Here's one of my back burner problems. 20 years or so ago I had a body man that cut in a third brake light in the cab. He had the light and worked out a nice mount inside the cab for it. I thought. Put the light on the shelf for later install. Fast forward to this year... put the light in the hole and wired it up and noticed this... Truck is in final paint. What can I use to fill this hole and paint... probably 3/16" wide and 1/2" high. Silicon won't work, won't take paint. Only needs to be pretty on the outside.. Found a product on amazon called 'thermomorph' a moldable plastic product that might do the filling and is paintable... suggestions ???

j

 

 

Can you find a longer light and possibly lengthen the hole?

 

I personally would make some sort of a bezel to go around it . Any thing you fill and paint with will always be noticeable especially to you .

 

I agree with EBEAR. Good luck

 

I would look for a third brake light that fit the existing hole.You haven't mentioned the dimensions of the hole but the third brake light on the new Ford Escape looks similar

 

My first thought was as bear. Make a bezel. My other thought is there an equal size gap on the other side? If so can you center the light and then fill in the gaps with some black weather stripping?

 

I vote with theBear and others. Polished SS would work nicely. Second choice would find a light to fit.

 

Find someone with a 3D printer to make a filler piece / bezel. Someone on here might even be able to do it for you. Our local UPS store has a 3D printer if you can create a file to upload. Do you know any engineering students? They would almost certainly have access to the software and a printer.

 

have to check into that... I know nuthin 'bout no 3d printers... need to find a sheet of thin stainless then get an education on the printing part... thanks guys


john

 

Printing is plastic , if you can find someone to do it you can finish as you like . Great idea if you can find someone with the skills-equipment to do it .

 

Take your light to a steel supply shop that has a laser cutter. They could measure the light and laser cut a stainless bezel for you.
Mark

 

First off you are lucky to have chosen a solid color to paint your truck...much easier to match the paint.
How I would tackle this problem is to cut a piece of metal to fill the hole (not the entire 3rd light hole but just the opening that you need to fill). Using structural adhesive I would bond another piece of backing metal to the filler piece...the backer piece should be larger then the opening so that it can be bonded to the inner surface of the cab. I like to bond the two pieces together and allow to cure before fitting the filler into place on the cab...too many moving parts only makes things more difficult. When bonding the filler to the cab allow some of the adhesive to ooze out and fill in the gap between the patch and the cab body, this can be wiped off flush to minimize repair work later. Once the filler patch has been installed and the adhesive allowed to cure then the patch can be filled/sanded/primered and painted. If you are good with a brush then you could brush on the yellow and when dry color sand and buff...your choice. 3M08116/08115 adhesives will expand/contract at the same rate as the metal so they make a good bonding solution for jobs like this. Good luck...

 

Thermomorph isn't very durable. It re-softens in hot water.

First I would put a piece of cardboard up against the hole and then trace the hole with a Sharpie. The high-tech solution would be to scan that into a CAD file and then using polished SS use a plasma cutter to make a neat bezel. Low-tech would be, using the same traced template, make the bezel out of plastic like from a left over door panel or wood cutting it with a knife, skill saw, etc. You can then paint it any color you want.

 

I agree with CharlieLed. The 3M pannel adhesive is strong stuff. Unfortunately, it will cost you some paint work, but, if the painter made the hole too large, maybe he will work with you on the repaint.