hello there children, gather round and i shall tell ye a story.
i recently bought myself a new car, which of course came with all the previous owners (how ever many there are...) problems. one of which was the fact the boot spoiler had been removed and replaced with race tape (good one!)
i have seen this done many times on many cars driving around. since my car needs some paint anyway i decided i'd weld it up and ditch the tape job.
heres how i did it.
firstly your going to need these tools, and sufficient skill to use each of them.
-mig/tig welder
-3" angle grinder with 1mm cutting blade and grinder blade
-orbital sander (doing it by hand would take way to long). with heavy and fine grit papers
-some body filler
-primer
-masking tape
-beer
-misc plate steel*
step one: prep work
remove boot lid and place on workbench, sand back around each of the holes at least 10mm diameter back to bare metal (dont worry about the paint the welder will ruin it anyway).
now in my case one of the holes was to run a wing mounted tail light, and was much bigger in diameter then the others. i wouldnt be able to fill this hole with only weld, so i grabbed an off cut of some 2mm steel plate and cut/ground/filed it to the appropriate size.
step two: welding
now if you cant weld, then you stop here and hand the piece over to someone who can. car panles are made from very thin steel so its very easy to burn holes if your not carful.
for those of us who can weld, the trick is to go quickly and lightly around the circumference. this will strengthen the metal and help prevent accidental holes burnidge. then work your way to the center, keeping the bead low and moving around the inner edge. also dont forget to put a nice big thick blanket around the holes to avoid setting things on fire or ruining more paint then is needed.
on the left, two holes after 1st go with the mig. on the right after being ground back.
heres the bigger hole welded up with the insert in place. i used a welders magnet to hold it in place while i tacked it.
it is also important to note that welders make the metal REALLY HOT, so be quick, and do sections at a time. i did a little of one hole then went to the next and did some of that, then to the next. etc etc.
you can see i didnt quite get it filled 100% on the first go. which brings me to step 3.
step three: grinding
once you have had a go at welding up the holes, grind them back to make sure they are infact filled. give them a poke with a scribe/nail/pointy metal thing to make sure (as the grinder will heat the metal up and 'stick' it in place).
if its not 100% then repeat step 2 & 3 until it is, then you can move onto step 4.
step four: <insert bog here> painting
time for more sanding, this time take it further back and not as deep. use the rough grit initially to take off the clear coat and 1st layer of paint. then the fine grit to smooth it off.
this is where you would now bog the panel. i didnt have any on hand so im goin to have to get some tomorrow. but you already have yours, so follow the instructions and apply.
after sanding back the bog, mask off the affected areas with some tape and grab your primer. its time to paint.
primer goes on 1st. now depending on how you intend to paint you either have some rattle can paint on hand. or this would be were you hand the panel off to your painter.
done! (only in primer as i still need to bog and paint).
but for those playing at home you should have a beautiful, hole filled piece of panel work. enjoy.
step five: fitting
its the opposite of removal.
this has been an ADM public service announcement.
-dan