Reattaching Attex Bodies

[jpswift1]

Whipper, thanks for that great advice. I cant believe even the hot AZ sun wasnt able to stretch the rubber body band enough. I'd imagine that those factory Attex staples are not nearly as strong as all those rivets that you put in the body. I can tell that you certainly like to go above and beyond and build everything a lot stronger than factory original....Its probably fewer headaches in the long run that way.
I am working on the Hustler now, along with two Maxes and two Attexes. I just bounce between projects here and there. Some people say you should only work on one at a time. Apparently guys like us just dont do things like that.

[whipper-ag]

When I did my Attex I took out all the staples and used 3/16 alum rivets 1in. apart all the way around the car. Maybe 200 or more. I used small alum washers to back them up, top & bottom, Because the molds are thicker at the corners I had to use different lenght rivets. I think I used three different sizes.Then used vise grips to crush the crimp side and a little grinding to make everything flush so the factory rubber would cover them all, Keep the rivets close to the outside. Getting the new factory rubber on was a #$%&, It took 6 people, 3 tries. Letting it lay out in the hot sun didn't work, tried soaking in hot water,that didn't work either. Ended up streching it between two trucks over night, even went out at 1 am to move one truck another foot. When it was longer than the circumference of the Attex we had about 2 min to get it on. ( thought you were working on your hustler?) You must be just like me,working on 6 projects at the same time. Good luck.

[jpswift1]

Has anyone ever reattached an Attex lower body to an upper body? I heard that in the factory they used to melt down old scrap ABS plastic in some sort of adhesive mixture and used it to seal the bodies together with. I also noticed the bodies are stapled together, at least the early 1969-1970 ones are. What do you all recomend for attaching these bodies together to be tight and well sealed? Would I have to use a staple gun or something similar?