Here’s an example of how one man’s trash can turn into another man’s treasure.
Knowing where I was going and how difficult it would be to source a similar part (after moving to south America), I decided to hold on to that broken spoiler with a missing section.
The story of it is that my friend Bohn bought it from overseas, the seller didn’t take his time making sure the item would survive the trip, so the package was very fragile and ended up being damaged during the shipping.
When Bohn picked up the box the spoiler was already broken, and to make things even worse, one piece of the spoiler went missing short after that.
So Bohn handed it to Claude, whom then wanted to throw it away, but decided to ask me if I would have any interest on it, I knew I had to give that spoiler a second chance.
I kept it in a box for a couple of years until I decided it was finally time to really inspect it and see how worth a repair it really was.
The curved design suits the body and adorns the rear end adding a sporty look without making it look like a race car.
So the repairing process began by placing the spoiler on the trunk as perfectly as possible so that I could to make the markings, I definitely wanted to make a strong repair that would never crack or break a piece off again, even if I slammed the trunk shut (if that ever happened).
Regarding the cost of it, I admit putting way more hours in than it was really worth, but as usual, it didn’t matter the effort, I just had a vision to accomplish.
After the markings were done, I drilled holes on both sides of the broken spoiler, that way I could slide 2 pieces of metal inside, so that there wouldn’t be any chance of it flexing and breaking again.
I poured resin to fill the gap, and used patches of fiberglass to form a shape of the part missing. I made some rough markings using the original “H” emblem off the trunk. In fact, since the shape of the backside of the emblem is round to contour the shape of the trunk, I had to sand the emblem until it was flat using various grits of sandpaper and a sanding block.
To begin making the recessed part where the emblem is located, I used one of my handy power tools, sanding off the excess fiberglass, and fitting the emblem until I had enough room to proceed to the next step.
Using the body filler, I formed the shape back again, always sanding and fitting the emblem to get it to sit just right. It was also necessary to repair the ends of the spoiler (where they sit just over the quarter panels).
After that, it was time to shoot some primer and sand the piece again, some final repair was done using filling putty and another coat of primer.
The spoiler sat for more than a year in primer, until one day I sprayed the paint and clear on it.
The result was great, it was given a makeover, and so it got to be displayed on the trunk lid of my accord.
