The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop To mig or to use a patch panel?????

The rear lower portion of the front fenders and the front of the rears have small rust through areas. Can these be filled in with a mig welder and then ground down and then a fine film of bondo applyed or should they be completely removed and a patch panel welded in?? Thanks

Remove all rusted areas to good metal and weld a new section in.
You'll just keep blowing larger holes if you try and fill a rust hole with a mig welder.

I agree with Steve, If the metal is thin an rusted through, patch the offended areas with good metal.

Depending on the size of the holes and the thickness of the metal that's left over, yup, you can mig weld the holes. If they are small enough with good metal around them, use copper in the back of the holes to act as a heat sink for the weld. I've done it a couple times on my truck. No big deal...take a piece of copper pipe and smash it flat. Put the copper behind the hole and let the weld pool up on the copper while at the same time penetrating the good metal and bingo, the hole is filled. I typically didn't do this if the hole was larger then a 1/4". If the holes are too large, I'd suggest doing what "Ghostrider" and "SW Radial" mentioned.

Thanks for myour replies,I think a few areas can be done with the mig but i will have to do a few with patch panels. Where is the best place to get panels from?

Lots of vendors sell em. My personal preference is http://www.truckandcarshop.com/ just because I find them to be cheaper. I would only go there if you know exactly what you need because their customer support isn't the greatest.

One fender I decided to mig weld and all the others including one cab corner and one outer cowl I will replace with patch panels. I ordered them from the company that used to be called Chevy Duty, Off hand I can't remember their name right now. Thanks for your help. Elmer

That would be Classic Parts of America

http://www.classicparts.com/