Wow . . . coming along . . . . now you knew that rust was hiding more work . . lol . . . that's normal! Sorry it was there, how's the other side? I hope for you that it is surface rust only. Nice little DeWalt shear, have been thinking about getting one myself. I have the manual type of shear, gets a little rough on the hands!
You've made some great progress on a car that you had once considered on scrapping. You saved one! Curious, before you "kitty haired" the lower fender, did you fill in the welds or is that needed? Rog
Filling the welds 1 spot at a time, skipping around the patch, untill all is filled, I assume is best but I have no formal training, so I really do not know. I suffer from more balls than brains with less cash syndrum. When I was 16 in the 70's we would pack the holes with aluminum foil then bondo!!
I do know a lot of the cars I get with body work usually has cracks developed. Then when I grind into the cracks to metal, I usually find lightweight bondo only applied way too thick. Something moves under it or dirty prep work, ends up with the cracks.
Couple years ago, I did my neighbors truck rear wells on bed. He wanted it done down and dirty with out buying panels. I was doing for free. He wanted it packed and smeared! Whatever! I was sure to use this gortex kitty hair as thick as needed but as little on thickness as possible. Lightweight bondo only used as final spot scratch swirl filler, instead of glazing compound. THIN COAT!! It's been almost 3 years and his bodywork still looks good! It's surprising though, He wanted so fast, I painted at 5AM one morning, between rainstorms, 97% humidity! I told him if he wakes up next week and there is a long white staw laying next to his truck, that it would be his paint that rolled off his truck! LOL
Cheap NAPA paint, still looks good! painted outside.
On Lump yesterday the patches would not fill exact but close enough that I got welds on about 90% around all seams then gortex kitty hair. I'm here to tell ya, the longer that stuff sets up the harder it gets. If you wait too long it's like sanding raw steel. You have to shape it within a couple hours at best, 24 hours just makes shaping sanding harder. Not the same filler used in the 70's!!
I try to cut my patches with enough to tuck behind the hole and spot weld not next to each other but skipping around the patch to keep heat down. Usually I end up with a patch slightly below serface level, grind spot welds and all exposed patch and metal around hole to ruff surface. Then gortex kitty hair.
On Baby's rust repair patch, after welding 100% of the seams, I filled on top of patch with weld untill over level with surface. Then ground it back with just a feather coat of kitty hair and a feather coat of lightweight filler for sand marks and spots.
I'm sure the body experts on here would probibly fill with lead sticks spoon and torch. I would think that would be best.
But, I'm very limited in tools and supplies and know how. I'm kinda a hack but if my body work last 5- 10 years I'm cool with that cause I'll just do it over and it's a good excuse to get a new paint job on it too!! LOL!:cheers:
Best thing would be to buy panels and use a flanging tool (I'm looking at one at Harbor Freight, hand, electric or air!) so there is underlapping metal all round hole. Then spot weld skipping all round untill all seams done. Cut panels if needed to follow body lines. The goal is to have as little as possible filler and most possible steel when done. Skipping around slowly so heat will not build up and warp panels wich results in more filler needed. Less is best! Between layers I always sand almost all the way back down to previous or untill I see a high spot of steel reshowing itself.
LOL!! This thread is for entertainment purposes only and not intended as an alfa and omega of technical know how with unlimited budget!! LMAO!!
I hope that made it clear as mudd popdart! Sorry I am under informed but my stuff is prepped clean. I always wipe ground steel with "fast thinner" and blow dry before 1st kitty hair layer. I had learned bodywork out of need and no money. I did work on a 29 roadster when I was 14 but it was mostly heat and beat. The old dude there would lead fill. I was there mainly to run the wire wheel on the frame in prep and watch others.
I wish I could tell you how to do it right but I come from a long line of poor hoosier engineers!
