So, today I hired someone to come out to my house and blast off the old paint from areas of my truck that haven't been worked on yet. The process involved pressurized water with an anti flash rust additive. The stripping medium was crushed glass.












The guy doing the work charged $100 per hour (plus materials) and worked for 2 hours. In addition to the truck, he also blasted some of my loose parts. The total charge for time and materials was $340.

While the blaster guy was handy, I had him blast around my wheel arches. These areas were repaired last winter and were thought to be ready for paint. Recently, however, I observed bubbles coming up through the primer. Not good!




What the blasting revealed was not pretty.







Someone suggested in another thread that brazing for rust repair is not recommended. Sadly, I didn't know this at the time the repair was made. Finding replacement wheel arches for a panel is bound to be difficult and expensive. Is there a way to fix this mess without a major new outflow of cash? Thanks.

 

If you have any spare front or rear fenders you could cut the patches out of them..that's what I did with my panel

 

I like the blasting process and the price seemed very reasonable. I too am not a big fan of brazing repair panels...it always leaves gaps in the seams that become conduits for water. I would encourage you to check out some Ron Covell videos on "hammerforming". Without a lot of effort you could make a buck of your wheel well opening and form your own repair panels...you may even have an opportunity for a small business venture should you master the skill.

 

Just did just an initial google search for Ron Covell and hammer forming. Most of the hits were were to purchase one of his CD's. I did, however, find one brief (free) clip showing him shaping metal. Would you suggest the "buck" you spoke of be shaped in wood? The partial wheel arch panel I would need is flat with just a mild radius along most of its length. The severe bend (and lots of hammering) would be needed to achieve the rolled edge that the panel has. From the brief clip that I saw, I gathered that with enough patience and hammer blows you can get metal to do almost anything. The dollies he was using looked expensive. But I could use a "buck", maybe made of wood or something, right? Thanks.

 

I took a workshop with Ron some years ago where he demonstrated this hammerforming technique. He made a 39 Ford grille bar and a 34 Ford rear fender in one day...he started with a sheet of flat steel! There are folks out there with crazy skills and I know that I personally will never reach that skill level but it's nice to know that it can be done. I have Ron's DVD and for me it's well worth the $$.

 

Just to follow up for those who might have an interest in the dustless blasting process--this is a pic of the truck with the blasting complete:




To say the process is dustless, is a bit of an understatement. Despite my best efforts at masking--I used duct tape, plastic sheeting, and plywood for the window openings--there was still plenty of grit and water in my cab. Were I to do it again, I would use heavier plastic or maybe a tarp type material for masking--and even more duct tape.

 

My truck should be ready to be picked up tomorrow. The guy doing the priming wanted to use self etching primer, and I agreed even though I had purchased a gallon of epoxy primer last summer when I was working on my hood and front clip. Now I'm having second thoughts. I believe some members on this forum are of the opinion that body work should not be done over self etching primer and that bare metal or epoxy primer is preferred.

So, what do you think? Since I have plenty of epoxy primer, should I ask to have a coat of it laid down over the self etching primer? Would another layer of primer provide additional protection? Thanks.

 

My truck is all primed. The guy doing the painting said he used a gallon of self etching and also my gallon of epoxy. I'm still struggling, however, with what to do with the wheel arch areas that were brazed last winter and already have rust bubbles coming up through the bondo.


Surprisingly, I found some wheel arches in my local scrap yard from an early 1950's Chevy panel truck that would be a fairly good match. The thought of cutting into my truck and fitting and attaching everything is daunting, however. Hiring someone do the welding is going to be expensive too. The scrap yard wants $50 a piece for the wheel arch panels. This seems like a good price and maybe the argument can be made that this is the route I should take. I also tried my hand at hammer forming some sheet metal into the shapes I would need. Without any training or tools, I'm a LONG way from producing anything useful.

I'm feeling a little desperate at this point. I need to get my project finished and staunch the financial bleeding. I don't want to spend a bunch of new money to have my truck painted only to have rust spots coming through in 6 months. But I don't feel I have the money for proper repairs either. As a result, I did a little looking online for solutions and found some interesting discussion of what can be done with 3M panel adhesive.

What do you all think of just filling in the brazed areas with panel adhesive? These areas have been blasted and primed. Wouldn't properly cured adhesive block the transfer of moisture and oxygen and effectively stop rust from forming or progressing? Could this be a quick and cheap fix, or is it just more wishful thinking on my part?

As always, thanks for the advice!

 

I'd do it proper so it doesn't bite you later, if the scrap yard is removing those panels make sure they aren't torching them out or they likely will be scrap..I also think $50 per panel is a tad expensive..

 

The $50 price is if I do the cutting myself and only includes the "outer" visible part of the wheel arch panel. I would be getting the exterior metal for the wheel opening with its rolled edge and enough additional metal to cover the parts of my panel that you can see that are brazed and filled. I would need to cut out the parts of my panel needing repair and make the necessary connections to the inner fenders. The guy that did the priming for me said he would need to charge maybe $500 for this repair, but indicated, depending on what he runs into, it could very well be even more--and that's per side.

 

I would look around. That sounds like a lot of money for a little work.

 

Do you think if I were to cut away the damaged parts of my wheel arches, that I could graft in the outer replacement pieces from the Chevy with the 3M panel adhesive rather than welding them? The inner fender attaches to the rolled edge of the wheel arch. Perhaps this connection (which is spot welded/brazed now) could be made with sheet metal screws as it would not be very visible? Maybe this would be a repair I could think about doing myself.

 

IMHO, if you try to avoid a weld repair today, you'll be facing a more expensive fix within three years. Between the seasonal temperature cycles and the stresses from our undermaintained roads, the panel adhesive will likely fail. Check with other body shops on price, as the quote does seem a bit high.

 

If it were mine I would cut out the the outer body arch, clean up and or replace areas of the wheel well as needed and weld it up with a patch panel and be done with it.

Skimming the area with panel adhesive won't help because the panel is rusting from behind, between the body and the wheel well, where moisture is being trapped, IMO.

You may buy yourself some additional time by fiberglassing the areas, As a kid i did many repairs on cars with fiberglass and that always held up longer than anything else i had available. But be aware, anything other than cutting out all the rusted metal and making a proper repair will come back sooner than later.

 

I know I'm probably grasping at straws, but shouldn't it be possible to completely seal up the wheel wells and the hidden connections to the exterior wheel arch panels? Something like roofing cement comes to mind. Another thought: I sometimes use 3M 5200 polyurethane sealer on the wooden boats I work on. This product never becomes completely rigid, but forms a very strong water proof bond. It can even be sanded and painted when fully cured. Working on old boats as I do, I also have lots of epoxy and fiberglass cloth.

Thanks for the advice that has come in so far. I'm going to go out this morning and try to get some more prices on the more permanent welded repair that is being recommended. If anyone thinks there is a "chemical" solution to my problem, I'd love to hear from you!