Finally doing some work. Working on filling in the trim holes in the fenders to go on my custom. Don't laugh, this is my first attempt at any kind of body work. also stripped the front seat frame. Wife is gonna try to reupholster the front bench and put it back in the car for the first time in 15 years. Any tips/advise on either of these subjects is welcomed. just glad to be back in the garage.
The welding process can be a little tricky without warping the panel to much. There's always going to be some dips where the weld has sunk a bit. Try an let the weld cool before starting on the next one. Same with grinding the weld down, try and keep the heat to minimal as possible.
Good luck with your project.
Randy
Like rmk57 stated too much heat can cause the metal to warp.
If you haven't welded much sheet metal, keep the heat down , skip around , and go very slowly.
Ive got the heat as low as it will go. Tacked small pieces of sheet metal on the back of the holes and am working on filling them in. One tack at a time
Another way to do it is to flatten out a piece of copper tubing and use a magnet to hold it in place on the back of your fender.
The copper acts as a heat sink and also will not stick to your base metal.
Eastwood used to do a heat absorbing putty called "Cold front", used it several years ago and did everything it said it would and minimised distortion on a door skin when I welded in a new lower section.
This is the stuff, they've changed the name a bit now:
http://www.eastwood.com/coldshield-thermal-paste.html
Copper backer is good. Keep an air hose close and use it regularly to cool the area. Caution with grinding, grinding can create more heat and warping than welding. After final grinding, coat with AllMetal like product to insure moisture seal.
Just trying to be patient and let things cool. How should I remove the rest of paint? sand blaster? Grinder? Going to use POR15 on the back side then a sealer/primer on front before adding filler.
No to sand blasting! A variable speed sander/ polisher with 80 grid discs, no more than 1000 rpm to avoid heating the panel. Also a good respirator.
Randy
should be plenty of media blasters around Dayton Cincinnati area that use glass, plastic, walnut, cob media that is less heat producing. The last front fender I had glass beaded was $90. Another method is Eastwood black scotch bright discs on a 7" grinder. I used these on much of my car with no warping. Much cheaper and faster than DA! Doesn't grind the metal.
Gasman, are those pads something I can buy at a local store. Not looking to pay close to $100 per fender to have blasted.
sand blasting can be used on some areas...just not the large expanse of metal. Sandblasting areas around bends, nooks and crannies, etc. won't cause any warpage. but I wouldn't worry too much about sandblasting the inner surface of the headlight surrounds, or the lower fender where the brace is either..places like that are a bugger to reach by mechanical methods.
I sandblasted the inside structure of my doors, but not either side of the outer skin except where the skin was folded over at the edges. Floorboards can be sandblasted, ect.
just use common sense and know that large expanses of sheetmetal will distort if sandblasted. I'm not convinced it's heat though...I've always figured the sandblasting was stress relieving the material.
#6 sand is a good grit size to use. Check with your local contractors supply. That's where I get mine.
The worst thing about sand blasting is the big mess left over to clean up, unless of coarse you can do it outside.
You will also need a minimum of a 5 hp 60 gallon air compressor to keep up, it gets very tiresome waiting for the
compressor to build air every 5 minutes. I'm sure sand blasting uses more air than any other tool.
Randy
Quote from: 4thgen57 on 2014-03-11 20:46
Gasman, are those pads something I can buy at a local store. Not looking to pay close to $100 per fender to have blasted.
I've only seen them advertised at Eastwood. At $22 they are expensive but will easily do the outside of a fender. They won't work well on the inside. After buying one (with pad) from Eastwood, I found some on eBay. I bought two cases with a cost of $8 per disc with shipping. I used less than half a case to do the whole exterior. I still had the inside and rough surfaces media blasted. The last car and the next one will go to the media guy. The last car was delivered to the media guy on a rotisserie and was glass beaded inside and out for 800 bucks. A lot of money but if you are tearing a car completely down and fixing everything, it will be one of your smaller costs. After striping a complete car by hand, I think the $800 is well spent. If you are freshening up and not doing complete tear down, look into soda blasting. Some services will come to your site and it will not damage chrome, trim, glass, or rubber. Messy cleanup but cheaper and does not require trim and glass removal.
http://www.eastwood.com/cleaning-disc-7.html
The nice thing about soda blasting is it's water soluble, cleanup is much easier, and you don't end up with sand coming out of nook and crannies forever. Downside is it's ineffective on rust..it won't remove it like sand blasting or abrasive wheels, so if your doing a car that is almost all painted, and removing the paint down to bare metal, soda blasting is great, but, if your doing a car that has a lot of surface rust, not so good. I soda blasted the inside of my doors after scrapping out sound deadener. It was the only was I could get the inside down to bare metal short of chemical dipping. Dipping should be avoided altogether...to many problems with residual chemicals lurking in the cracks and crevasses.
Blasting (sand or grit, but be careful with sand because of silica dust) is the most effective way of removing rust, using abrasive dics won't get into the pits and end up polishing over the top. I always blast rust, BUT I plug every single hole with old cloths and mask any areas I don't want the sand/grit to get using duct tape and cardboard. I use an el-cheapo blaster that has a flexible hose on the bottom that you just stuff into a bag of kiln dried sand. A bag of sand costs around $8 from Home Depot type places but don't underestimate the mess...... I do mine at the bottom of the garden and it sometimes resembles a beach!!!
Thanks to everyone, I think im gonna try blasting it. Will make sure to move around and take breaks to let the metal cool. Nice thing about having a buddy with an Auto shop, I can use his blaster out back and not worry about the mess. Got one fender pretty much welded up. Its the pass fender and has an antenna hole in the top. Will have to cut a piece out of my original (as its solid up there) and tack it in. Little worried about that part with the body lines in the top of the fender. Just trying to take pride in doing it myself and tired of waiting on my "body man" to have time. Going to start the drivers fender this weekend.
Nothing more satisfying than doing it yourself.
Quote from: gasman826 on 2014-03-13 19:53
Nothing more satisfying than doing it yourself.
Amen.
Quote from: gasman826 on 2014-03-13 19:53
Nothing more satisfying than doing it yourself.
What he said X2!
Filled the antenna hole today. Not the greatest but I think itll work.
nice job. This is a good spot to hit it with a body file to make sure you don't have a high spot. If you do, just work it down with a hammer and dolly. Better low than high. Well done.
Thank Rich! I am slowly gaining a little confidence. But also trying not to be cocky. The body line in the middle is a little over an 1/8 inch low. Should be able to build it up with filler. It s my fault, I used the grinder too much! But I learned what not to do!
Make sure any areas where filler is used is scuffed up with a coarse sandpaper/disc before applying. If it's too smooth it increases the chances of not adhering.
Nice fitting job. From what I can see, it looks like you butt welded that piece in there. That ridge is very forgiving with the heat. When you get into your flat surfaces, remember to go veeeery sloooowly and don't overheat the panel or it will warp..
Started on the drivers fender today. Found some rust holes and old filler in bottom. Cut it out and tacked back in. Had a helper today too.
Great to see the family thing going on there! Nice job on the patch. If you're as slow as me, your boy will have his driver's license when it's done. Keep the pics coming.