Track Tac

Kart Body Repair

What does thin aluminum do to flesh when it comes in contact?
To many options in fiberglass mat to use aluminum, I think about my fellow racers when doing repairs etc
 
I found an good at the track by "accident". I had some pop rivets but nothing to use as a backer. I went to the parts trailer and bought a plastic number plate and pieced it back together and finished the night.
 
A broken piece of fiberglass is just as sharp, if not worse to get hit by than aluminum. Lets face it, if either are flying at you, you're in trouble.
 
too many put too much faith in fiberglass as a "safer" alternative to sheet metal....but i'll have you know that Slapshot is 100 percent right. ANYTHING flying at you when your at speed is just as sharp and deadly....be it fiberglass, sheet metal, plastic....anything that is in the air and you hit it is going to hurt.

But! With that being said, sheet metal repairs at the track wouldn't necessarily be bad....IF you use it right. Using it as a small repair behind the fiberglass with pop rivets would work just as well as anything. Some will disagree and yell about rules and all that nonsense, but when you get right down to it...I can bet you that the body makers are the ones that yell the loudest about using sheet metal as a body piece. And if your like me, you see the bottom of the front nose piece getting scrubbed off and torn up with the abrasive track surface.....covering this with sheet metal MIGHT solve a lot of breakage issues....but then, that's just my opinion!!!
 
Fix it with fiberglass, if done halfway decent it will be rigid, if done correctly it will never break in that spot again.
 
KKania17 said:
Fix it with fiberglass, if done halfway decent it will be rigid, if done correctly it will never break in that spot again.
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I agree, aluminum may be an OK quick patch fix at track but long term if you re-enforce the inside bottom of nose with fiberglass the right way it will be mighty hard to ever bust it. I'm still running a nose right now that's on its 3rd set of side panels and 6th different paint job that my dad fixed years ago before he died when the whole bottom was busted out. It probably has 5 seasons of racing on it including a ton of nasty hits over that time and has still yet to crack. If done right you can make one darn near bulletproof.

-Rowdy Wayne
 
I fixed a nose like that up for a customer, he had an old old Shadow nose, floor pan was completely ripped off of it and in three pieces, I was a little leery how it was going to come out, but she was strong and didnt look horrible at all, its a shame there isnt more of a market for it, the money I had in materials I just about could have bought the guy a new one lol. I'm a fan of the old Talladega bodies, you cannot find them anywhere these days so keeping my old girls strong is a must, got 6 seasons out of my Ultramax Vahlor and Rapid AirProII knock off bodies.
 
Do what you can to get the 'glass back to where it's supposed to be, then saturate the crack with thin ( 5csp ) superglue.
The cyano-acrylate will soak into all the 'glass fibers and you'll have a useable repair.
Neat and quick.
Try not to glue your body parts to the repair. :)
 
Slapshot Designs said:
A broken piece of fiberglass is just as sharp, if not worse to get hit by than aluminum. Lets face it, if either are flying at you, you're in trouble.
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Kart bodies are sprayed with chopper guns, weaker than hand laid mat, no way its sharper than very thin, aluminum so Yahoo cut with tin snips
 
I came across this tonight, even though it is an older post had a question. How would you all suggest repairing a plastic body? My boy crashed his the other day. Where the front of the nose meets the bottom of the nose split right at the crease. Also he has a 3 inch long tear on the top of one of the side panels.
I took some short 1 inch long strips of metal, laid them across the smaller split like a band aid and riveted them in place? The larger break under the nose piece I am in the process of filling and fixing with epoxy.
I am guessing that laying fiberglass inside of the body to add strength would not work. Would the catalyst create too much heat and melt the plastic?
 
PLastic welder for plastic bodies....or melt a ziptye into the material from behind via soldering iron or plastic welder. Use the "spade" (flat) tip.
 
Melting a zip tie would work, never thought about that. I remember years ago they had a plastic weld similar to a brazing rod for gas welding. You heated with a heat gun or if you were good you could use a propane soldering torch. The local parts guy had never heard of it, so I ended up getting some 2 part epoxy.
 
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