Body Work

[Fins59]

Winters coming on and some of you might be planning on doing some body work. Here's a little tip for do-it-yourselfers. If you're like me and not too good at welding sheet metal (burn thru/warpage) try 3M panel adhesive (there are other brands also but Carquest sells the stuff so its easy to find) Its been almost 2 years now since I used in on my Sport Fury in replacing part of a rocker panel and a small area behind rear wheel and the stuff works. I checked with several body shops before I used it and they all swear by it. It comes in a 2 tube pack and you can rent a gun ($5 a day) from Carquest. The gun automatically mixes the product in the correct proportion for you. What I did is cut away the old sheet metal and put backing plates behind the edges and then attached the new sheet metal to these backing plates thus having a butt joint instead of overlapping. I clamped the backing plates to the car and then when dry drilled 1/8" holes to hold the new peice to the backing plates with sheet metal screws. When dry, remove screws and fill in holes with the adhesive. Spread a thin layer of body filler in area and sand and paint. I should have some before and after pictures. I'll try and post them when I find them. I have some "old school" body work friends who scoffed at this product and the process but they are becoming believers.