Well, that's one way, I suppose...

[NigelO]

I'm getting closer to taking the body off my Westie, ready for fresh paint and general tidying up of the scratches and cracks in the gel coat.

 

The front end of the tub has already been hacked off ahead of the bulkhead, ready for flared side panels. The scuttle is off. the bootbox is out. Just a few rivets to drill out along the bottom chassis rails, plus the handful of fixings across the back panel.

 

Except that when I got under the car to take the rear panel fixings out, there weren't any, but there was an awful lot of this....

 

 

Expanding foam - horrible stuff and probably not meant for automotive applications... There's at least as much again between the back panel and the fuel tank that I'll have to scrape away once the body is off. I guess it stopped the rear panel vibrating, but I'm sure it could have been done a tad more elegantly....

 

 

[Kingster]

😳

[BenD]

My ex racecar has expanding foam between the sides of the body and the sides of the chassis. I assumed it was either for strength or to stop it filling of crud. Expanding foam is used alot as an adhesive nowadays 

[Richard (OldStager)]

Was on mine as well, a pig to get rid of from panels, as eluded to it seems many use this as a 'glue' for some reason.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

25 minutes ago, BenD said:

My ex racecar has expanding foam between the sides of the body and the sides of the chassis. I assumed it was either for strength or to stop it filling of crud. Expanding foam is used alot as an adhesive nowadays 

 

This was standard procedure once upon a time for race Westfields in the BARC (I think) series.

[BenD]

2 hours ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary said:

 

This was standard procedure once upon a time for race Westfields in the BARC (I think) series.

What was the reason Dave. My car is a BARC 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

It was always quoted as adding (some) impact protection! 

[BenD]

1 hour ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary said:

It was always quoted as adding (some) impact protection! 

Interesting. Everyday is a school day as they say

[Richard (OldStager)]

Ah, the impact protection bit is possibly what was going on with mine then, from what I can gather mine was an ex- auto test car, although I can't see hitting cones at 20 MPH would do much damage ( I may be wrong) .

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

If you can make the I act spread out well in grp, it’s surprisingly strong, yet flexible. But sharp point impacts can punch through. Or point loads that really deform a small area can crack gelcoat and tear the gsm layer.

 

By having a big strong, but squash-able backing to it with the foam, it might not prevent small chips and spider cracks, but it does reduce major cracks and panel damage for longer. 
 

I don’t think anyone was ever claiming it would protect you from a major impact, but minor stuff like cones, and glancing blows from wheel to wheel racing, it could help with.