Fixing my doors on my way towards paint. Noticed there was a crap load of bondo in the foot step well. Looks like the PO was acrappy welder so they smoothed everything over with 1/8th" bondo in the worst spots (towards back). I have scraped it all out and just deciding what to do - have no experience with body filler but generally prefer to replace with metal where I can (which is what Im doing in areas where there is no metal.) THIS IS NOT A SHOW CAR. Just want no rust and clean looking - will be a DD. I'm inclined to just rip out the filler and paint back to metal .... and basically at paint time just give it a couple coats of primer and then a small thin layer of body filler only to smooth out the welds basically ..... if there are dips or imperfections in the runners - I, really ok with it - seems like a genuine truck then. If I was going for a more show car I would just rip out the rocker panel step and replace. Thoughts ? I think what IM doing makes sense - but want to check with those more experienced before I go ahead. Structurally right now the metal seems fine - no pin holes or weak areas.
1/8" of bondo wouldn't bother me at all. I've seen way worse, and most people would be thrilled to only find 1/8" thickness at the max. Of course if you can smooth things out to get less, that's great. But really not the end of the world if you can't.
thanks. I see some people spray a epoxy primer to base metal first - then fill - then seal again with expocy primer at end after sanding. Others do filler direct onto metal - then seal it all. Is it manufacturer specific or just preference ? Also assume if I need to build up the filler more ..... just do 2-3 coats ...... in bad areas ...... not sure how thick you can go in each pass etc.
Grind the welds flat and put a skim coat of filler over them. Your choice of filler over bare metal or over epoxy. If it's going to sit for any real length of time before top coating put the epoxy down first. I assume, being in Florida, it is pretty humid so probably best to epoxy first as filler will absorb moisture from the air.
I use a 3" cutoff wheel to smooth out welds then, a thin coat of filler to even it all out. I've put filler over bare metal and epoxy primer. 6 of one, half a dozen of the other.
These are my running boards for my 41 PU. They were rusted through and old basically so I welded in patches, welded up extra holes (like for the spare), ground them smooth, used JB Weld as filler where they needed it (no Bondo under Rhino-liner they say) and took them in and had them lined top and bottom. They look great and will "stand up" to folks standing up on them.
My epoxy primer arrived today TCP zinc phosphate primer. I've noticed a lot of threads about body filler over bare metal over epoxy,over metal prep I have a homemade saltfog chamber my next experiment will be the test all these theories and see which works best it'll take a month.
We test all our fillers to ASTM B117 standards and they all have a different outcome that range from about 200hrs to over 500 hrs so not exactly sure what your test is going to prove unless you know before hand what the fillers can withstand by themselves.
The side pipes are just barely noticeable. @FAKKY I chose this rather than paint so my wife could trod on them without hurting anything. Inside that door sill they would also provide some slip resistance.
Thx all. Just to finish this off. I got the door skin as good as I could get it and was more focused on the fitment than the lines (curve). So started welding. Whats the best way to put a bit of a curve in this before I proceed further. Hammer and curved dolly ...... some pipe behind it somehow etc ? 2nd pic
@evintho - yes thats my plan with some pvc pipe on next piece. Think I might try and push an airbag wedge in their with same piece of pipe unless someone got a better idea https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SBQQ49P?psc=1&smid=A15Z2MCDJQTLS6&ref_=chk_typ_imgToDp
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