should i bondo or weld the holes left from the side trimming of my car?

I've done this before and it turned out right....you have to weld the holes....either gas weld with brass or mig......when I did mine, I didn't own a mig, so I gas welded them....brass has a lower melting point so turn the torch down low.........mig should be easier.......the problem, as mentioned, is heat................so get rid of the heat except where the hole is. How? I used wet asbestos, and made what amounted to a big spit wad with water and the grounded up asbestos....mound the stuff up around the cleaned hole leaving about on eighth inch gap between the hole and the heat sink material.....grind down the weld and fill with plastic or lead....I sorry I have no photos of the car, except for wide shots. (I don't have the car anymore).....there was a body seam within one inch of the work I did and not one warp problem.....I know asbestos is bad but it is wet so it's not like your breathing it..........Eastwood or somebody like that makes a heat sink paste......check your welding supply......I think it's time well spent myself.............Also you can wad up the materal and reuse it from hole to hole.

 

this thread is pretty old, anybody know if he's got anywhere filling those holes?

 

alvinproducts.com

 

Dont do either- epoxy em up. There are many epoxies around that would work well for that. JB Weld is great.

 

nice first post buddy

 

haha, are you kidding? have a guy that doesnt know how to weld, attack his car with a torch and $100 worth of lead? be serious. if this was someone with some sheetmetal understanding, then maybe. but for someone that has no idea about the effects of heat on sheetmetal should not be attempting to fill holes with lead. besides, if he can get the area clean enough to lead it, then mudding it will work just as nice. lead is only as good as the prep work underneath. same as plastic filler.

 

my opinion is with De Soto, use the money to buy yourself a decent welder, practice on a few pieces of scrap sheet metal, try writing ur name in cursiv to get the feel of how to hold the torch and move it and the speeds needed to not blow through the steel, once u feel sumwhat confident cut lil squares out of sheet etal and hold them behind the holes, all u need is 2 good tacks to hold the square in place, grind it lightly just enough to take away the slag careful not to put alota heat on it, once its smooth bondo over that, dont listen to these people on here saying that it will fall out within a month, iv extended the fins on a 59 desoto by 6 inchs using bondo and duct tape and there still on the car after 5 years of daily driving it. and whatever you do dont try to solder the holes up, thats the thing that will fall out in a month or so, bondo isnt a sin and used properly ( not saying extending desoto fins with just bondo is proper) but used properly it can last a long time

 

^^^ i want to see your duct tape fins.

 

the duct tape fins are on a 59 desoto 4 door post car, it used to be black with green flames and it was named sickboy, the new owner of it repainted it black with a white roof, il post a pic as soon as im on my other comp where i have them

 

I've done that before!!..Actually worked great....grinded the inside clean around the hole..then cut out sguares of thin sheet metal a little bigger than the hole..put a bead of good ol JB Weld around the edge..attached from the backside...let dry...then a thin coat of bondo on the front side....a little block sanding.....done...never cracked or fell out...but that was then...I would weld them in now, and skip the bondo! Good luck......

 

A good welder is not cheap. I don't have one at home (of course, I have access to 4 different kinds of rigs (and not the kind you get for $250). My kid is getting this one for her birthday
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=55167
It's a good start. No bottle to buy/ rent and fill, and great for working outdoors, but they splatter like mad. Cleanup is time consuming. Given a choice, I wouldn't use flux core mig unless I had to due to wind, just because of the cleanup time. It will, however, give you a nice weld (some say easier than gas shielded migs for a beginner).
Yes, it's "slightly used". Yes, it's a cheap piece of crap. But it's also good enough to get a feel for, before buying a welder that costs 6 times as much (or more). $300 for a flux-core only model is a waste of money. Buy the $100 POS, and if you find you are good at it (not everyone can weld), and you use it enough to want something better, get the real deal with a cart (which you can build - it's good practice), a gas bottle (buy one, it's cheaper), and at least 5/16" capacity (spending real money on a welder that can't weld anything structural is a waste IMHO). If you have an electric dryer or electric oven, your house has the power for a real welder. If the dryer is in the garage, that makes it easy

My one big lesson, the first time I tried welding on sheetmetal - when they say 'a chunk of copper', they mean a big chunk - if it's big enough to act as a heat sink, you can hold it with your bare hand to use a backing for the welding. If it gets to hot to touch, your sheet metal is probably getting too hot, as well.

As for pennies, they have no mass to act as a heat sink, so they are just backing. Also, mig wire will sometimes stick to newer pennies - you have to use the old kind, the ones that turn dark brown with age.

Last, but not least, someone on this board mentioned a mig wire that is softer than the standard stuff. The point of that is to make it easy to grind down the weld, without ending up removing a lot of the original metal around it in the process, because the weld bead is much harder than the base metal . You might look into that, as well. I don't know if it's available as a flux core, but that would be nice.

 

HOLY FUCK! Has the H.A.M.B. come this far in a year? This has to be the hackyist thread I have ever read in my life! I pity this kid for the advise given!


EDIT, Most new posts seem fairly smart as far as sheet metal goes. Shame!

 

OMFG!!! I hope he welded these holes or just left them alone!!!

Everyone should know you never, never, never, NEVER use plastic body filler (bondo or anything like it) to fill holes. It should only ever be used to create a smooth surface over a properly welded, and properly prepped, area prior to priming. And that is only if you can't properly metal-finish the surface.

The same goes with lap-welding and covering with plastic filler. It's just a complete no-no if you don't want it falling off of the car and pushing trough the paint.

This kid needs to: quite K-mart, find a local body shop that has specialized in restorations or customs, beg to be hired as an apprentice, and learn the proper way to do this kind of stuff. It worked for me

Man... why does this remind me of the white-wall painting thread I saw yesterday...

 

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.
Teach a man to weld and he can buy his own fish.
...And weld them.

 

just to let the new posters know i havent welded or filled in anything yet. im putting in a 292 v8 right now, im not even messing with the body. however im stuck in a rut cuz i cant find a bellhousing for the 292 :-/ nothing is fitting! just my luck.

 

That's gonna cost much and lots of job to do, better find a good welder for that if you want that to be done. It is also pricey even, when you buy new extra body panel. Also put some photos here so that others can see what really your car problem is.