The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop How to Repair screw holes in the rood

I just bought a 58 Suburban. At some point in its life somone installed a roof rack. It was simply screwed or bolted to the roof. Now I have 8 or 10 small (1/8 -3/16) holes in the roof. The problem is they are spread all accross the half-acre of nearly perfectly flat roof.

I know welding is normally the method for plugging holes. I'm afraid I'll crate a washboard out of the roof if not extremely careful about heat build up. By the way, I've never welded before. :-(

I was wondering if there is some kind of metal glue or epoxy. I thought I'd get small (dime size) rounds of sheet metal and glue them to the underside of the roof under the holes. I could then fill in the screw hole with a very thin coat of body filler from the top. Sand it smooth and hit it with primer until I ever get around to a finished paint job. Is this something that might work?

Any other ideas for quick fixes for the near term and more permanent solutions for the long run?

Welding is the preferred solution that you can be sure won't prematurely wreck your paint job. If you can't do, find someone who can. Heat build-up due to welding a small screw hole is not usually a problem.

You are wise to be concerned about warping the panel from too much heat. A good welder can do it if they take their time.

Gentlemen;

Ok, thanks. I guess its time I learned how to use a welder. How do you weld up the small hole. Do you just put a tack weld right in the hole and call it a day? I'm sure there will be some grinding involved. Do you need to use a hammer and dolly to flatten the weld out?

I'll have to track down an old hood or something else large and flat. I drill a bunch of holes in it and practive welding them up again.

This would be perfect for your roof hole welding project:

Magnetic Copper Backing Plate

SimS

Here's a hood peaking job I did, post #6 shows filling in the hood ornament holes. Should be a similar repair for your roof.


http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5576095

Robert: Simply amazing....

I have found great success in just spot welding holes closed. I start at the edge of the hole and place a "spot" of weld. I simply repeat this process until the hole is closed. On small holes, I do it all in one pass. On larger holes, I do two spots and let the metal cool before proceeding with two more and so on.

Finally, the weld is ground down smooth.

Sims;

Thanks for the tips. The magnetic copper backing plates look very interesting.

MP&C: Where did you get the small punch to make the holes. It looks like it would be perfect for my requirements.

David:

I may try the simple spot welding technique to see how that works.

Roper Whitney #5 hand punch, they are available new all over the net for around $80-90, mine I picked up used for about 20. Kinda hard to justify buying one just to fill a few holes, but you can also cut them out by hand, just is less precise and more tedious.


http://toolmonger.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/0927102-11.jpg


If you have any sheetmetal shops nearby, or automotive body repair, they may have one where they could punch out the plugs for you. The factory sheet metal should be 19 ga, in Europe, 1mm is about the same equivalent thickness.

While not as good or permanent as welding, JB Weld works well also.

On that metal, as long as your machine is set up right (amperage), get a copper welding spoon, or just take a piece of copper water pipe, hammer one end flat, put a crook in it, and hold it against the back. for that size of hole, should take no time to weld and very little heat transfer.

You can also get a product that will absorb the heat away from the metal. It is reusable and looks a lot like modeling clay. use a flap disk to smooth off the weld and get it.

If you are concerned about the warpage.... how about attaching your small sheet metal patches with
the 3M auto body repair adhesives that they market...?

Body shops are using this stuff for major body repairs and manufacturers are starting to use it,too. They replace whole quarter panels with it, so I suspect it would be just fine for attaching your little hole patches.
Then just skim coat the repaired hole and feather it in as normally done..

x2 on the 3Mpanel-bond. Sheetmetal will tear before that panel-bond lets go-it's amazing stuff.