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Welding molding holes

Max lobato

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Hi
Considering welding up my molding holes on my 68 coronet. After splitting ways with a paint and body guy i have less then half the holes already welded up. Im not totaly new to mig welding but im not sure if i would leave my car in worse shape after the attempt. Any suggestions? Also what should i do to remove the slight surface rust on the bare metal spots that were already welded up. Should i use self etching primer to cover them up?

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Self etching isn't water proof, use epoxy. Like DP90. Use a wire brush with metal prep to clean the rust. Welding is easy, also easy to wrap. You need high heat, short bursts, quickly cool it with a wet rag. I suggest practicing on old sheet metal first.
Doug
 
Any holes you can get to from behind, you can use a chunk of copper or brass as a backer. Helps with heat soak and keeps you from blowing through. I'll even coat my copper or brass piece with some nozzle dip to help keep it clean. Useing a automatic darkening shield is a big plus!
 
If you don't have a handy chunk of copper, as khryslerkid mentioned, just go and buy a piece of copper pipe at the hardware store, hammer it flat for your backing plate. You only need a couple of inches, braze on a long steel handle to hold it while welding.
 
I like using the copper backing as others mentioned as a first choice. If you cannot hold the copper on the backside and weld at the same time and don't have a second person around to help I have also used big head nails inserted from the backside and hold them on the outside while welding the hole closed, then just cut them off at the outside and grind flat.
 
Find a nail ( not galvanized) with the head just slightly smaller than the hole you want to plug. Hold onto the nail and put the head of it in the hole, flush. Weld that into the hole, cut off the nail and grind it down flush with the sheet metal.............MO
 
May be wrong, think my guy used some sort of heat sink clay around the holes, but 45 years ago. Think he used brass backer on holes from behind.
 
I cut small nickel sized pieces of body sheet metal and put them behind, and plug welded it nice and hot. Then you have solid backing. I used self etching primer on my bare metal, but my buddy is kind of old school. Also, I found that using the backing piece that remains after welding seems to reduce the warping of the panel compared to just filling them without. Just my 2 cents. I'm still learning.
 
hit each hole with a grinder , use .030 wire. weld across the hole not straight at it. weld 1 hole at a time, do not work down a panel.
aka, weld one on the left fender then move to the right fender, now left and right doors. then qts , then back to that left fender and start again.
guys get lazy not wanting to move the welder ect and or get in a hurry that's when you warp the **** out of it.
same when grinding or finishing your welds, don't over heat or chase down a panel , move around.
 
Scothchbrite Rotolok for any flash rust, works well. Coat it with a DTM epoxy...
 
Find a nail ( not galvanized) with the head just slightly smaller than the hole you want to plug. Hold onto the nail and put the head of it in the hole, flush. Weld that into the hole, cut off the nail and grind it down flush with the sheet metal.............MO
I use nails bigger than the hole (holding nail with vise grips) after done just grind the nail flush. Roofing nails work great.
You can take the galvanize off with the wire brush on the table grinder.
 
You can also just put your galvanized nails in a vinegar bath overnight, the zinc coating will be gone.
 
Thanks to the OP and to all the advice givers! This is next on my list to get done on the Express. Roofing nails! Who would have thought? lol. Thanks!! Ghost. Question though....does it matter that there is undercoating on the backside of the panels?
 
I did it on my old Bel 1 about 20 years ago by melting lead sticks with a torch. I smoothed the lumps out with a waxed paddle while hot and then hit it with a DA sander when it cooled. I used aluminum foil tape as a backer.

I ended up with some warping so using clay around the holes and/or moving around would have been a good idea though it’s definitely time consuming to do it that way.
 
I have a 63 Dodge Polara 500 that I have a LOT of trim holes to fill. A friend who is a restoration guy suggested using panel bond and small 24 ga sheet metal circles. I thought it was a great idea as long as it doesn't shrink up after paint. He thinks properly prepped it will be fine. So that's my plan for filling all the holes.
 
I have a 63 Dodge Polara 500 that I have a LOT of trim holes to fill. A friend who is a restoration guy suggested using panel bond and small 24 ga sheet metal circles. I thought it was a great idea as long as it doesn't shrink up after paint. He thinks properly prepped it will be fine. So that's my plan for filling all the holes.
Panel bond will for sure hold the circles in place. Not sure how the filler will react to the panel bond though.
 
I have seen rectangular copper plates with magnets attached to 2 sides, specifically for this purpose.

Not sure what they're called or where to buy them, though.
 
I have seen rectangular copper plates with magnets attached to 2 sides, specifically for this purpose.

Not sure what they're called or where to buy them, though.
Got mine from Eastwood. 4" long by 3" wide.
 
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