We always used a torch and a blow gun on an air hose. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
If it's not cracked or rusty in the surrounding areas like Mark says is typical, just leave it in place.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Or if you're REALLY talented, you could use lead to repair the crack.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Where lead is concerned, being lucky is far better than being good! The trick is to tin the metal around where the lead is going to be applied with acid core solder. Then the next trick is to neutralize the acid after the fill is made to keep it from causing the paint to lift. These days, finding body lead and/or acid core solder or anything else containing lead is about as likely as finding a chicken with lips!
There are a couple of Devcon products known s "Epoxy Aluminum" and "Epoxy Steel" that are much better quality and more durable than JB Weld, and MUCH easier to apply than lead. In a place where there might be a little flexing involved, it would probably be a better choice than regular body filler. 40-something years ago we used a product from Ditzler/PPG called "Aluma-Lead" which was an aluminum powder that was mixed with some sort of liquid binder. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
I've used All-Metal. Works well as body filler. It was recommended to me by a body shop owner.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Been looking at doing some lead seaming, I have quite a bit on hand for casting bullets - is it usually just pure lead used in these seams, or some specific alloy?
I'd think pure is best just to avoid spalling/cracking?
Last edited by NorthCoast3800; 11/21/20215:24 PM.
1949 Chevrolet 3/4 Ton - Still Solid. Regular Driver OT Vehicles: 1925 Hudson Brougham Super Six 1950 Chevrolet Styline (Parts) 1952 Canuck Pontiac Sedan Delivery (Well Underway) 1973 F250 4x4 Highboy 1977 F250 4x4 Lowboy
29 tons My lead body teacher had a flame about 8 or 9 inches out there real gentle,he would just use the tip of that feather,kept his paddles in a quart oil can with just a little motor oil. This would be covered with a shop rag to keep the primer dust out and maybe set for days or weeks. Always used dutch boy lead real soft,eastwood lead is a hard alloy harder to use.
NorthCoast 3800 Just looked at eastwood lead is 30%lead 70%tin so may be wrong about the dutch boy 70/30 lead. I do recall that the eastwood lead was hard.
Thanks! I never searched for it just assumed it was generic alloy or pure lead!
I'm surprised it's not 70% lead/30% tin, if not pure lead. Would have thought that would make it too brittle. Interesting!
1949 Chevrolet 3/4 Ton - Still Solid. Regular Driver OT Vehicles: 1925 Hudson Brougham Super Six 1950 Chevrolet Styline (Parts) 1952 Canuck Pontiac Sedan Delivery (Well Underway) 1973 F250 4x4 Highboy 1977 F250 4x4 Lowboy
Interesting factoid: To identify if a stick of lead solder has tin in it, hold it up to your ear and bend it. If it makes noise (called "tin cry") it has tin in it. My dad taught that to me at his plumbing shop when I was a kid.
Tin in lead makes it flow better. A 70/30 lead/tin alloy is typical solder (but no longer legal for soldering water pipes).
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Interesting factoid: To identify if a stick of lead solder has tin in it, hold it up to your ear and bend it. If it makes noise (called "tin cry") it has tin in it. My dad taught that to me at his plumbing shop when I was a kid.
Tin in lead makes it flow better. A 70/30 lead/tin alloy is typical solder (but no longer legal for soldering water pipes).
That IS an interesting factoid!
1949 Chevrolet 3/4 Ton - Still Solid. Regular Driver OT Vehicles: 1925 Hudson Brougham Super Six 1950 Chevrolet Styline (Parts) 1952 Canuck Pontiac Sedan Delivery (Well Underway) 1973 F250 4x4 Highboy 1977 F250 4x4 Lowboy
When I helped rebuild the distillery at E & J Gallo winery in 1979 they had us using lead/tin solder to install the copper evaporator cups. Every backwoods moonshiner knows better than to do that! That still was steam powered, 6 feet across, five stories tall, and capable of producing 2K gallons per hour of 99.5% pure alcohol (190 proof) from the dregs and leftovers of the winemaking process that still contained some alcohol. It was used to fortify the apple and pear juice based generic white wine used in products like Boone's Farm wine, and Bartles and James wine coolers. That stuff would only ferment to around 8% alcohol content due to a low sugar concentration. The raw alcohol brought it up to 12%, then it was colored and flavored artificially. At least it was marginally better than Mad Dog 20/20! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
