I got my fender out and tried to melt some pre-fluxed rod that the welding shop says will melt at 500 degrees. Using MAPP gas it is just turning red and not filling squat. I expected molten metal from the rod. I am not a good mig welder and that seems tedious. Is there an easier way to melt in some metal? Any name brands of products or stores? Someone on this forum said to use something called "alumalloy" the welding shop didnt hear of that stuff. Really appreciate some help.
If you have the fender off the car or can get to the holes on the backside very easily, you can hold a piece of copper, brass, aluminum, or even a piece of brick behind the hole and use your MIG welder. Whichever you use, the trick is to be a flush against the hole and have as little as gap as possible. Your weld will stick only to the fender, not any the items I mentioned. This a trick I've seen my father and grandfather do several times. However, my body man tried an experiment on my car and it seems to work. Only time will tell. He put pieces of fiberglass the holes and coated the fiberglass and filled the holes with Rust Bullet. After it cured for a few days, he tried knocking it with a punch and was not successful in removing the patch.
You could try to lead them,It aint easy,but with practice you can fill small holes easily.Just need the right stuff to do it with.Get some Tallow,70/30 lead rod,tinning compound(tinning butter)And a good body file.A lead repair is as strong as steel(wont lift/peel/shrink) as long as the surface is prepped well and tinned.You still have to back up the hole though.Flux rod isnt the best for panel repair(leaves flux behind)which is an acid,and unless you are positive you cleaned it all out of the repair it will come back and eat your paint days/weeks or months later.
being the fender is off...take it by a shop and ask them to do them...it should only take a few mins. ...:Handshake...
If you want to use rods and a MAPP gas torch use BRAZING rods, not welding rods... you can get brazing rods at Lowes or just about any hardware store.. This was used to fill in the rust on the top of the fenders on the Blue Mav in my signature line and it never bubbled or rusted bas through or deformed in any manner. just make sure you grind the old rusted metal completely back to shiny non-rusted metal and then use a backer like metioned above. If you use copper it the melted brazing rods will stil to the copper but you can just grind then away when you are done
Lead? it's not the 1960's, Mig weld them, clean the spot off with a grinder lightly, flatten out a piece of copper plumbing pipe, get a friend with some gloves to hold it on the inside and weld them up. Find a piece of scrap metal first, drill some holes in it and practice. The only real way to fix them is by welding them. Hell, your in Michigan find someone that can come over and do it for you, Detroit is the Motor City!!
How fast do you want this done? is it only the fenders? or the doors? If you cross at Windsor I'm an hour and 45 minutes away, bring them here, if you cross at Port Huron, I'm an hour away. Bring Beer and honey pretzels from Meijers.
I would mig em.I did on my car,I only "suggested" leading as an option.Fillers tend to shrink/fall out.Moisture can get in between fiberglass and the parent metal and subsequently fall off.Steel is the best way,mig or tig. Gas welding imparts alot of heat to the material and will cause warpage.
If you use fiberglass, use the Rust Bullet instead of the resin. I don't know the chemistry behind it, but the molecular adhesion is much more metal like. I did a trunk pan repair this way and 71gold has done patch work with this method and the results have exceeded expectations.
Dave I was never arrested before but almost was in London Ontario like 26 years ago. I was coaching a basketball team and the players were a little loud at a hotel party and the London police knocked on the door. He was really rude. When he left I said what an "A" hole and he heard it and come back in the room and really got nasty. But we apologiozed and that was that. Other than that exprience it was a very nice town.
