Car Parts and Accessories

Repairing a hole from the front

Sometimes due to the complicated design of car bodywork, it is impossible to get to the back of a hole or corroded section and it has to be repaired from the front.

To repair it from the front, the whole section of the immediate surrounding area is tapped with a hammer (preferably with a piece of wood between the hammer and the bodywork) until it forms a hollow.

The corroded section and the part of the good metal which forms the hollow are then thoroughly cleaned with a rough emery paper.

Rust remover is used where necessary. When the rust remover has dried, wash the area thoroughly with detergent and then clean water. It is most important that when a rust remover is used, all traces of it are washed away.

A piece of glass fibre is cut so that it is slightly smaller than the hollow which has been formed. The piece of glass fibre must be smaller than the hollow. Otherwise when the repair is completed and rubbed down, the edge of the glass fibre will stick through. This will make it virtually impossible to obtain a good finish.

Next, coat the area of the hollow with a mixture of resin and hardener, impregnate the glass fibre and lay it into place. When the glass fibre has completely hardened, build it up with filler to match the surrounding bodywork, rub down and spray.

When front patching a hole, the front of the hole is rubbed down to the bare metal for about 1 inch all round. Use a roundnose hammer to countersink the lip of the hole for about half the width of the bare metal.

Cut a piece of glass fibre, larger than the hole, but smaller than the countersunk area, and impregnate it with resin hardener mixture. Apply the resin hardener mixture to the countersunk area of the hole and put the piece of glass fibre into position. When the impregnated glass fibre has thoroughly hardened, fill the hole (which is now a dent) with filler, rub down and spray.

Edges, sills and pillars

Sometimes you can neither reach the back of a hole to patch it there, nor tap down and countersink its front edge to front patch it. This usually happens at the edges of doors, sills and door pillars, or where there is a strengthening member welded to the other side of the body panel.

In this case clean the front of the hole as if it were going to be front patched and tap down the edges that can be tapped down.

Using a small wire brush or a piece of bent metal, scrape the underside of the edges which cannot be tapped down and if it is physically possible, clean the area of the underside using a rough emery paper.

In this case because of the difficulty of drying, use white spirit to clean both sides of the patch. Pouring small amounts of white spirit through the hole on the edge that cannot be countersunk is quite an effective way of cleaning behind the hole.

Cut out a piece of glass fibre as when front patching, except that you must cut it shorter along the edge that cannot be countersunk so that it may be slid underneath.

Mix the resin and hardener using only about two-thirds of the normal amount of hardener as the time taken for this particular type of job is longer than normal. If the mixture ratio of hardener to resin is not altered, it is quite possible that everything will start to set before the job is completed.

Using a bent piece of metal or a similar object, apply the resin hardener mix to the back side of the edge which cannot be countersunk and to the surface of the countersunk area.

Impregnate the glass fibre in the normal way but instead of placing it flat in position, use the same piece of bent metal to tuck the shorter edge of the fibre glass under the edge that cannot be countersunk. Then lay the rest of the glass fibre in contact with the countersunk area.

It might seem easier to lay the fibreglass on the surface of the edge of bodywork that cannot be countersunk. This is probably the worst mistake possible because it means that you have fibre glass that is proud of the surrounding metal.

When you apply filler to cover the glass fibre, you will have to rub down and stop before you reach the surface of the fibre glass. This leaves you with a bulge. If you keep rubbing you will find that you will have to rub down the glass fibre. Unfortunately it is impossible to rub down fibre glass and get any kind of smooth surface. If you have repaired your car in this way in the past, the only way to rectify the situation is by removing the whole area right back to the bare metal and carrying out the repair again using the proper method.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
How Use Glass Fibre to Repair Auto Bodyparts continued

• How Use Glass Fibre to Repair Auto Bodyparts
• Perfect Luggage Car Covers Canopies
• Using perforated metal to repair Car body
• Auto Tires Guide: Radial-ply Tires, Cross-ply Tires
• Auto Dent, Using Fillers step by step Car Body Repair
• Welding, Auto Bodywork continued
• Auto Dent, Using Fillers step by step Car Body Repair continued
• Auto Blistered Paint Removal
• Air Conditioning Troubleshooting Guide
• ROOF TENTS for Southern African Vehicle Travel