Okay so I have been told to fill in the trim holes properly. So I was thinking. I measured the trim holes on the quarter pannels and they are 3/8 holes. I was thinking that if I somehow get little 3/8s circular steel disks use a magnet to hold them in place and weld them in.I think this idea might lessen the chance warping the pannel and the amount of welding I need to do to fill and repair the trim holes. Does anyone know if there is a punch or something that would actually punch and produce these little metal 3/8disks for me?. Or does anyone know anything else that could be of help here?
i took steel rod, about an 1/8 inch thick. held it in the hole diagonally, tacked it with the mig. usually, the rod ends up hot enough to break off. this basically cuts the hole in half. just takes a couple little zaps with the wire feeder to fill in what's left. you can hammer on it while it's still hot. practice on a spare piece first. it might just be the ticket for someone with limited skills
I take small wire or welding rod and twist it with a pair of needle nose.... so it looks like a snails back/shell to the size of the hole.. leaving the wire long .... place it in the hole then tack it in ... start to weld and the extra wire comes off ... This has always worked for me.......
when ever i have to fill holes i use nails. place the head of the nail in the hole hold it by the spike part and tack it in weld it up and then grind the spike off
Where you can reach, hold a block of copper behind the hole and just mig the hole , , the weld wont stick to the copper. hammer and cool to avoid the warp , but remember mig weld is hard . Or gas weld around the edge of the hole a bit at a time hammering and cooling between welds..its the traditional way.
Are you filling holes in a trifive where the chrome was removed? Noticed your call name. I suggested the magnets on another thread and trust me...it works especially when your doing this alone or working in a blind area. Advantage is, you are left with little weld to grind and the weld area is recessed when complete. Makes body filling easy when done. Go to Lowes or some hardware place and they sell small sheets of 16/18 gauge metal. Simply cut about 1" squares (don't need to be round) with sheet metal cutters. Magnetically attach each piece to the blind side and tack one spot just to hold in place, remove the magnet and continue spotting. No warpage and takes little time and effort for cleanup.
the heads of nails like mentioned above works pretty good, just gotta make sure theyre plain steel nails. I wouldn't weld pieces to the backside of the hole just becuasw it looks bad to anyone who sees the backside of the panel
If it's going to be a show car, I wouldn't either. Since mine was not undercoated, I used this method. Afterwards, I did undercoat and you can't see the backside metal. It's thinner than a dime and on a trifive (if that's the application), most of the holes are in hidden areas except for fenderwells.
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