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Filling hole in fender

IPwizard

Sr. Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2002
Messages
694
Loc.
NE Ohio
Ok all you body work gurus out there I need some advise.<br><br>My rig at one time had 3 fuel tanks, 2 on the drivers side and one on the passangers. I want to eliminate the tank on the pass side, but what I'm left with is a big 'ol nasty hole in my fender where the filler neck was.<br><br>Im doing all the body work on my rig now and just want any advise anyone can give me on how to cover this hole. I dont want to replace the fender.<br><br>Thanks
 

canadabronco

Full Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2001
Messages
315
Loc.
Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
If you don't have a welder then I would use fiberglass. You will have to use bodyfiller to eventually get a perfect surface but it will work with patience. Put something behind the hole like a peice of cardboard and tape it in place good. Then lay the fiberglass over the hole and pull it tight around the outside of the hole. Then sand sand sand until it is all good. It is a little simple in explanation but it will work. Get yourself a book on bodywork. There are a lot of helpful info in there to help you. Good luck.<br>
 

JMurray

Sr. Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2002
Messages
800
If it were me I would take it to a body shop. Look for a shop with old muscle cars & maybe a truck or two. Not a shop with a bunch of Honda`s out front.<br>Tell them you just want the hole welded shut, the rest you can do. If the hole was in a "high crown" area, meaning curved or mounded I would say go ahead & weld it yourself. Thats if you can weld.<br>It`s harder to weld up a flat area than one with a curve in it. You`d think it would be the other way around.<br>It shouldnt be very expensive. You smooth the inside & outside with an angle grinder, paint, & youre done.<br>Jerry
 

Rustytruck

Bronco Guru
Joined
Feb 24, 2002
Messages
10,875
The way I would aproach this is to weld a patch in using a wire mig. the hole is about 2 in in Dia and i would cut a disc in a piece of sheet metal as close to the same thickness as the body probably a litter thinner if possible to fill the hole. I would also cut a bigger disc about 1-1/2 inch bigger in dia. I would drill about 5 to 8 3/16 holes around the perimiter of the smaller disc and spot weld through those holes welding the small disc to the larger disc. this will create a flanged plug. I would drill the same holes around the large hole in the fender and slip your plug in from behind and then spot weld the plug in. clean by grinding all of your pieces first. and after welding clean up the welds and use filler. me I would use lead on a highly flexed piece like a front fender or the middle of a large pannel but on a street truck I would use marine filler it doesn't suck up water like cheap bondo. If you are not used to doing body work and you just weld in a full patch you will most likley warp the hell out of it and you will never make it look right. Make sure you clean up the back side and seal it and spray it with something like rubberized undercoating.<br>Just remember keep the heat out of the pannel as much as possible. Weld a little and let it cool This works good on old style CB antenna holes too.<br>Steve
 

Madgyver

Bronco Madman
Joined
Jul 30, 2001
Messages
14,678
Look at the 1st picture on this page and you will see a part of the patch I did on my 77 to cover the aux filler door hole. I used a piece of galvanised sheetmetal and cut the gas door opening to match and mig welded it in place. I'll just fill it in with bodyfiller to smooth it out.
 

admin

Administrator
Just your friendly, neighborhood webmaster...
Joined
Jan 1, 2001
Messages
38,753
Loc.
Phoenix, AZ
Just fixing date problem with this post - ignore please
 

BroncoJAK

Bronco Guru
Joined
Sep 24, 2002
Messages
2,813
Welding in a patch of sheetmetal with a MIG is the way to go. As rusty truck said, it is important to be sure the back is sealed. 2 pieces of metal seams like overkill to me though. Just take your time. Constantly feel the surface to make sure its not getting too hot. You don't have to weld with a constant bead. Just do a series of tack welds. If you use galvanized like madgyver, make sure you use a resiprater, or grind the galvanize off. Very toxic fumes!
 
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