What adhesive for aluminum L-strips on Wings West side skirts?

[eraxpres]

I am reinforcing my Wings West side skirts with the aluminum L-strips everyone is using and I'm wondering what kind of adhesive you guys used. Gorilla Glue? 2-part epoxy? etc. Thanks

 

[Zishan]

I used 3m doublesided tape, and then little mini screws that went thru the skirt, and secured into the aluminum strip. Everything held together well for over a year. Then when I removed my side skirts, I noticed the double sided tape did not hold, it was the tiny screws that did the job.

HTH's,
- Zishan

 

[curtsr]

On mine as well screws were used in addition to the "L" strip.
While a big fan of 2-sided tape, I believe that you would be better served screwing these in as well as taping. I can only imagine the forces of wind especially at speed- if you happen to exceed the speed limit accidentally - on these large pieces.
Also, despite how carefully we drive our NSX's, occasionally we wind up in a situation where we have no option other than to press on regardless and wind up dragging the undercarriage places we'd rather not. In this situation I'd feel better with them screwed on. Just spray it all, "L" strip and screws with touchup paint when done.
My .02.

 

[Zishan]

I really wish I had my pictures still from when I did this....

Someone want to sell me some Wings West sides for cheap so I can re-do the write up!?!?! :biggrin:

 

[eraxpres]

Thanks for the input. I have screws ready to go but really don't want to deal with tape; I did a search and some other posts said that glue was used, I was wondering what kind of glue exactly. I've used gorilla glue and epoxy on other projects before but never on polyurathane so I'm not sure how well it would adhear.

 

[Ojas]

the (nearly-)infinite memory of teh interwebz

I really wish I had my pictures still from when I did this....

Hey Z, thanks to archive.org, I was able to resurrect most of the missing pics from your write-up from a few years ago:

Well, years before I even had my NSX, I had already planned out the “look” I wanted for my NSX. I would come to NSX Prime as often as I could and check out the picture gallery and make a mental list of things I wanted and make a visual picture of my NSX. Among this LONG list, and this visual picture were the WingsWest Side Skirts.

As I became a NSX owner, I slowly started picking up the pieces to what I had dreamed of for so long. I found a set of side skirts here in the parts section and put them away for future installation. Soon after, I started hearing the WW sagging issue. Determined to get my NSX to look the way I wanted it, I had them painted and attempted to install them.

Off the car, they looked pretty straight. Boy was I excited. So I installed them and wow, they did look great! The next day however, they were sagging, especially the passenger side. So last week, I decided to fix the problem. And guess what, it was a success, and easy to do. So listen up, and follow these instructions, and you too can have your WW sides looking straight as an arrow!



Here are some pictures of the sagging:

Here’s how they look taken off the car. Notice how wavy it is.

Now, this is what will be holding the WW Sides straight. It’s an aluminum L shaped bracket. I purchased this from Home Depot, but when I went to Lowe’s, they had them there too. Don’t know if there was a price difference, but I paid $11.00 each. They are 6 feet long I believe. Here are the specifics: Angle 1/8" thick Aluminum 1" x 96" Part # 0 30699 56810 9

And something to cut the aluminum piece to the length of the WW skirt. I used this drill bit attachment. It was a few bucks and can be used with almost any drill. I don’t know the exact cost of it, as I had purchased this long ago.

Once we cut this aluminum L brace to the length of the WW Side Skirt, we simply used super strong double-sided tape to hold the aluminum to the polyurethane sides. Luckily, someone gave me some industrial stuff that bonds aluminum to polymers. If you can’t find this stuff, I recommend using the 3M Double Sided tape. It should be almost / 95% as good as the stuff I used.

Once you’ve stuck the aluminum brace onto the WW Side Skirt from the inside, use some claps to hold it firmly in place. This picture may look over board, but Lowe’s was selling these clamps, a bag of 14, variety pack for like $7 dollars! So we took advantage of them.

Now, once the glue/side skirts/ and aluminum brace have had a chance to bond securely, we drilled very very very small holes in to the WW Side Skirts and into the aluminum brace. This is just to make sure the brace doesn’t move when you hit speed bumps or something like that. NOTE: Use very small screws. If you use large screws, you will see creases/waves/indentions in the side skirts from where the screws are drilled in. Also, place them very close to the edge of the bottom of the side skirts.

And this is how they look from the other side. You can see the small screws here, but once mounted on the car, they are not noticeable. I have yet to paint mine, but I plan to paint the screws with Touch Up Paint.

But check out how straight the side skirts now are!

Looking at them from a different perspective.

And now finally, the real test, mounted on the car!

Now, most of the WW Side Skirts that sag are the passenger side skirts. Well, the passenger side turned out so straight and mounted so much better, it made the drivers side look horrible. So I did the same to it also. Now, they both look perfect!

This is a simple task. Just tedious if your not used to working on cars. It cost me less than $30 bucks and remember, the aluminum braces are light(aluminum)! I doubt you will gain more than a lb per side.

Well, I hope I’ve helped someone straighten out there WW Side Skirts. Please feel free to ask me anything that may help.

Best Regards,
- Z



Special Thanks to Patrick (loNfastNSX) for ALL the help. He came over 3 days in a row to help me out. With the side skirts and more. Thanks so much bro, I will not forget! - Z

 

[Zishan]

Re: the (nearly-)infinite memory of teh interwebz

Hey Z, thanks to archive.org, I was able to resurrect most of the missing pics from your write-up from a few years ago

Ojas, you are awesome! Glad to know you! :biggrin:

 

[eraxpres]

awesome! thanks

 

[NSXclear]

I forget how much I bought the aluminum L bracket for from Home Depot, but they are now more expensive than $11. The cost of materials have gone up considerably. I have a feeling they are closer to $20 dollars now.

 

[EAC]

Thanks, I'll be doing this tommorow. I know they are more than $11 each.

 

[Zishan]

^

Even though this post was made back in 2009.....the original write up I did was from some years previous to that.

It's quite possible the prices on these Aluminum "L" bars have gone up.