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rlandrum

rlandrum

Jedi Trainee
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We finished blasting the body and all of the panels. We found only a few areas in need of any metal work.

https://xjguy.com/triumph/may27/800x600/00025.jpg

Those black spots are pinholes in the metal.

Initially, I considered plugging the holes by brazing them. Now, with the paint off, there's a bit more rot than I had hoped. Everything still feels strong, but I'd like to make it right before we recover it with paint. Should I have a professional come in and repair this panel? I think it's just beyond what I'm able to do myself.

Also, we found a lot of body putty on the panels. We presume that they used the putty to align the panels. There was so much, that we were able to take them off like tiles.

https://xjguy.com/triumph/may27/800x600/00001.jpg

In one instance, it was 3/4 of an inch thick. We weren't planning on using any body putty other than that needed to fill any minor faults in the metal. Instead, we're opting for a "high-fill" primer, which should lay down a 3 mil covering of filler over any scratches or rough spots.

There's clearly something we don't know about body work, because over the past week we happened to watch OverHaulin, and they we're coating every panel on a car with a thick layer of body putty. Why? And what exactly is it?

More progress:
https://xjguy.com/triumph/may27/800x600/
 
rlandrum said:
Initially, I considered plugging the holes by brazing them. Now, with the paint off, there's a bit more rot than I had hoped. Everything still feels strong, but I'd like to make it right before we recover it with paint. Should I have a professional come in and repair this panel?
Click to expand...

YMMV - but I'd say yes. I've learned to do non-structural welding where strength but cosmetics don't count, but that would give me pause personally.

The cars value should support the work, not to mention that you want to get the section right.
 
I had a bunch of pinholes in my floorboards. Since I am not going for a 100 point car, just one I can really enjoy and not have to worry about, I laid some fiberglass on the inside and covered it all with Por 15 silver.

It looks like it worked out ok.
 
Looks like the original patch was not done very well. I would have it repaired. While I am aware that a lot of people frown on brazing, but if that is a skill you have mastery of, go for it. Cut out the old metal, fabricate new patches with a small flange to fit over the old good metal. Then braze it on.

Skim coating is the procedure where the body man covers the entire panel with body filler, then sands to contour. The technique is designed to reduce or even eliminate the need for sanding during the painting process. I found it difficult to master. If your skill level is like mine, the use of a normal sanding primer or a high build primer will take longer, but is more manageable.
 
That frame looks really nice, did you have that powdercoated?
 
I'd say new patches would be easier, particularly if you can bend them up in advance (temporarily position with sheet metal screws) and have someone weld them in. It shouldn't be too $$, particularly if you have other welding to be done. IMHO you'd be happier with that in the long run than fiberglassing or brazing (the latter being almost as much work, without any of the structural solidity.)

See the VW thread in my sig for more dramatic solutions... :wink:

-Duncan
 

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My son is too modest - it took him days to blast all that Bondo off the body panels and the door sills. After it was all off, we took the right front panel and the door and test fit them on the car to try and see why the PO used all that Bondo. It took us about 10 minutes to figure out how to actually get the right front fender panel properly situated on the car, and once that was done, the panels seemed to align perfectly with no Bondo whatever. Our conclusion is that the PO was unable to figure out how to properly attach the panels to the car so he did it any way he could then covered up his error with massive layers of filler. The bad part was the time required to get it all off. The good part was that it kept the underlying metal rust-free!

Here's a link showing the thickness of the bondo my son removed:
Bondo thickness pic


..and a shot of my sainted son blasting the bondoed sills on the body tub:
Blasting the body tub
 
I agree that patches would be a good solution (based on what I see in this photo). However, I might be more concerned about the condition of the sill/s. Looks pretty bad on the outside and may be rotten inside as well. Solid sills are a must for a successful rebuild.
 
DeltaAir423 said:
That frame looks really nice, did you have that powdercoated?
Click to expand...

Nope. It's an epoxy paint, and according to the painter, is used on M1 Abrahms tanks, so it's pretty tough. It's not baked on.
 
CraigLandrum said:
...It took us about 10 minutes to figure out how to actually get the right front fender panel properly situated on the car, and once that was done, the panels seemed to align perfectly with no Bondo whatever. Our conclusion is that the PO was unable to figure out how to properly attach the panels to the car so he did it any way he could then covered up his error with massive layers of filler. The bad part was the time required to get it all off....
Click to expand...
It's truly amazing to see the...er..."skill" level of some people! One of the first tasks I ever took on with a car of mine was back around 1970. I'd just (stupidly) crashed my Herald into the back of a Rambler wagon and had to round up another bonnet. (I had a real body shop straighten the front of the frame and weld on a new front crossmember.)

I bought a Herald for its bonnet and other parts. (Ironically, I still have that donor car under endless restoration; the car I crashed is long gone. But I digress!) Eventually, I then decided that the pale yellow donor bonnet kinda clashed with the "new white" of the transplant recipient, so I set about stripping paint and such.

I found some minor damage under a skim of filler on the front center of the bonnet, but I also found filler about 3/4" thick just below the opening for the side/flasher lamp. Took me awhile to chip and grind away that thick filler...and then about two minutes' worth of hammer and dolly work to reshape the metal underneath. Easy access through the side lamp aperture, after which almost no filler was needed to smooth again!
 
That was our experience too. We (actually my Father) spent about 5 hours with some cheapo Chinese body hammers knocking out dents in the nose, fenders, and doors. Nothing major. The nose was the worst of it. It had been knocked around a bit and was creased in a few places. A couple of thin coats of bondo after the hammering was all that was need to get it back to something respectable. And it weighs about half as much. :smile:
 
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