I have to get my windshield and back glass jambs all done completely by tomorrow night on my 1980 El Camino. I fixed two huge rust holes in the rear window frame section but there are a couple very tiny pinholes where I welded that just didn't get covered. I put a flash light on one side and see a few very tiny pinholes where I welded the patch in and ground it down. What can I use to fill these in? They are very very tiny. Also there are a few small pinholes around the front jamb that I cannot get a grinder to and they are as small as the tip of a pen or pencil and a touch bigger. Can I use some kind of metal 2 metal product or something? Any idea's as far as filling these holes without welding? Any information or help would be greatly appreciated! Like I said, I have got to get this section of the car completely done because the glass guy is coming and I also need to get the interior finished on this piece of junk car. I would weld the front holes and grind them down but the problem is not being able to fit any kind of grinder on the area the holes are at. Thanks in advance for any info!
Tiger hair ,Long strand reinforced filler .Even Jb Weld will work .The metal to metal would work also but Ive heard bad reviews about it .
Someone else told me about JB Weld. How will it do over Epoxy primer or should it be bare metal? Here is my plan. The jamb is rusted all around (surface rust). Without blasting I cannot get all the rust out so I plan to POR15 it, while tacky I will use SPI epoxy primer and prime it then do my filler work that needs to be done that way I do not have rust forming under the JB Weld or filler. Thanks for anymore info! I am wanting to use JB Weld and then again I am not sure about it. I have used it for plastic and such but never on something that important. I need to make sure there are NO holes at all or else water will get into the cab again like before and flood it out and rot these floors back out.
I've heard of people using brazing rod to flow into the pin holes, if you want to do metal. In a pinch, I guess I would even use acid core solder, but I would be real careful about getting all the flux off after I was done, or you might have paint issues with it later. Actually, might have paint issues with brazing rod if you don't tin it too. Maybe a painter would have better suggestions?
I would braze it but not sure about getting the stuff needed to do it. I had a oxy torch setup at one point but its gone now. Like I said this needs to be done by tomorrow so I am in a pinch here unfortunately.
JB weld over bare metal. You can also use catalysed putty. The epoxy (JB) is better but use what you got....
If the holes are very small and if you are going to use POR-15 on it anyway I have actually had good luck putting a layer of masking under the holes and then painting several coats of POR-15 over the top. The POR sets up rock hard and sticks to the metal really well especially if it is rusted. Scott...
JB weld is a great option but I've seen cases where paint/primer didn't stick to it over the long haul. If you want to make sure paint will stick to the repair and that your repair will stick to the primer/paint/bare metal then another option is a seam sealer made by 3M that is unusually tough when compared to other sealers. Its called "Fast and Firm". It'll stick to your clean bodywork and/or primer like spots on a lepard, stays flexible and is pretty tough. Another option is to use a little dab of automotive panel adhesive in the holes. Its also tough as hell but may require direct metal contact to adhere well. Good luck! -Bigchief.
Yes most of my holes are from welding in patch panels. I tack welded all the way around them but when I ground the welds down there are tiny tiny little holes here and there (total of 3 on each patch panel). Then on the front there is a hole the size of a pencil that I cannot weld because I will not be able to fit a grinder in the area. The tiny pinholes in the back will probably get filled with the POR15 and I will be sure to throw some tape on the back side before painting and that will help even more. Thanks for the idea! I will just use the JB Weld as explained here too over top of my primer. If anyone does not recommend the steps I just listed on what I am going to do tomorrow then please let me know before I start.
BigChief, I had some 3M Fast and Firm but brought it back because I was wanting a good seam sealer for the interior and the directions said not to use that stuff on interior so I brought it back and bought Fuzor 800 EZ which stays flexable and works good for seam sealing. I could throw a piece of tape on the back side of this and then use the seam sealer over the hole, smooth it out and let it go... What do you guys think? This is for the pencil size hole on the front. Thanks again!
One more question for you guys if you don't mine. When welding in a patch panel, I know to tack all around and move around as to not warp the panel and then eventually fill in the gaps then grind down. When you grind the welds down flush, will there usually be very very tiny pin holes where you welded and ground the welds down or no? That is what I am getting here and have done many patches before but never put a flash light to the backside to check for holes or anything since they didn't enter the cab area. I just want to make sure I am not and have not been doing something wrong all along. Thanks!
the seam sealer would be fine. After the seam sealer is dry I would put a coat of paint on the bottom side too.
How about calling the glass guy and re-scheduling the install? Seems to me if you REALLY don't want water issues (leaks) later, any amount of time you spend now getting the prep right is small compared to fixing it again later, plus the damage to the interior from water ingress. When tempted like this, I try to remember the old adage...." if you don't have time to do it right the first time, how are you going to find time to do it over" Ray
If you are using POR15, you can seal them up with POR Patch. Same stuff as POR15, but thick, and in a tube.
You are right. Only problem is, the glass company came out over 2 1/2 weeks ago and pulled my glass and kept it since they said I will pay them when they reinstall it. I told them it would only take me a week to do what I had to do and they could come back out. Well I had to keep putting them off for this long and really dont want to hold them up yet again. I guess I will call them tomorrow and see what they have to say about it and if they sound fine with holding another week I will do so. If not then I will not. Either way I cannot weld it because I cannot get any size grinder in the area to grind the weld down and this area needs to be flat/flush in order for the glass to sit flat and flush to the panel or jamb. These El Camino's are a pain for leaking and every single body seam, glass edge, heater box and seal leaks on them. Hell, even the body seam at the cowl behind the fenders leak where the 2 and 3 pieces of metal meet and sit on top of eachother. The last part of fixing all these leaks are the heater box, fuse block and glass, especially the rear glass. Seems that the rear glass is very bad for leaking and also the bed seams leak a lot too. I ripped the old seam sealer out and the gap between the bed front (below the rear glass) on both sides are so big that I could fit about 6 baseball cards stacked on top of eachother through them. I may go ahead and weld this up instead of seam sealing it back up like it was from the factory but I do not know. Anyways sorry to ramble on and thanks for the advice. If the glass company doesn't have a problem giving me another week I will order the POR15 patch stuff and fix the rest with that. As far as welding in patch panels, is getting tiny pin holes after grinding the weld down normal or am I doing it wrong?
I think you need a die grinder with a carbide burr. That'd get in those hard to get at places, and you can port your heads with it. There is a welding rod available made of silicon bronze, a lot like brass, very forgiving, less heat so less warping, strong enough for patches I've been told. Anyone have experience with these? I know they have it for TIG, but I'm thinking they should have 'em for stick. Anyway, that'd be a surefire way to fix it, no worry about some filler coming loose later.
Depends. When finishing welding the spaces between your tack welds, do you overlap a little bit to fuse the new weld with the previous? Actually, it might help to grind down the previous welds before adding the new ones. Also, while I realize this is somewhat fragile sheet metal, and I am assuming you are using MIG, the proper settings for the heat and feed are important to get good penetration and not just 'build up' of weld bead. The latter causing a problem when you grind it near flush. And Unclee is on the money. A die grinder with a carbide burr is your friend in tight places like this. There various burr shapes from which to choose to best serve this need. Best wishes. Ray
I have a spool of 1mm bronze mig wire - damn expensive, but I've used it a lot for this sort of thing, both in the MIG and as a TIG filler rod. It can be a bit funny when used with the TIG, and sometimes just doesn't seem to flow consistently, but that's probably because I have an old scratch start unit and no foot pedal, so can't vary the current while welding. I was going to say to grind each round of tacks off before going round again, so agree with Hnstray on that. Can you get to the back side of the larger hole with the welder? If so, you could clamp a copper or aluminium block over the hole on the flat side and weld from the opposite one, leaving little or no clean-up to do.
Unfortunately I cannot get to the back side. It is just below the rear glass where its' boxed framed in for support on the front part of the bed (below the glass). I did call the glass company and got another week out of them without a problem so I have until next Wednesday to get this thing straightened out and done. I decided since I took care of the back now and the POR15 will fill in the holes that are so tiny you can barely even see light coming through with a flash light and in the dark, I am going to get PorPatch for the front which comes in a tube and is the same as POR15 but thick and you smear it all around rain gutters and window frames/jambs. This should fill the one hole in the front windshield area. Like I said, the hole is the size of a pencil, actually half the size of a pencil to tell the truth so I do not think I will have problems with PorPatch since this stuff is like a ROCK. Doing this will allow me to wipe the jamb down and not have to grind out the rust all around, it will seal it off. This car has a crappy Maaco paint job on it from the PO and other than this rust there is NO rust anywhere on the car. I do not plan to go crazy and sand blast it, weld everything up, etc. It is going to be used as my daily driver and work vehicle and will not get a new paint job until next year unless I decide to sell it.
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