Couple of questions....

How big are the holes in the fenders?

Are they just holes from emblems? Or rust?

 

They are the holes used to hold the center line trim. They have 5-7 holes each, the largest two holes are about a 1/4 inch and the smaller holes are around 1/8 inch. They are round.
I plan on bringing a can of rattle primer. Anyting else you can think of?

Thanks,
Karl

 

Make sure you get a good quality primer, even if it is rattle can stuff. Some primers are not sandable and made to be painted on directly when the finish is not important. Automotive primers should be sandable, so that you can wet-sand it to get a smooth surface for the finish coat of paint. Get it from an auto parts store, or better yet from an automotive paint supply store. Should be a DuPont store around there somewhere...

Bring your Bondo and stuff, as it will need to be Bondo'd over the welds when the holes are plugged.

 

Just a tech question on filling holes. I welded some holes up on the 54 using little wafers of 1/4" stock that I had sliced off of a rod. I had a magnet hold them in place from the back while I welded them in. Is there a benefit to this method or is it just as good to fill the whole hole with weld??? Thanks, Jag

 

Oh ye of little faith

 

I've seen guys actually use the rod in the hole, then cut off and grind after it's been welded.

You can do either, the way you did it you can concentrate the heat on your pieces you cut out, minimizing any warpage. 1/4inch is about the max I'd fill without some sort of plug like you did, or backing piece...but it all depends on the material too, and how many cold ones the weldor had prior to pulling the trigger

I'll pull up some pieces of the Cougar I cut up and drill some different size holes in it...probably will be thinner material, and a different alloy, but we can get an idea if we want to fill or plug. I've a failrly clean small sheet of 18ga if we need to make any plugs.

 

Just a suggestion on the plugs. I bought a short piece of round stock at the hardware store and sliced off 1/16" wafers. I hope you guys have fun. somebody take some pictures for the newsletter!! Jag

 

I've some round stock if we need it, but I'd rather see Karl cut 1/4inch circles out with tin snips

 

Ummm Mike, I like to keep the fingers I have.

 

Just have to remember, when it starts to hurt, or you see blood dripping, it's time to quit squeezing on the handles

No issues, we'll make a plan when you get here

 

That's what I like...winging it!

I like to braze up smaller holes to minimize heat and distortion of the surrounding metal, as well as fact that the brass is easy enough to work that you can often get away without having to use any Bondo on it afterwards. But the bigger holes might require some Bondo to get the area straight and true again, I dunno...we'll just get to see how good Mike really is...

 

No brazing here on this stuff, brazing holes on auto sheetmetal leads to poor paint adhesion, has to be OA welded...beside the brass outgas the flux used just makes it a bear to make paint stick long term afterwords...for sheetmetal to be painted it's just wire clean and a coathanger for filler...just like an exhaust system.

But I don't think we'll even have to worry about the torch anyways, I've plenty of gas and 030 (a good 30 gfeet anyways) in my MM35.

Besides, I'm gonna practice on Friday to make sure it looks like I l=know what I'm doing on Saturday

 

1/4 inch and smaller? you could fill them with solder, using a solder gun.

I have some doors that need welding - and a lot of extra sheetmetal I can bring if you guys want.

 

Naw, cmon guys, Karl could have filled and left them with Bondo, but it's not right.

Has to be metal to metal for a real, permanent fix, solder,brazing, etc, add impurities. Impurities cause issues wityh the final paint, may not show up immediately, but will do so in good time.

Wish Mechenoid would chime in, he seems to know his paint and body prep well, like to see what he has to say...could be I'm living on old wives tales, not sure, but being the semi-old guy I am, I kinda stick to my way.

Clint, no issues to bring your stuff down, heck, let's make a day of it

 

I've never had a paint adhesion problem over brazing before but now that you mention it I do recall a Caddy that my dad had developed a problem with a crack in the corner of the driver's door, by the mirror. The dealer brazed the crack and repainted it, and fairly soon after the paint started flaking off at the braze (that's how I knew they'd brazed it.)

It's all in the prep...


Be sure to allow some time for re-arching the project truck springs. I've been making some determinations on ride height. I pulled the front springs yesterday, I'll yank the rear ones out Friday after work. Tonight I have to reassemble my bro-in-law's t-case and put it back in, provided the new shift fork arrives today as promised...