Filling Holes

[Dr. Smoke]

1966 Healey 3000....Previous owner had rearview mirrors in the wrong position, so needed to move them to the proper position. Now, holes exist on both front quarter panels which need repair. Pics attached of right and left sides. The largest hole is about 5 mm. I cannot find a body shop that is willing to do this....."we don't work on antiques", "we cannot repair aluminum", etc. Have read similar posts on this forum with suggestions ranging from Bondo, epoxy, self tapping screws, and welding. My restoration is coming along nicely and I would like the repair to look nice and be durable. Any suggestions as to how best to fill these holes?
Thanks for any input!
Dr. Smoke

 

[Healey Nut]

Ideally you need to find someone who can weld aluminum however you could clean the inside of the panel to bare clean metal then bond a reinforcing plate of aluminum to the back side using a metal epoxy then 80% fill the holes with the same epoxy and finish with normal body filler paint etc .

 

[bob hughes]

I we are talking 5mm holes or under, why not try using the Aluminum 'solder' that can be applied with a conventional blow lamp, you do need a stainless steel wire brush to clean the area. I used it to repair a similar hole on a BN4 side screen frame to great effect. Have a look at this, just what you want

Bob

 

[Dr. Smoke]

Incredible....many thanks Bob!

 

[vette]

Bonding adhesives are also very effective in filling and bonding metals together. Automotive bonding adhesives are not epoxy. You can buy them at auto body supply stores. Made by 3M or SEMS they are formulated for different materials but I have used the same formulation on metal or fibreglass. Sometimes used to bond quarter panels on, etc. I have also used it as a filler.

 

[DerekJ]

Are quarter panels what we call wings? If so they are steel not aluminium, unless somebody replaced them.

 

[vette]

The bonding material is formulated for many different metals and fibreglass. It is widely used in the auto body repair business. Here is an example where I repaired a door on a 56 Vette and wanted to keep the repair area to minimal because did not want to repaint original paint.

 

[vette]

The holes for the original location of the wing mirrors on this Healey were filled with bonding adhesives. That was about 20 years ago and the repair still looks good.

 

[Dr. Smoke]

Decided to go with aluminum welding...expert welder with a TIG. Pretty good results as shown below. Now, need to spot paint it. Got the original color in a spray can ...also filler/primer and clear coat. Any tips?
Smoke

 

[nevets]

What are your expectations of quality? Keep in mind that a perfect color match will be unlikely (better if you are using paint from the same batch used to paint the car previously). Are you planning to repaint the entire panel or just the repaired area? Are you going to paint with a rattle-can of spray paint?

 

[Dr. Smoke]

Was planning to paint the spot area and feather in a surrounding portion....have a rattle can

 

[vette]

Cant tell from your pictures if that repair is on the shroud or the fender. If on the fender then as said earlier the fenders would be steel. But anyway in doing the painting, the rattle can approach will not give you a high probability to match colour or to blend in the new paint to the old. Base clear paint is a catalyzed, 2 part paint that cures very hard. It can be wet sanded well and buffed. Rattle can paint is not catalyzed and will not cure hard at least not for a very long time. Like months and months in the hot sun. Also to build up enough layers (thickness) to be able to wet sand is difficult. I didn't catch in the previous post what colour your car is. If it is metallic like Healey Blue you can not wet sand the colour it will ruin the metallic. You must spray the colour very smooth and then clear coat it, let the clear coat dry as hard as possible then buff the clear coat. I don't believe you will get enough clear coat from a rattle can to wet sand it, maybe a little but it is contingent on how thick you make the clear coat. Another thing is that if the current paint on the car is a catalyzed clear coat, an over spray of another clear coat with attempting a blended edge doesn't work very well. Many times you will always see where the new clear coat left off and the old starts. But there is a method to do it.
There is a product called clearcoat blending agent. Just before you spray the clear coat, you take this stuff and spray it on the area where the blend is to occur. Very lightly. What is does is soften the original clear coat to allow the new clear to melled into it. But you have to use it very sparingly. And sometime it doesn't work that well. By the time you have done all this you have a lot of work into it and you also have a larger area affected that you might expect. And the colour match may very well be noticeable. It is usually a better approach to just repaint the whole panel. If the colour match is off then it usually won't be as noticeable as if you tried to blend it.

 

[nevets]

As vette mentioned in his detailed response, best advice is to paint the entire panel. That way any color shift will be less noticeable. I strongly recommend that you get your hands on a spray gun setup for this project and not use a rattle can. Good idea to practice spraying on something other than your car and watch some youtube tutorials. Your best option may be to bring it to a professional paint shop.

 

[vette]

As vette mentioned in his detailed response, best advice is to paint the entire panel. That way any color shift will be less noticeable. I strongly recommend that you get your hands on a spray gun setup for this project and not use a rattle can. Good idea to practice spraying on something other than your car and watch some youtube tutorials. Your best option may be to bring it to a professional paint shop.

Just another tip, more than a tip, if you start to spray paint make sure you use a respirator for organic vapor at the very least.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

FWIW, I needed to paint part of my BJ8's shroud due to it having been key-swiped. I took the car to one of the local (San Jose) automotive paint sellers and he used a device--'colorimeter?'--to identify the paint. The OEM color was Colorado Red, but it had been painted GM 'Peking Red;' the color match from the shop was dead-on. I painted the scratched area with one of the little kits where you put the paint in a small bottle and use a pressurized cartridge, similar to:

Preval Valpack Spray System | Aircraft Spruce

Preval Valpack Spray System Preval Sprayers Best Value for your workshop, garage, job site and around the house.

www.aircraftspruce.com

The result was good (at least until I took a buffing wheel to it). Any paint you get now will likely be water-based, but a respirator is still advisable.

 

[Dr. Smoke]

Follow up : OK, got holes filled, sanded, primed, painted. My result is far from satisfactory…see attached. Have tried multiple body shops. Just say the word 1966 Austin Healey, and they want no part of a car like this. Tried multiple “hot rod “ shops, they are booked for two years or more. Is there a way I can fix this ugly patch myself? I can live with it, but it is plain not right!

 

[vette]

From the pic it seems your colour match isn't too bad. The problem is your body work. Not near smooth enough. You can smooth that out and repaint. I believe you can make it much better. Use 100 grit wet/dry paper with water. Take a sheet of the sand paper measured about 3 x6 inches. fold it over 3 times. This pads the paper enough to give a flatter paper to work with. sand the area smooth. To make the area level then apply body putty. Then sand the body putty smooth with 100 grit again. This should level everything. Now you must get the area very smooth to paint. So sand with 220 grit. Then with 400 grit. Now paint with primer. SMOOTHLY. after primer very dry, sand with 400 wet/dry paper with water. Then sand with 600 grit. It should now be smooth and level. Now you can paint with the colour paint. VERY SMOOTHLY. I don't know what paint you are using. I assume it is a single stage solid colour meaning one application method. If so after you paint the colour with multiple light coats you are basically done. Don't touch it. let dry for about a month. Either let it alone or maybe rub with fine rubbing compound to make it match better.

 

[Dr. Smoke]

Many thanks Bette!!

 

[Dr. Smoke]

vette that is!!

 

[Keoke]

Follow up : OK, got holes filled, sanded, primed, painted. My result is far from satisfactory…see attached. Have tried multiple body shops. Just say the word 1966 Austin Healey, and they want no part of a car like this. Tried multiple “hot rod “ shops, they are booked for two years or more. Is there a way I can fix this ugly patch myself? I can live with it, but it is plain not right!

IS there a restoration shop in the area? If so see if they can help you.