Art & Inspiration Plastic body filler, insert bearings, and fox tails

Do you think that if there had been plastic filler in the early days it would've impacted the custom hobby or made it more mainstream? I mean, c'mon, i had to learn lead in trade school 35 years ago but haven't done it much since then. Kinda like diagramming a sentence in high school lots has changed over time. Babbitt bearings? If they were good would we still be pouring our main bearings? I always chuckled putting an old banger together with castle nuts on the main cap bolts. Now we're crazy on our tolerances and torque specs. Just my crazy mind wondering while i eat body filler dust ok it's tacked up, back to sanding

 

Maybe if there had been fiberglass reinforced filler. It's a lot stronger. (But a lot harder to work) A crack in filler under custom paint would pretty much dishearten the guy that did the work. I'm going with regular filler under primer for now to see what lasts.

 

Most of the body men I knew in the 50's and 60's hated plastic body filler and wouldn't lower their standards and use it. They called it smutsy. And really it took the industry along time before they really perfected it.

 

I figured the og body men weren't fans when it came along. I feel the same way about waterborne paint.

 

I was thinking about that today, as I was doing this

 

Father-in-law said his boss at the body shop (late 40's/early 50's) complained when he had to use lead. "Costs money you know".

 

Whatcha building that motor for mister?

 

it's Almost Funny, going back together, slowly but unsurely.

You're probably new enough here that you didn't get to follow the build when it happened.

 

Aw man that's cool!! New drag week car??

 

New two years ago.

 

Gotcha, i seen you raced the deuce last year.

 

Like plumbers who insisted on "good old galvanized pipe" instead of that new fangled "plastic shit"?

 

In the mid '60s a friend of mine worked at a place that manufactured plastic body filler. On Sundays we would bring whatever wreck we were driving that week there and do quicky body jobs. We just slathered it on (hey it was free), ground it down with disc grinders and coated it all with red oxide primer. Flipped the car during the week and had another one on deck for the next weekend. I thought that fillers were great and by using it, a great way to generate some extra cash.
Different times. We bought cars that were already plated and insurance wasn't required.
Today I try to use the least amount of filler possible and even though I have to pay for it now the cost doesn't even factor into it.

I still have babbit forming tools but don't have a clue how to use them.

 

Other than filling it all in with lead, what's the difference? All metal...right.?

Of course "bondo" led to chicken wire, etc.., probably harder to do that with lead.

 

Keeping up with times and tools is hot rodding. If they had efi they would have used it.

 

Just the speed that goes along with plastic i guess. Sling it, hit it with a cheese file, start making dust. Them lead sleds had a lot more time and skill involved in my opinion. Labor of love

 

They were welded with a torch, too....no wire feed welders back then.

 

I was using filler almost 50 years ago at a very early age. Then, when you looked at a car to buy, you brought along a magnet and tapped on the car body to look for filler.
Filler was kind of frowned on then because of the liars who would tell you that there was no filler on the car...

 

Maybe just a different form of "chicken wire".
I seem to remember a Tex Smith how-to, where he soldered in copper window screen followed by lead to fix rust on a roadster door.

 

And TIG was some guys nickname. Bob

 

I doubt you'd ever find a heliarc machine in a body shop back then

 

Naw...just took more time and skill to sculpt it in...

 

Well, why not eye ball it?

"would have been done in the day"

 

Post Flathead stuff is rare on the HAMB, never seen main studs with the Allen socket. Are you checking rod bearing clearance or what with the dial gauge? Bob

 

Bolt Stretch. Way post 65, wonder how many reports the mods get

 

OK, so just how does that setup work, more stuff is out of sight, right? Bob



Google gave me the answer and photo.

 

Painter I knew refused to use Bondo brand filler. Hated the stuff. He insisted I run out to get him 3M ''body man in a can''. Artistic type, before he rode off into the sunset, I hid the quart of Bondo in his tool box. Hope he got a chuckle out of it, wherever he landed.

 

I still do small areas with lead occasionally but not anything larger than my abilities. It takes a lot more time to prep, apply and work than modern plastic fillers. You need to tin the area, keep the lead in the trough at the optimal temperature and consistency and most importantly, don't apply more than you need. Then there is the safety concerns using lead. You can't sand or grind it without totally polluting the environment and filing takes a lot of skill and finesse. It is a time consuming dying art for sure.
I have seen a Model A roof filled in with more than 20lbs of lead (amateur hack job). The term lead sled sure was fitting on these early customs.
About 25 years ago I was on a tour in a St. Louis plant where they were using a bronze alloy spray technique but never heard any more about it. Must not have garnered any love other than in high volume production .

 

Flux bleed on lead work was something I was told about, guess you really need to clean things so the paint job to follow lasts for years. Bob

 

At least it dries fast when you put it on.

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