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Not mc, how to repair body rust holes


Flyinfool

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My truck is suffering from a bad case of chemical weight reduction.

The rust is coming thru from the inside in areas that there is no access to the inside.

I am not a body man by any stretch of the imagination.

I am not looking to restore it to like new appearance just to stop the cancer and cover the holes to keep it from getting worse and stop the whistling in the wind.

 

I was looking at POR15 or Rust Bullet. But I have no idea of how to get it to the insides of the areas that are rusting. The rust has created plenty of holes stick things in there.

Is there some kid of a wand spray gun that can be had for not to much cash?

 

I was then going to fix the areas with glass cloth and epoxy resin, followed by some Bondo to smooth it out a little before I buzz bomb it.

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Unfortunately there is only one sure-fire way to cure rustout and that is to cut the rusted area away and replace the panel. If you want to keep the vehicle, this is the only way.

 

If you plan to get rid of it... even within a couple years, sandblast away as much as you can, fiberglass in the bigger holes and bondo everything. Use some wire mesh in those bigger holes for something to stick the fiberglass to.

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If you have holes rusted through you need to cut or grind the the effected area out. That will give you access to the inside to treat it with the chemical of your choice. You will need to bend the edges of the hole in then you can glass over it and shape it with a grinder or sander. If you have a large hole you will need to use a form to build the glass on. You can use whatever you have around a piece of plastic (piece of an oil bottle) or what ever you have around to put inside the hole and form a basic shape of the body then glass over it. If you have a mig or tig welder you can buy replacement panels for rust out areas on most popular vehicles. Fiberglass reinforced bondo over a form will fill in a hole quickly.

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I did the cheap and easy fix one time just to stop dust and water from coming in. I duct taped of the holes trying to line the curves up with how the body flowed, and then I bought some of the expandable foam in a can an lifted a corner of the tape and sprayed enough foam into the hole to fill it when it expands. When the foam dries you can peel the tape off and it will be failry smooth and you can run some paint over it to colour it.

Its not the most pretty fix, but it is quick and easy and stops the snow drifts and dust from getting into the vehicle. :rotfl:

 

Brian

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I've been paint and body man for years, if it's just a driver get some sheet metal and cut

it large enough to cover the hole and reach solid metal apply roofers cement, tar, under coating or whatever you might have around to seal it in place and attach it with hex head self tapping sheet metal screws ugly but water tight. If you have an exterior patch

you might wat to use pop rivets. Now that is for a beater, if your trying to restore it theres a lot more detail and I would not recommend it for something in the condition you described. Just plug it and drive it.

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I did the cheap and easy fix one time just to stop dust and water from coming in. I duct taped of the holes trying to line the curves up with how the body flowed, and then I bought some of the expandable foam in a can an lifted a corner of the tape and sprayed enough foam into the hole to fill it when it expands. When the foam dries you can peel the tape off and it will be failry smooth and you can run some paint over it to colour it.

Its not the most pretty fix, but it is quick and easy and stops the snow drifts and dust from getting into the vehicle. :rotfl:Brian

 

You've been watching RED GREEN again haven't you?

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lmc truck has body panel parts to do it correctly, not that bad in price lmctruck.com

jcwhitney.com also has some panels. Cut the bad out and put in new then protect if and you will be happier and in the end you will spend much less time and money that revisiting the same issue. . .

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I did the cheap and easy fix one time just to stop dust and water from coming in. I duct taped of the holes trying to line the curves up with how the body flowed, and then I bought some of the expandable foam in a can an lifted a corner of the tape and sprayed enough foam into the hole to fill it when it expands. When the foam dries you can peel the tape off and it will be failry smooth and you can run some paint over it to colour it.

Its not the most pretty fix, but it is quick and easy and stops the snow drifts and dust from getting into the vehicle. :rotfl:

 

Brian

 

Heck Brian ... you went to waaaayyyyyyyyyy too much trouble ... I'da just slapped the duct tape on and forget about it ... when it falls of, slap some more on! :banana:

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This is my daily driver (when not on the bike) and my blasting thru the woods and towing the RV truck. I do plan to keep it for a long while. I drove the newer trucks and I just don't like them. This truck is barely broke in at just under 300K miles. It is a lot cheaper to spend a couple of hundred $$ a couple of times a year to replace worn parts than to make payments on something newer.

 

That is kind of what I found out.

I tried duct tape, it peeled off in the first snow storm and the hole filled with salty snow slush.

I tried the aluminum foil duct tape, no better than the grey stuff.

I tried gorilla tape, that at least lasted almost a year but winter still did it in.

I have one hole covered with a piece of galvanized steel cut from a heat duct and held on with pop rivets, that has lasted for 3 years now but I can see the original cancer is now creeping out around the edges of it and there is nothing left for the pop rivets to hold onto.

 

I tried rustolium rusty metal primer followed by rustolium paint and I think that only slowed it down by a month or so. I was surprised that the red rustolium was almost a perfect color match to the truck.

 

The holes are big enough already to give me some access to the inside, but I am not sure what to put in there to kill the rust. lots of places sell stuff that is supposed to work but is not much more than snake oil.

 

I just want to not have body panels flying in the wind or falling off while going down the road.

 

It is to cold now to do anything but I will have to do something this spring before it gets totally out of control.

 

I do have a MIG and Oxy/acetylene to work with. TIG is still just on the wish list.

I will look into those replacement panels.

The part that I dont understand is how do you weld a new panel on to a closed area and not burn off any rust protection that is on the inside? or how do you protect that fresh weld from rusting its way out again?

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Jeff, there is no easy fix for rust. To do it right you must cut out the rusted area and go a bit into the good metal and weld in new pieces. Anything else would be only a temporary fix no matter what you do. Any other type of fiberglass, bondo, tape, etc patch would only fail within 6 months or sooner.

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