my way to fill trim holes

this is the way I filled the trimholes of my '46 ford tudor

I bought a box of nails in my local hardware store.
the "head" of the nail is almost the same size as the trim holes.
I simply cleaned the hole's with a drill.
and removed the paint and rust around the holes.
I pushed the nail's head in the hole and tack welded it in place.
after that I welded it all around the nail.
then I cut of the rest of the nail and smoothed the welded area with a grinder and a flapdisk.
between the steps I took some time to let the spots cool off.

the result is what you see on the following pic's.
even the inside of the panel is nice and smooth.
you don't have to have access to the backside of the panel when you do it this way.

I just want to share it with you all.
greetings from The Netherlands
Jurgen

 

that's how I did mine. but it's important to use the good nails not the cheapies

 

did the same thing...just try to find non-galvanized nails

 

That's how I always do it.

 

A lot easier than trying to weld holes that are too big. Nice work.

 

I used a block of copper behind the panel and spot weld with a MIG. Clean off all the sealer etc so you have a flush mating surface behind. The larger holes still need to be TIG hammer welded, linished and it's done.

 

I always fill'em w/ the weld and rareley warped anything, unless its a big hole, in that casse i use a filler piece.

 

I did a thread on this a couple of weeks ago. We found glue........3M body and panel adhesive. We tested to see how it would sand.........very nice sanding capabilities. So we cut some small metal patches ( 22 gauge ), buttered them up with adhesive and glued them on. The glue oozed out the hole on the front of the panel.......3 days later ground it down.....no warp-age, no problem....no major grinding......here you go



You can also see the glue line where we glued the door skin to the inner structure.

 

Being a body man, I would suggest always have access to the backside when welding anything. You would be amazed at how fast fire spreads inside a closed panel. I did a single small spot tack on a left cowl post, and I mean a small simple tack. After I walked away it started smoking. I shoved a long nozzle air gun in a small hole next to it and blew it out for a few minutes. It stopped smoking. 15 minutes it's smoking again, this time I put a water hose into a larger hole and flooded it with water, again it stopped smoking and felt cold. 15 minutes later I get smoke again and this time it's really a lot of smoke, I get the air chiesel and cut an emergency hole and flood the shit out of it with water again for about 10 minutes. Now it's smoking under the dash! And I mean a lot!, looked like a damn house fire in there.....more water, like about a million gallons of it. All up under the dash inside the car everywhere. It eventually ended up burning out everything in the left cowl,and under the dash to the middle.Had to replace a the wiring harness, ECU and a pile of other electronic stuff. Now, access to the rear and a water hose always.

But for little holes,I usually open the backside of the panel, just clean around the hole a bit and weld it shut.

 

In time, thats going to shrink. There will be a problem later, I guarantee it. Ive had to fix things like that..... and it doesnt show up till after its painted and been out in the heat and cold. Its going to fail, so repair that with metal before you go any farther.

If you have doubts in what I say, then take a piece of sheet metal, do the repair just like you did in the photo.
Go ahead and prime and paint, then set it outside. It wont be long and you will see the repair clearly.

 

^^x2. Even 3-M does not endorse using their panel adhesives under paint. The adhesive was intended to bond two pieces of non-structural sheetmetal. It does a good job (for what it is), but unfortunately, gets abused by some folks. Stu

 

We used an adhesive that is OK under paint. It is a 3M brand but I don't have the number handy........as to how long it will last, Volvo, jaguar, and Mercedes glue their ENTIRE car together........good enough for them......good enough for me. According to the paperwork that came with it, it does not shrink like filler....This car has not seen the light of day in 15 years except one day in November 2009.......still probably 4 years away from driving it. I feel pretty comfortable with the fix.........sort of another way to skin a cat

But we could be wrong........

 

Years ago .. and I mean something like 50 years ago ... there was a how-to in one of the little mags about backing the hole with a penny.

 

Could you please post the 3-M part number of this structural adhesive that is OK under paint? Also, in all fairness, keep in mind that when the manufacturers utilize Structural adhesives (usually in conjunction with welding), it's application is NOT as a finish coat (solely to bond/seal a lap or flange joint). Stu

 

Try that today with a new penny, and you'll blow a hole right through it. Pennies now a day have far more tin in them then they ever had.

 

Here you go Stu. This link will take you to the PDF file on 3M 08115.The PDF says it is paintable. I called 3M and talked with a guy in tech. I questioned paint prep and was told prep material is considered paint process.




http://www.emisupply.com/catalog/images/UPLOAD/File/051131-08115-TDS.pdf

 

CHOPPED '46 -you nailed it!! (Ha!)
before I could drive I took a few emblems off my sister's '54 Ford and used masking tape to block back of holes and filled with spot putty - even with primer on them and as putty dried it looked terrible. could see where all of the wholes were. parents were not too happy with me. our Dad painted whitewalls onto the tires - never had seen that done before. his work better than mine.

 

You should watch Gene Winfield oxy/acy weld up holes.
Simply amazing. And Folks talk about being Old School.

Personally, it is 02 thin wire in the mig for me.

J

 

Nice work! Here's my first experience with it. Did this just last week at work. You can see that I got a little carried away with the filler.

 

just learned something new and useful. awesome!

 

glue? nails? WTF?

 

I like to use an old transmission dipstick. There wider than say an oil dipstick. Clean up the hole with a flap disc, insert the dipstick in flat as you can get it, not too far as to not "waste" any, tack the easiest spot and while it's all still cherry red bend the stick off and move onto the next hole. Then come back and grind off whats left and re-weld any holes. Quick and easy.

 

Thanks for the info. I kind of figured it was 8115. Way back (12-15 years ago?) 3m trained me on the use of this structural adhesive when it was just coming to market. At that time, they suggested to NOT use it for anything other than bonding 2 non-structural panels. They were not 100% in agreement on the stability of the product on exposed finished areas. I ended up training our local factory (3m) rep, so he could see the actual process of bonding. Perhaps they have improved the formula since then.

All that being said, I wouldn't consider your method to be as good as welding up holes. Short cuts sometimes will bite you in the butt. Stu

 

I liked the nail idea but this is a great idea too .are these leftovers from some kind of punch press or a kit you can buy?

 

Thanks for the trick with the nails, I've heard people talk about nails or screws but have never seen it done. I was taught when it comes to filling hole replace metal with metal, so that means make a patch and weld it in, or just fill the hole with weld if it is small enough to where you wont mess anything up.

 

Is this a kit? More info would be apprecited as I've got over 100 trim holes to fill on my '63 Chrysler.

.

 

I bought the yellow box full of circles from Ron Covell. the ones in the red box were scrap from a local fab shop. the fab shop ones are a little thick, but the price was right. free.

I can also make small ones with my Roper Whitney hand held sheet metal punch, but they have a bump in them that needs to be flattened out.

 

I agree the guy that had my 50 chevy did the trim holes in the doors and fenders like that. It looked good when I left his house but within the 200 mile drive home you could see every single hole in the fenders and doors. good thing it was "ready for paint" and not "fresh paint"

 

They were done with the same 3M adhesive or done with filler ?........like comparing donuts to dinosaurs.......really looking forward to this answer

Bishop, we have a fairly new Mercedes for the wife.......it's glued together with the same type of adhesives.......haven't seen anything come loose or shrink on it in the last couple of years......how long should I wait ?