Projects To weld or fill

I would think newspaper would attract mice to nest in there, use moth balls

 

Soo true!

 

I think all can make an assumption here. OP is asking, so probably doesn’t know how to make a patch, or weld it in properly.
When I was maybe 12/13, I saw my first rust hole filled. The guy didn’t cut anything out, laid something behind it, put Bondo down, packed in chicken wire. Then more Bondo.
When he got done, couldn’t tell.

But we now that was a make it look better and get on the road thing.

I brought up, it’s possible that the OP has seen something like that.
“This guy did it…”

Anyways, hope he sorts it out correctly.
That coupled with the first and only post for being around here, we may never hear back about it.

 

If that is the case, he should maybe rethink this.........

 

Many have thoughts/aspirations.
I was helping a fella out long distance, I’d send him some tools to use, etc. we’d talk on the phone. In one of the conversations he said “he wanted to restore” the truck.
I just encouraged him. But it was obvious he was in over his head on it and didn’t understand what he was up against.
But hopefully the OP will start making some proper progress.

 

Don't get me wrong. I was not saying he should not keep going on his project, but is simply bogging up rust holes with filler the way to go? I was just saying that I hope he can take something positive from the replies in this thread and maybe aim higher. Give the "old girl" the attention she deserves. Yes, it will make the process harder and longer, but the result will be so much better, and the skills learned will be invaluable...... in my opinion.....

 

I agree. No issues there. Reread my reply you originally quoted.

 

Here is the question that should be asked.
"How would I do this if my intention is to keep this car 'til the day I die?"
I bet the decision would be to do the job at the highest level possible. So, why not do it this way all the time?
This is especially true of rust repairs. How many times do you want to have to come back to the same problem?

 

I believe all the replies to the OPs post said the same thing.
My thoughts if asking, one doesn’t know. No hole should have filler over it. But if I asked, I must not know and definitely never did it before, hence my first reply to yours.
For all we know, the OP has a hand drill and will buy a rivet gun.
But me thinks we won’t find out.

 

Everyone's idea of a job done well is different. With a lot of threads like this I get the feeling that the answers are not taken on board, and the job will just get done the easy way. We are humans after all........
It is his project, and he can do it any way he chooses.

 

So. This is kinda getting redundant, but please read my first and subsequent replies you quoted. Then let me know where I have said/thought “fill it with filler”.

 

Never said you did. Think you might have misunderstood.

 

All good.

 

Moth balls are too lumpy for use with Bondo. Try dryer sheets. They are traditional.

Cheers,
Harv

 

Years ago, (holy shit, we would have been teenagers!!!) a mate got a little airborne and came down hard enough to dislodge a large chunk of bog out of the sill. The previous owner had used a loaf of bread to stuff in the hole as backing...

 

Hey man, welcome to the Hamb. Lot's of good information to be had here, and also a lot of opinions and humor. Bear with it; it's worth it.

Coming back to the job at hand, yes, you need to patch it. You've got two metal surfaces coming together there, filler just can't bridge that for any length of time/miles.

I may be stating the obvious, but it looks to me like you need more than one patch:



That's at least 2 patches, and maybe 3 depending on what's happening on the other side (can't really tell from photo). Which is a good thing. In my (amateur) experience, fabbing several small patches is actually easier that making one complex patch to fix everything at once.

The job will become clearer when you cut the bad away and assess. It's probably not as complicated as you might be thinking.

After that, it's just like @twenty8 said, make your patches and then go slow with the welding so as not to overheat and warp the metal. Tack, cool, tack, cool. Finish patch #1, grind smooth as needed, and proceed to patch #2.