TECH: Filling unwanted trim holes

I recently removed the trim on my buick, and was left with some decent sized holes all down the side of my car. i work in a metal shop, but in an aircraft shop steel is hard to come by....So after brainstorming on different ways to fill my trim holes i thought why not use a common steel nail with the size of my hole?!! so i measure the hole, head to the hardware store and buy a pound of nails. make sure you get uncoated steel nails, you wouldnt believe all the different types and metals available!

i have a little flux core wire feed welder so bear with me if the welds arent beautiful.

hold the nail in place and tack it to the panel, tack all the way around....(i had 2 holes going at one time so i didnt overheat and warp either one)

then i used a cutoff disc in my 90* die grinder and cut the nail shank off, switched to a coarse roloc dics to knock the majority of material off then to a finer disc to bring it closer.
there ya have it, your holes are filled!

 

or leave the nails on for the rat rod loook!!!!!!

haha nice simple tech man !! good job.

 

Allways wondered how to do that the easy way... Great post!
Jay

 

haha, yeah right!

could be "TECH" forget red wheels and skulls, how to make your car look even more ignorant!

 

Simple and brilliant at the same time. Great tip. Thanks

 

Pretty cool dude.

 

That's one way to install a nailhead in your Buick.

 

yer killin me, rusty.

 

Boo !! Hiss !!!

 

the answer was under my hood the whole time!

 

how would you recommend filling the oval shaped trim holes?

awesome tech guy!

 

I did the same thing on mine, works a treat

 

would have never thought of that, pretty cool idea

 

Brilliant! Never thought of that.

 

Pics of the Buick?

 

That nail idea looks great! Gonna file that one away in my bag of tricks for sure.

For larger holes, and odd shapped ones I use a piece of flat copper, and a harbor freight magnet. The weld puddle wont stick to the copper (if it is pure pennies wont work.) The magnet can hold the copper in hard to reach places. With the copper behind the hole you can fill it in slowly allowing it to cool which keeps your panel from warping. Go slowly and it works great. See pics below.

-Dave
www.gtsdave.com (needs to be updated, but lots of cool pics)

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=234011

here is a link to more pics of the car. i'm in the navy and leaving in a few days so i havent been hitting the bodywork too much recently. i'll paint it when i get back, family time is more important to me right now.

glad you guys enjoyed the tech, that copper is also a great idea (if you can get to the other side of the panel) for the larger holes i have some old door panels i pull pieces off of. i trim them with aviation snips and use a "stick magnet" to hold them in place, and tack tack tack! good luck!

 

nice...just saved me a lot of wire.

 

What a great tech. Thanks!

 

I thought about saying he really hit the nail on the head with that one instead, but I didn't want people to start throwing tomatoes at me.


Anyways that is a great tip, it would work good in something like the trim holes around the door tops on a 49-54 Chevy -

 

Absolutely brilliant!

And from the title of this thread I thought I was going to have to read about someone "fillin' them with bondo" again... Sheesh...

Again... Absolutely brilliant idea!

Thanks for sharing

 

ok ill say it "You hit the Nail on the Head" (i am ducking behind the screen) that is a pretty kool idea something else to use for bigger hole would be roofing nails.

 

Damn I was gonna post this same trick! I will add, that I have found it best to use these steps first:

1. grind away the paint
2. drill out the hole with a step-drill
3. hold the screw/nail with vice grips to tack

The advantage of grinding then drilling is twofold, first you don't thin the edge of the hole out because you are going to enlarge it anyways, and second, it removes any impurities (rust and paint) from the hole and you get fresh sheetmetal to weld to. I always use a larger screw than the hole is so I can grind and drill first.

One more thing, I have noticed that magnets disrupt the welder and make for a shitty weld so I try not to use them. I would much rather hold something with vice grips. If I have to use a magnet I place it as far away from the weld as possible and remove it as soon as the piece is held in place.

 

OH yeah and try not to use any type of treated screws or bolts because the fumes can make you very sick. I have been using zinc sheetmetal screws without any problems.

 

The magnet with the copper doesn't seem to cause disruptions with the weld puddle, but I could see where it might with steel plugs.

I have used my stud welder to weld a stud to larger plugs, for example when filling firewall holes. It gives you something to hold while tacking the plug into place. Works real well when you cannot get to the back of the hole.

I like the roofing nail idea too. Good sharp tin snips could trim down the roofing nail to odd shapes for hole filling.

-Dave

 

More important than than the tech., thanks for your service for our country.

 

Amen to that!

 

I'll third the applause for your service...on the other hand I WILL be stealing the idea for the fifty-something holes in my fifty-something chevy. Thanks for the great real-world tech!

 

thats cool. I cant wait till I know how to weld haha

 

your kind words are much appreciated, and i'm glad you liked the tech!