Repair of broken targa top nose pin

(I realized I had not written up this repair yet, so thought it might be of use to someone who encounters a similar issue... and would be easier to find in a separate thread rather than if I just added it on to my 308 maintenance thread http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/308-328-sponsored-yellow-compass-group/414276-bought-84-euro-308gts-qv-today-july-2013-now-maintenance-thread.html)

Back on Canada Day (July 1), I had driven the 308 out to some friends' cabin about an hour north of Calgary, in the foothills of the Rockies, for an afternoon of visiting. While out at the cabin, a massive thunderstorm passed through, with very heavy rain but no hail this time. ( that would not have been welcome!) I left for the return drive to Calgary later in the evening, just before sunset, about a half hour after the storm had finished.

I caught up to the back edge of the thunderstorm and had about 10 minutes of rain before it had moved far enough east to leave my southbound trip in the late evening sun. With the rain gone, my speed increased to the speed limit, and as I drove around one corner, a bright beam of sunlight shone over the windshield on the left side. The problem was that the targa roof panel had been on since before the rain started around dinner time, and was still in place - there shouldn't have been any sun shining in above the windshield!

Once I realized the discontinuity, I looked closer and saw that the nose pin on the roof panel that mounts into the windshield header was still in place in the windshield header, but it's corresponding hole in the targa panel was levitating about 2 inches higher than it should have been. The nose pin to locate and mount the front of the targa panel on the roof had broken loose!

I quickly reduced speed before the entire targa panel was ripped off the car, then pulled over and stopped as soon as I could. The immediate fix was obvious - since the rain had just stopped, I unfastened the panel, stowed it behind the seats like normal, and had a nice topless drive back to Calgary. However, that was the only type of drive I could have, since the targa panel was now out of commission.

A few days later, I got a chance to inspect the damage - it was quickly apparent that the nose pin had previously been broken out of the roof panel, a long time ago, and a previous owner had made a shoddy repair, using some sort of putty to bond the threaded collar back in to the panel.

Here's the now-independent nose pin, with the threaded collar with some of the putty still adhered to it, and a chunk that broke off:

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This is the right front corner of the targa roof panel, showing where the nose pin used to be!

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Easing back the fabric covering the inside of the targa panel revealed the extent of the damage:

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So how to fix? After considering a fiberglass cloth repair, or reinforced body filler, I settled on a JB Weld product, their Plastic Bonder high strength structural adhesive.

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I chipped off the old putty on the threaded collar, then using a small grinding stone on a Dremel, I cleaned up the surfaces of the collar to allow a good bond with the adhesive:

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The Dremel then did a very light cleanup and roughening of the surfaces that were going to receive the adhesive on the targa panel:

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I used a separate M8 bolt to hold and locate the collar in the panel while the adhesive was layered on - I used lots of anti-seize on the bolt and collar threads to prevent the bolt from getting glued in by accident!

Test fitting:

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After mixing the 2 part epoxy adhesive, I placed a thin layer of adhesive in the socket for the collar, inserted the collar in place, then built up a thicker layer on the back and over the top of the collar. I used the bolt to hold the collar in proper alignment while I worked the epoxy into place, and to hold it while it set. Picture shows the epoxy buildup after the bolt was removed:

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I debated whether I should smooth it off a bit more after it had cured and make it look pretty... and decided to leave it as is, since the roof fabric was going to get the 3M Super Adhesive 77 to secure it back in place over the repair anyway!

Here's the fabric glued back in place - a bit worse for the wear from having the pin torn loose by the roof lifting off!

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Utterly coincidentally, I had ordered new nose pins for the targa panel 4 weeks prior to this incident, and they arrived just the week before I started the targa panel repair, so this was the perfect time to install the new pins instead of the old ones (the rubber on the nose was hardened and worn, causing some rattles).

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This would never be acceptable for a concours show car... but my car isn't one of those. I am very happy with how the repair turned out - 3 months later and it's extremely solid with the new pins, and overall the slight patina of the underside of the targa top just adds character - and now, it tells a story too! (Overall, without the macro photos, the underside of the top is actually in pretty good condition!) At some point, I could recover the interior of the targa panel, but until then I am perfectly happy with how this repair turned out.

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I found the source for the targa nose pins in this thread: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/308-328-sponsored-yellow-compass-group/525448-rubber-gas-fuel-bib.html of course!

FrannyB posted a link to this shop, Wheels of Italy Wheels Of Italy - WOI - Everything Italian On Wheels for a replacement for the fuel bib, and they listed the targa nose pins also: (Roof front positioning pins & caps) https://shopwoi.com/products/ferrari-208-308-328-gts-roof-front-positioning-pins-caps?variant=11928278214

I bought the targa pins and a fuel bib, and they arrived well packed and in a timely fashion, so no concerns buying from them.