I know cutting out all rust and replacing with new metal is best. is there an easier way? The only holes rusted through are in the rear window chanel and are covered up by window seal and trim. Thanks Will Vaughan
sure, just fill it with BONDO! ....if you want to be called a HACK by me and---- a couple other people ... i would weld it. whenever i'm workin on a car and i find out some DILL HOLE has done something STUPID like fill a hole with bondo i have very unpleasant things to say about that person. it looks like it would be a piece-o-cake to weld that sucka up. get to it!!
If you're not Mr. Welder Guy or if a small hole is in a complicated place, like on a curve, you can back it with fiberglass mat and then apply a SMALL bit of filler over the top and sand smooth. There's nothing wrong with using body filler for a repair but one has to remember that its purpose is to smooth small surface areas and not to fill entire holes by itself. Oh and on a rusty area like that, you'll want to prep the surface on both sides either by abrasive blasting or some sanding and anti-rust chemical like osphoric acid or something similar. Most of the basic bodyworking books at your local library or at the bookstore will have decent instructions on the use of the materials. Good luck, Big Daddy Eric
[ QUOTE ] If you're not Mr. Welder Guy or if a small hole is in a complicated place, like on a curve, you can back it with fiberglass mat and then apply a SMALL bit of filler over the top and sand smooth. There's nothing wrong with using body filler for a repair but one has to remember that its purpose is to smooth small surface areas and not to fill entire holes by itself. Oh and on a rusty area like that, you'll want to prep the surface on both sides either by abrasive blasting or some sanding and anti-rust chemical like osphoric acid or something similar. Most of the basic bodyworking books at your local library or at the bookstore will have decent instructions on the use of the materials. Good luck, Big Daddy Eric [/ QUOTE ] i do NOT approve!! my 47 Chevy has some of that fiberglass and bondo rust repair crap going on in it and i will soon be replaceing it THE RIGHT WAY!! i can't believe that they actualy used to TEACH that type of repair in some autobody tech schools back in the day. but hey, this is just my opinion...
For areas that you won't be able to see, I recommend rust converter. It's grayish-whitish goo that turns rust into a matte black substance. As long as you get full coverage, the metal won't rust again, and even if it does it won't be able to spread (as it would with normal paint). If you need to fill that little hole, you REALLY SHOULD weld it, but if you can't, properly neutralizing the rust will allow fiberglass or bondo or whatever to stay properly. Speaking from personal experience here, too... some hack like a decade ago decided that applying a half-inch thick coating of bondo directly over the ragged rusty edge of the sheetmetal would be a good idea. Bondo and fiberglass don't rust, but metal WITHIN bondo and fiberglass will rust even worse, and eventually you're left with a nice clean bit of bondo or whatever hanging tenaciously by a few shreds of paper-thin rusty metal. So anyway, if you can get to the backside of that hole to neutralize the rust, you could get away with using filler to cover it up.
If you can get to the back side, small holes can be filled by putting a piece of copper (Cut and flatten a piece of copper tubing)against the back and then welding around the hole and filling it in. great for up to 1/4" holes. Bigger than that, make a filler piece. Don't have a welder.....borrow one from a friend. Friends don't have a welder......Make new friends. Don't have any friends?........Sucks to be you.
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