Rust holes in dash lip

Picked up my parts from the powdercoaters.....I think they turned out great! JB weld seemed to hold up just fine, you would ever know it was patched. I think R413 was right all along in pointing out the fact that the windshield gasket would have covered it anyways. I think the finish turned out perfect and I could not be happier!

Glad your repairs are done and turned out well.

The lab metal product works reasonably well. You have to apply it and run it through a cure cycle (just like the powder requires once coated) by itself before trying to feather it out for final finish. It's a bit touchy then and in my experience difficult to get really feathered out like body filler does.

We dealt with a fair amount of it from custom motorcycle guys. A typical example is someone building a chopper and wants to change the rake of the front forks. They cut/weld and grind the area, then put the lab metal on and bring it in to be run through the cure oven. They then take it back to do the final sanding and prep work. Then back to us for powder coat. Some turned out very nice, others not as good, although it could have been the skill used by the builder.

One customer tried to use it to smooth out a badly pitted rear end housing. I told him up front he'd be happier with body filler and liquid paint, but he was determined. It didn't turn out very well in the end. I would definitely not try and use lab metal under a high gloss black powder finish.

Lab Metal is just awful to work with, as are all of the so-called Powder Coating Fillers. I use a product originally formulated for exhaust leaks that works great; good to 2000 degrees, sandable, grindable, and sets up pretty quickly. The only bad part is they discontinued it so I'm glad I stocked up years ago.