Okay, so I'm in a bit of a pinch here and need some advice...

I bought this 79 truck box and brought it home during winter in February of this year while I was home for Feb break (during school).

The previous owner had said that he had 39 years experience working with autobody and was well-endowed with the skills on how to fix sheet metal cancer.

He fixed up the box using 2-part epoxy primer (he had also mentioned that he fiberglassed something), had it on Kijiji, and sold it to me during Feb break when I was home. Once I got it home, i noticed that something was wrong...

The truck box was in perfect shape when I intially brought it home, but the picture below says otherwise...

Before I went back to school, my truck box looked like this the day I brought it back (below). My truck box had a small crack in it!! Crap!!!

Anyways, below is the crack that was in the work that the P.O. of the box had just recently done... now here comes the worse news...


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After coming home from school during winter, I find out that my trucks box's crack (picture above) HAS GROWN!!!!

OH NOES!!! WDF?!?! It's around 2X as big now, and it seemed to have continually grown while I was gone!!!!

What the heck am I going to do now?

I just spoke with a personal friend of mine that's done autobody for years and said that a 2-part epoxy primer should NEVER DO THAT.

He said he'd question whether the truck box was actually done in 2-part epoxy primer!!!!! (OH GOD!!! SAY IT AINT SO!!!)

So right now, I'm starting to worry that this awesome deal (or so I thought) is going to come crashing down on me!

I was told to take a small drill bit to the work he did (near the area of the crack) and just drill in VERY VERY slightly to see what's under the 2-part epoxy primer.

From what I was told, it sounds like it was fiberglassed, then epoxy-primered over top (which is what's causing the cracking in the work because it was outside over winter... couldnt' find winter storage). I however cannot comfirm this because I'm a total autobody rookie.


Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to find out what's causing this, or what I can do to potentially stop the crack from getting larger????

I HAVE NOT drilled into the work (near the crack) that was done to the box to check what's there... YET...

I've just left it sitting in the EXACT spot where it was in the pictures of it sitting on the snow bank.

Some opinions on what exactly is going on here would be a great favour to me. It really sort of freaks me out thinking that I might have been ripped off and now the work has to get done AGAIN to my box....

Any help guys?

 

He may have used a 2K epoxy primer but the big question is what kind of substrate did he spray it on because that is your problem.

 

So basically what's on top, or would it be what the epoxy is sitting on between it and the sheet metal?

I'd LOVE to find out what the hell the problem is with this box because I don't want this damage get any worse. I don't need to be re-doing the entire box...

 

Use a magnet in the area and see if you can find any metal.

 

Magnet is good idea to check for filler. Fact remains, is that has to come off. Classic case of too thick a coating of filler. A competent body man won't repair with fiberglass cloth, but may use fiberglass filler on occasion. You'll find out when you remove those pieces. My bet is rusted metal underneath it.

 

Rusted metal? Already?

He had the panels cut out and welded back up before he did any repairs. Would the metal be rusted already? I should hope not!

So using a magnet in the area, I'm looking for what exactly? Because if I use a powerful enough magnet, I'll just contact the metal beneath the work he did. I'll see if I can get my hands on just a regular strength magnet and I'll post up what I find. Although, I don't really know what I'm looking for once the magnet comes in contact with the body work.

 

Don't need a real strong magnet, you'll be able to tell the difference. Without proper prep, new rust will form between metal and filler.

 

Pardon me for asking (noob to body work), but what is the proper prep between metal and filler?

 

If there is any rust spots what so ever, they need neutralized with phosphoric acid (Jasco etc.) or it will come back. Surface to be clean and dry before appling filler. Any moisture trapped will start the rust process over again. While I am no expert body man, I have removed enough of this stuff to see what happens when done wrong.

 

In the meantime, to STOP the growing crack, you should drill a stop hole at each end of the crack.

 

Thanks for the advice BP. I'll get out the drill and drill and small hole at each end of the crack. I guess it wouldn't hurt to stop it from midigating any further. It's already big enough that it's going to suck when it comes time to fix it.

I'm guessing that it needs to be taken off completely and re-done fully? (in the location)

 

So I checked over the work he did with a couple magnets, rubbing them over the surface that was cracked on my truck.

I also rubbed the magnets over the area that wasn't cracked.

Between the two, I could not distinguish between any differences in how attracted the magnet was to the work. Either way, the magnet stuck on or tried to roll down the side of the box because of the curvature.

But basically, there was NO difference between the cracked/destroyed work and the uncracked work.

What does this tell me?

And what's my next step?

 

So here are some updated pictures of what the crack looks like.

It did indeed get larger... you can see it in the pictures, they have shown how much worse everything got while i was gone.

If you take a look at the second picture, I've highlighted the rust that I can see that may be causing a problem. The circle is to show the rust spot on the sheet metal under the a portion of the work that I broke off (purposely to see what was underneith).

The square outlines that there is rust coming through the crack right along it.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/833/dscn4479k.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/545/dscn44792.jpg/

You can also see in the middle hole that I drilled, the work that was done is sitting completely off of the metal. This, I assume, means that there is rust forcing the body-work off of the metal, thus forcing the work to crack.

Soooo, now that this is all on the table... again, what's next?

 

Look at the spot just to the right of your circle in the second picture. How thick does that filler look to be. I'm guessing at least 3/16" thick and that is why it is cracking since metal doesn't. Second, it looks like it was just laid on top of whatever is below. You obviously have no choice but to remove all of it and to start over. If cancer then cut it out. If surface rust then get rid of all the loose stuff and use a rust converter to kill what is left. Before putting filler in you will need to hit the surface with 36 grit so the filler has something to grab onto. I'll bet even that wasn't done so filler would just peel off like a piece of tape.

Now you know the prime reason I won't buy a vehicle when the owner tells me he just painted it and/or did all the bodywork. They can't be trusted.

 

Thanks for the advice so far. This thread is coming along great. And yes, when I broke a piece off intentionally, I sort of grabbed my chest as if I had a heart attack....

I didn't think I'd see that much filler at all.. Aparently this old guy just lathered the stuff on and didn't notice how much he was using. Must have been those old coke-bottle glasses he was wearing

Anywho, any ideas on how much this would run me if I didn't want to do this myself?

Anyone want to talk me into doing it myself? I really have no idea where to start on all of this!

Sure, tear-down is easy enough. But applying filler? Lol, I don't even know where to buy some, what brands there are, or how much of it I'll need!