pay $14.95 for that.

 

I have the same problem. my driver side door plastic keeps breaking around the same place. I think I will do some weld like that and cover the bottom in resin.

 

What type and make of the Plastic Welder? It sure beats paying big $$$ for plastic things that break. I weld mostly MIG on steel and aluminum, did once with plastic while in college and forgot the process. But we used to run a bead pattern between the broken pieces, just need to burr and sand it.

Good idea, beats that "super glue" that comes off after awhile.

 

That's pretty cool. Seems like a lot of work and or time to get that done. Let us see pics of the final results!

 

It only took me about 1 hour cause I had no clue how to setup my welding kit and I didn't know much about the different plastics. now I know a lot about them and the actual work on the piece only took about 10-15 minutes cause I messed up the first time.
This is the kit I bought. I love it...

 

very nice. when i had my map pocket door snap in half, i used super glue to get the pieces back together, then sanded/painted everything. came out great - can't even tell it was ever broken.

fixing plastic pieces is pretty easy. i dont know why people drop $$$ on new parts when they can repair the ones they have.

nice work!

 

+ ******* 1

 

What is the advantage over this vs proper epoxy?

 

Where did you get it for $115?

 

I said $155... Amazon.

 

Right, that's the price I meant to type... Thanks for the link, I would have never thought to check amazon for that, even though they have everything!

 

It's been a few years but I wanted to update this thread.
They didn't last due not adding some kind of reinforcement. I did fix that now though, I took some pictures so I will be posting them soon.
I also sanded them a bit and coated them with Plasti Dip.
will add pics and more info soon.