VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 Glueing rubber mat to running board

I am having my running boards sandlasted and I am about to glue the rubber mats to the running boards. Any hints or instructions as to how to proceed with this project. I have the sc2000 black cement from the filling station.

We have had a lot of good discussions here in the past on Chevy Chatter on how to install the rubber mats on the 1929-32 running boards. If you do a search on Chevy Chatter you will get a lot of detailed information on how to glue the rubber mats to the running boards.

By the way, if you really want the rubber mats to adhere to the metal running boards, I suggest that you use a commercial grade of contact adhesive that is used by upholstery shops to glue on vinyl roof material.

Good luck!

way back in the early 70's i bought one of the first set of runningboard rubber mats from Jim McConville. At the time he told me the hardest part was going to 3M and finding out exactly which cement was the right one to adhere the rubber too the metal. Jim said he spent a good week or so with them testing.

I would figure that the product FS sells is most likely the one I&I repo supplies. Not all contact cements are equal. The original can i got with mine was 3M 10 BOND.

mike lynch

Results of glueing running board mats with glue from the FS. Results are not as good as I would have liked. You have questionably enough product to do the job. If I have to redo the job I will just take the boards and rubber down to an upholstery place and have them glue it for me. I have used contact cement before and I thought this stuff would have been a better product that it was. I personally don't recommend getting the glue from the FS.

From above:

About 3 years ago, I bought my running board mats from Gary Wallace, and he recommended a two-part adhesive over contact cement. The contact cement is unforgiving. Once you touch the two surfaces together, the mat is "locked down". The beauty of Gary's adhesive is that it provides you about 5 minutes to align the mat on the running board before it sets up. I ended up with a perfect alignment of the mats, and they are well bonded to the steel. I suggest that you talk with Gary Wallace (314)293-1991.

I fully agree with you Junkyard Dog, but I had already purchased the glue from FS and thought that it would be good stuff but alas I was wrong. I want others who are considering doing this job to heed your words JD. You speak like a wise man. And thanks Don. If I can't salvage what I have done so far I willing be looking for a different solution. All is not lost yet.

Did you apply the contact adhesive to the bare metal on the running boards or did you apply the adhesive to a painted surface?

I cleaned all the mold release from the rubber mat. The running boards were sandblasted. The glue was applied to bare metal as per instructions. 2 coats were used and allowed to get tacky. I used clamps and boards to clamp down the curved edge of the running board. Right now everything is clamped down and I am waiting until tomorrow to release and check the progress.

A friend who worked in a resto shop said he installed the runningboard mats on a 31 with a two part epoxy glue.

which brand and model number of 2 part epoxy did he use ???

mike

I'll contact him and find out.

I just spoke with him and he said he got the mats and epoxy cement from Gary Wallace. The boards had small holes made into them and he sealed the backside with masking tape prior to applying the cement to keep it from flowing thru. After the mats were installed he removed the tape and excess cement and also clamped the curved edges while it set up. The cement he said was fairly thin so did not form a lot of bubbles but he did work from ctr to edge with a rubber mallet to get out any pockets of air. Probably why there are holes made in the boards.

Since the original rubber was vulcanized to the running boards and not glued, the vulcanized rubber protruded through the holes in the bottom of the running boards to help to adhere the rubber to the surface of the running boards.

I am in the process of covering my running boards now. I have just finished the left one. I used 3M High Strength #90 spray-on adhesive on both surfaces. I hope I haven't screwed up. Also a tip. I got a piece of 1 1/2" pvc pipe and ripped it with the Skilsaw, then made another rip cut about 1 1/4" away. I clamped the mat down to the curved edge using this piece of pipe. It fits the curved contour perfectly.

By golly, VCCA13, that PVC pipe is a real good idea. I'll be doing that next time.

Thanks. Amazing how many good ideas there are here. And just about every idea itself is more than worth the price of VCCA membership. We just have to spread the word.