Years ago, a lot of "car guys" considered a rust hole repair as juststuffing a news-paper in the hole, smearing a mixed plastic substanceover it, and a close match of rattlecan paint to finish it off.Thankfully, the hobby has forced us to take better care of ourdisappearing autos, and rust repair has definitely been an issue. Rustis a corrosion product primarily consisting of hydrated iron oxide.Whether you live along the coastline, inland, in a large city or smallvillage, rust is a serious problem. All vehicles are subject to at leastone of the following factors: rain, snow, humidity, damp salty air, wetroads, the home garage, atmospheric chemicals, car washing, and so on.All of these considerably accelerate the corrosion of vehicles.Hopefully, everyone has taken the necessary steps to prevent rust fromoccurring on their Mopars, but let's say you have a hole that needsrepaired. Well, we're here to help.
We decided to have Muscle Car Restorations (MCR) in Chippewa Falls,Wisconsin, show us how they would repair a hole in the rearquarter-panel of a car. these guys are so good at what they do we areconfident (with proper care) the rust will not come back. You would needsome pretty extensive tools to properly handle a repair like this. Itemslike an air compressor, welder, and cutting tools are just thebeginning.
The first thing is to determine...
The first thing is to determine just how much rust the car has. Thispanel may look like it just has some small pin-holes, but the entirearea around the holes will need to be cut out to ensure only rust-freemetal is left.
Before any repairs can begin,...
Before any repairs can begin, you need to find out what needs to berepaired. Since the entire car is getting repainted, the body was mediablasted.
MCR first marks out where...
MCR first marks out where the cuts will be made. We use masking tape forour lines to ensure a straight line; if you use a marker, it may getrubbed off.
The cutting wheel follows...
The cutting wheel follows the tapeline. this is crucial for metalreplacement because the repair piece must fit snugly in the opening. MCRreplaces the cut-out metal with a new piece of metal cut to the exactsize of the opening. This eliminates an overlap of metal, and whensmoothed produces an invisible repair.
The cut-out piece is placed...
The cut-out piece is placed on the new metal for tracing. Keep in mind,the new metal must fit the cut-out hole precisely.
The nice thing about our repair...
The nice thing about our repair is the panel being repaired is almost aflat piece. Cutting the new metal on a break ensures a straight cut.This is also a necessity for replacement. you can always trim the newmetal a little, but making it larger can present a problem, so cutaccordingly.
At the bottom of our repair,...
At the bottom of our repair, the metal rolled under the body. We use abreak to give the beginning of the body roll a straight line to formthe start of the bend.
The replacement piece is fitted...
The replacement piece is fitted to the hole, and the welding can begin.The spot welds should be spaced far enough apart to avoid metal warpageduring welding.
When you finish welding, the...
When you finish welding, the repair should resemble this. Now, the weldneeds to be ground flush. We are careful not to get the metal too hotand cause it to warp.
When the grinding is done,...
When the grinding is done, a minimal amount of plastic filler is neededjust to "skim-coat" the repaired area. After that is smoothed toperfection, we cover it with a good primer/sealer and are ready forpaint.
When completed, the repair...
When completed, the repair should not be noticeable.
Quality materials are the...
Quality materials are the backbone of a quality repair job. If you arestill buying your paint supplies at a flea market, let's just say you'llget what you paid for. Products, like these from PPG, will create a longlasting repair.
If you've done the prep, welding,...
If you've done the prep, welding, priming, and painting correctly, whatyou should end up with is an invisible quality repair such as we havehere.