I did some patch panel work on a guy's Buick Skylark that his grandmother bought new. The car looked good just looking at it. He sent it in to media blasted and when he got it back and brought it to me it was a rust bucket. I replaced all areas with new metal. What I found when he brought it to me was that behind the paint and bondo where the rust holes were there was a spongy product that had a fibre look to it. It didn't appear to be a spray foam. Anyone here run into this stuff before or know what it is? Is this type of repair common on the east coast do to fast easy rust repair? just wandering what it was. No I'm not going to use it.
Ummm yeah that's called " form a rocker" it's kind of like making a surfboard. Get your foam, shape it, Durglass it, bondo, prime and paint. I saw a 20,000 61 Chevy that had so e slight bubbles come back from the blaster missing about 3" of the lower portions of the car. He'll I saw a pic from 1966 here in Detroit with a 63 Pontiac in the background that had holes in the lower 1/4s....in a 3 y/o car...Midwest and east coast are not kind to cars
Never worked on a Skylark before, but I remember looking at a bigger Buick some years ago with some holes in it and I was shocked to see some kind of soft, black sponge that the factory had used as a form of sealer in all the areas where holes had formed! Big clumps of it in hidden voids. You could actually squeeze it and water would run out. The car had so much of it in so many places I declined the repair/paint job, as I could see it heading into a major repair of what was there and also a major comeback job as additional areas bubbled out from being almost rusted thru. Solid looking from outside, yet rusted inside to the point they would be ready to pop after the paint job was complete. Not sure if other GM products had that garbage in them...but Buicks sure did!
I was helping a buddy with his new ride, I found at least 5 T shirts stuffed into the rockers and bondo'd over.
My OT 69 Boss 302 had a red shop rag backing the bondo in the lower right fender. I bought it in 1975 (6 years old) with 50K. Ohio car. Who drives a car like that in bad weather?
A lot of cars in the sixties had sound deadener materials placed in between quarter panels and inner wheelhouses, as well as a fibrous tar paper like material adhered to the inside of door shells and quarters. Most of these products, once water was allowed to reach them, would absorb moisture and hasten rust out. Maybe this is what you ran into. ---John
Also have seen aluminum foil crammed in rust holes then cover with bondo. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
here in ct, a lot of these type of repairs were done out of desperation. the vehicle would fail motor vehicle inspection, and temporary plates would expire in a couple weeks. so if it was a winter beater, or cheap ride, it would get "fixed" quickly and cheaply. be happy someone did that, it is why the car was saved and not junked.
Ill never forget the "RESTORED" 1966 gto that had its frame "REPAIRED" with chicken coop wire and bondo.Cmon guys if your gonna bang a guy 35000 for a resto how lmuch longer does it take to do right?
I remember when I was young my first ride was a 63 Impala 2dr hardtop. It had lower fender rust. My uncle was going to teach me how to fix it. Chicken wire and bondo. I didn't know any better back then.
One of the things I forgot to mention was the car was from NY before he got it from Granny and brought it here to the west coast.
Salt really did a number on these cars. I parted out a '64 Gran Prix that the newest reciepts in it were from '71 - even if you figure they cleaned it out and it ran a few more years - it didn't look bad except for the frame rotted through under the rear seat on the left. But that could have happened sitting flat on the ground in the junkyard for 35 years. I decided to save the spears off the quarters to weld into something else. So I cut into them and I found that even this car had it's quarters redone once already - patched over the old metal. One side was even apparently from a Bonneville or for a '63, it had a row of holes for letters with bondo plugging them up.
Around here, when talking about rust repair, the first question is: do you want it fixed to keep or do you want it fixed to sell? You can guess what the difference is other than price!
I have a 59 Thunder Bird that my neighbor brought to me to fix the rust on. It is the worst rust bucket I have ever dealt with. The repair panels are expensive. I'm afraid to purchase them as I have purchased patch panels in the past and have never liked the quality so I'm just going to make each panel.
Ahh yes, spray foam and bondo. You hit a good size pot hole, you had to go home and see how much of the car survived! -MIKE
I'm glad we don't salt the roads around here. They have talked about it in the Portland area. If they did do it I wouldn't go thru there during the winters.
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