Thread: Body work with Filler

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My car is over 40 years old and has some rust holes. I am not planning to go radical on the car and spend to much money. I would like to do most the work myself. I plan to go with a flat oxide red paint job which i would like to do myself. I am trying to find an alternative from paying somebody thousands of dollars for rust repair. I am not sure how far i plan to go with the car but i would like to do the rust repair myself.

1. what is the best way to do this with some sort of filler (bondo, fiberglass, aluminum tape, fiberglass mesh). I know getting someone to cut and weld is my best bet but i would like to know my alternatives.

2.Has anybody used the flat paint from Hot rod Flatz which is sold on Ebay by the gallon? Is it any good and easy to spray?

Only one way to fix rust outs and that is cut it back to solid metal and weld in patches,if you just bondo it in, it will fall apart within a very short time period.

As said above cut out rust and weld in new metal . BUT there is an alternative method . If you can get to the back side of the car panel? Cut out the area to be repaired. Clean the back side of the opening, prepair your patch larger than the hole. GLUE in the patch, secure with selftapping screws, and let dry. After dry remove screws fill screw holes with bondo while covering the seam that is there. You can flange the new patch or the body or just fill it all over with a skin coat. You would not beleave how much of this is done today in body shops and in the manufacture of new cars. Welding can buckel a large panel and its hell getting it back. Its a two part adhesive made by 3M #8116 it comes in a tube type thing and mixes as it goes through the gun which is part # N.08117. I glued to pices of sheet metal together with this stuff and it does not come apart

regular bondo can absorb moisture thru the primer paint and cause a lot of problems. top coats of paint seal against moisture. use marine rated bondo if you are planning on leaving the primer for final paint Marine costs 3 to 4 times as much as regular bondo. mix it in smaller batches so you don't have a lot of excess that hardenes before you get it spread

thanks for the advise
2.Has anybody used the flat paint from Hot rod Flatz which is sold on Ebay by the gallon? Is it any good and easy to spray?????

If it's over 40,there will be hidden rust you'll find once you remove paint.If it's always been a Fla. car of course it won't be anything like what we find here in Ohio but what I would suggest is that if the rust is extensive and you are not experienced with fillers then you may want to consider replaceing certain panels if you see that you will have major rust repair.Depending on the make/model of the vehicle the replacement panels may not be as expensive as you think.
I've seen that paint on e-bay but I've never used it.