I have a '69 F250 that i just bought that needs paint. The all original body is in great shape with no dents and mostly light rust on the hood. There are two areas that i am note sure how to handle. The first is a 1/2 rust hole above the windshield trim. The second which is not as bad, is heavier rust along the bed seam that is pitted but not completly through metal.
My question is " is this something an inexperienced first timer can handle", having never done any sort of body work before. My plan was to do some prep work to save some money and gain knowledge before sending it to the body shop.
This is not going to be a show truck of any sort, and i thought this was a great opportunity to learn a little body work.
Thanks for any advice. Al

 

The hole will probably be beyond doing it yourself without access to the proper tools. The rust needs cut out and replaced with new metal. The bed rust can be wire wheeled out and treated with Ospho, Sem or another rust killer to keep it from coming back, filled and sealed/painted. A good body shop won't warranty any thing prepped by you. MAACO will take anything and the more prep you do the cheaper it is. Disclaimer: Not endorsing using MAACO. I would advise reading the "stickies" at the top of this forum. Good luck and enjoy.

 

The hole will need to be properly repaired by cutting the damage out in a uniformed area and either purchasing a patch panel or building one. Then you will need to gring the area around the hole to allow for the weld, tack and stitch weld the panel into place, grind the weld, scuff up the paint on the panel and any adjacent panels, apply small amount of filler, prime the area, feather edge the primer area and block sand, lay down sealer, apply base coat and blend the base coat properly onto adjacent panels. Then the entire panels that have been roughed up are to be cleared and buffed. It is a lot more detailed than the shadetree mechanic can usually do.

If you are not wanting to do the body work, here is the plan. Take the truck to whatever shop you prefer. Talk to the paint technician and tell him what you have to have done. He will tell you if the repair will be close enough to the adjacent panel that he will need to blend the paint onto that panel or not. Whatever panels he says to scuff, scuff these panels and only these panels. Take the truck home and remove the unboltables such as mirrors, trim, cab lights. etc. That is pretty much about it. Unfortunately, the brunt of the bill will be in the labor repairing the hole, painting and painting materials. Removing the bolt on parts and scuffing the panels might save you some money, but not a whole lot. It usually can help reduce the cost on a private repair tech or shop than at larger chains and dealerships where they quote by the job. Good luck!

 

All good advice.
If you have water coming in the hole....fill it with bondo till you are ready.
Then remove it and have it all ready for the shop.
The color is important and the description of ''not a show truck'' is important.

 

I would advise against welding above the windshield. We did this to patch some marker light holes in a '79 cab a while back and the heat from just those small holes made the roof shrink in, cab is useless now. I'd clean it up, use a rust killer/epoxy primer and then fiberglass it.

 

Sorry to say - but you did something horribly wrong. I (and many others) have welded windsheild seams (plus other rood areas) many times w/o issues. MIG is best, especially used to minimize heat transfer, but even if you used Oxy-Acetylene it should not pose a problem....

 

We used MIG, it shrank like crazy. We let it cool naturally, but it was pretty cold out.