Technical Tech Week how to fill trim holes

Many of us like to remove some or all of the trim on our cars or have a hole where someone mounted a mirror or whatever, but when you remove the trim you are left with a line of holes. If anyone has tried to fill a trim hole with a mig or lots of filler rod with a tig or gas setup you know warped you can make the side of your car. Here is a step by step way to fill them and have the patch look like the hole was never there.

The first step of course is to clean the area of all paint and rust.

Next I use my step drill to make the hole round


Next up is to cut a small round patch the same size as the hole but instead of using 18 gauge metal that is close to the thickness of most body panels, I use 16 gauge (more on why later). I rough it out with a pair of snips and then round it with my small angle grinder using 36 grit paper (only because that is what we have).


It is very important to make it fit the hole as tightly as possible so that it will nearly hold itself in place. Then take a dolly that fits the shape of the area well and back up the patch while you hit it flat with a very low crown body hammer. Because the material of the patch is thicker than the area around it, it will be compressed causing to expand and tightening it up in the hole so that it will stay by itself.

 

This method works best with a tig welder or gas welding second best. If you are going to mig weld it into place make sure you get good penetration so it doesn't fall out when you grind the weld later. Here is the tig welder I use and this is the setting that works well for me. I use thin tig wire that is made in Italy, it seems to work better than the cheap stuff usually used with gas welding.


Begin by making a tack and checking that the patch is still flat.

Next fully weld the patch in.

Then back it up with a dolly and smack it solidly but not enough to damage the area to stretch out the weld shrinkage (this does not work as well with a mig weld because it is very hard).

 

Grind down the weld with a sharp paper disk (I use 36 grit) until you are close to the base metal. At this point take it slow and use a cross pattern of grinding alternating directions so that you don't create a divot on the leading edge. Some would want to use a Vixen body file to smooth it off, I don't own one yet so I got good with a grinder.

Repeat the process for the next hole. since the patch was thicker than the base metal you can also grind the backside for a seamless finish inside and out.

Well hopefully this helps out in keeping metal warpage to a minimum. Get out there and hone your skills on your hot rod or custom.

 

So simple. I like the use of the thicker filler piece. I'll have to try this.

 

You make it look so easy. Good tip!

 

Thank you great information.

 

16 Ga is a good tip. Keep the proud (thick) side up. ^

 

Nice tech piece.

I just cut the wire I need off the Mig spool.

vic

 

I was going to mention that but forgot to.

 

Nice job, thanks.

 

I save the rounds I get from using my hole puncher then drill out the hole to match.

 

I did that as well until my hole punch came up missing.

 

Great post Thanks

 

Thanks for sharing. Nice work.

 

Jim--Good to see someone doing the job right. You don`t even have to use 16ga, as most early panels are 19ga, about .038, and a piece of 18 ga is 6 or 7 thou thicker, and will work using the same technique. I also carefully grind the tops of my tacks and hammer them before I fill in, then grind carefully and hammer as you do. Nice job. And no, some Kitty hair and Duraglass is NOT the way to do that job. Jim---you nailed it man.........

 

Nice tip, so nice to see a near flush weld, not a thick MIG blob. Bob

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vote-now-tech-week-october-2015.995188/

Short time to vote ^^*

 

Bringing up old threads

I'm going to give this a try

 

Some times, if the hole is or can be made to standard size, 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 1" etc., etc, I will take a bar of solid stock and cut a "sliver" off in my band saw. Like Jim, going to have to learn how to TIG................................

 

I was thinking the cutoff tool in the lathe might work too. The hard part is catching the sliver!

 

This isn’t cheap but can be pretty convenient if you have to fill a bunch of holes and don’t want to spend half a day cutting them out
https://www.bobdrake.com/FordItem.aspx?Item=HR-1580

 

I was thinking back to when I had access to a Rotex punch with a whole bunch of round die sets in it...

 

That's the ticket there!
Maybe a local shop has one.
My buddy has one at his shop so I can get the slugs I want and it makes life a bunch easier, well at least this job easier any way.

 

I used one of these to make a lot of 18ga blanks using my arbor press. Not easy, but very cheap. Got it off Flea-bay.

 

I wonder what they would call that? Oh....a Jeweler's Disc Cutter or a Metal Disc Cutter or Punch

 

Maybe?
16ga up to 7/16 might need gorilla grip hands

 

you guys are gonna laugh at me but for small holes I have used nails. put the nail thru from the back and the nail becomes the handle. weld it up, grind it off. easy!

 

I looked up the small hand punch like pictured above, the name brand version is listed as a one ton punch, but making 5/16" holes in 16 gauge steel (for example) takes around two tons, and that punch probably wont do the job.

A Whitney 7A punch would, however.

 

Me too. And for larger holes, if you have a stud gun, zap a stud onto your disc and hold it with that while you tack.

 

I just use a small round magnet on the back side, if it's a larger hole I use 2 or 3 small magnets. Yes, the magnet will try to distort the weld but just to hold the piece to spot weld works great than remove....................................................