i did a search and came up with blanks, my car has some bullet holes like many do that has sat in a swamp, field, woods for years and years like mine. What is the best way to go about fixing these? Is it possible to repair them without cutting the section out and patching it? my car is long way from worrying about fixing them. But i'm thinking about going and shooting some sheet metal to practice different methods on.
hammer and dolly the displaced metal back into position. if there is still a hole remaining, you can use a copper backup plate on the ground electrode to weld it shut.
Most of the time with bullet holes you lose a little bit of metal, but most if it just tears...so you could tap the metal from behind back into place, weld it all back up and grind it smooth...or just cut the section out that looks like swiss cheese and weld in a new panel. It all depends on your ability to work metal etc. Be warned tho...the edges of the metal have now been exposed to the elements aka rust...so you may be better off just replacing the whole panel. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I've never done a bullet hole, but I figure you could do it with a hammer and dolly with pretty good results, though I think I would drill it out with a step drill and patch it with a sheetmetal circle of the proper size
Most of it will be stretched and then further stretched from beating it back. So it will require shrinking to get the panel back into shape.
The best way I have found is to place another piece of sheet metal over the hole and weld it in. You get less metal distortion that way and is a quicker way than with a hammer and dolly, besides you still end up welding any how.
I have a car that has bullet holes on top of bullet holes. These holes are so distorted its hard to believe you could get all that stuff back in the hole. It would be like straightening out a ladies handbag. I haven't started patching my holes yet, but I'm trying to be proactive by getting my hole filling stuff ready. When I asked the same question someone told me that Eastwood sold a package of ***orted 18 gauge metal disks. Luckily I have a pair of doors I won't be using that are just chock full of practice material. I've read several posts on this subject and I've concluded that every hole will need to be worked differently. Norm
if your a target shooter the answer would be yes we use pasters .. . as for bullet holes in cars we had a bunch of what the place that made them for us called coins they are circle punch outs in various diameter sizes in the gauge of car sheet metals 16-20 ( most common sizes are .45 .308 .22 so we would get the closest size ) . we use a magnet stick to hold it while we spot weld the edges in . some times if the hole is small you use a copper paddle and rosette fill them with mig weld or gas rod then shrink them with the wet towel/hammer method ( do not hammer mig welds as it can damage your hammer or dolly faces as its hard ) , if its a big hole it was patch panel if over 25% of the door was holes , we often replaced the panel ( sometimes the whole door as they went thru both the inner and outer sheets and it would take too much time and effort to get the lines right .
I like the small disc idea, I am going to play around with some test pieces next time go to the range I think, thanks for all the input guys. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
With a bullet hole you aren't missing metal, you have extra from the stretching. After hammering back into shape from the inside with a dolly on the outside, use a TIG or oxy welder. It will shrink the area a little and hopefully be close to flat now. If you MIG it the weld might be too hard to shape afterwards. Might be just as well to cut and plug then.
I'm sure some may have mentioned it...but a guy may want to give the backside of the hole a few slices. For the sake of clarity Im talking about using a thin blade in a die grinder to make a few slits in the departure end of the bullet hole....Should make it easier to hammer n dollie out....will make for a little extra welding though.
Good thead, I have plenty of various size holes to patch. Sure the one that made the hole on the bottom right wasn't shooting at me though That will take a size large patch.
Hammer,dolly and weld is best. If you decide to cut and patch you can use one of those step or unibit drill bits to cut nice round holes where the bullet holes are. Then you can get the little round patches to fill them.
This is what I have done. works pretty well and you dont have to shrink the metal after beating it back into place.
The coupe we patched up must have been made with a shotgun shooting slugs,,there was little to no metal left around the holes,nothing left to hammer. HRP
I've never had trouble using JB Weld. But then I usually sold the car before the plug fell out ! .22 ca I'd go with Bondo. .50 ca or Double Ought Buck? Fuh-ged-aboud-it!! Be glad the Thompson Days are over !
"Hammer and dolly the displaced metal back into position. if there is still a hole remaining, you can use a copper backup plate on the ground electrode to weld it shut." and "Hammer, dolly and weld is best. If you decide to cut and patch you can use one of those step or unibit drill bits to cut nice round holes where the bullet holes are. Then you can get the little round patches to fill them." depending on the accessibility of the bullet hole.
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