Welding up holes instead of putting in a patch?

J

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What are your thoughts on welding up pin holes instead of putting in a patch?

I'm working on a 1968 C10 passenger door bottom.

I'm obviously going to have to use some patch panel for parts of this. But, the patch panel does not have the sharp bends and definition of the original door and I want to keep it as nice looking as possible. Most of this will not be visible but I'm trying to make my cut line on the bottom side of the door for the inner part. I think I'm going to have to make some small pieces to go up at the front also.




 
Yah, I'm definitely going to put in the whole bottom up to the bend.

I think I'm going to have a go at welding up some of the small holes and then hit them with the sand blaster from the back once I get the bottom of the door cut out. I had patched an the cowl and then when I blasted the backside, new holes showed up...so I put a bigger patch in.
 
I call it "chasing bunnies" .

You get all the holes welded in, then grind it flat.

Then a bunch more holes appear.

You weld those up and grind flat.

More holes.

Then you burn thru in a couple of spots, and have to build those holes back up.

Chasing bunnies.

Until you decide you've wasted enough time, cut out the bad steel, and make a patch.

Of course, this was just my experience. Maybe the guys who've done a lot of weld filling have a different experience.
 
That is relatively cheap to fix BEFORE the paint goes on. You won't find them all by fixing it that way, and within two years it's coming through your new paint. If your patch doesn't have sharp enough creases, modify them to make them sharper.
 
I just put a inner door patch panel on a 72 C10 and I was surprised at how good it fit and looked. I had to do a few things to make it fit correctly, but that's how it is with almost all mass reproduction panels. Slight differences but in all honesty when its primed and painted not enough to worry about.
With as much rust damage as your pictures show you need to cut out the entire section. Make it, or buy it, but you need fresh steel there. If you don't like Robert said above, gonna be a real pisser when you see your fresh new paint bubbling on that lower door.
 
I call it "chasing bunnies" .

You get all the holes welded in, then grind it flat.

Then a bunch more holes appear.

You weld those up and grind flat.

More holes.

Then you burn thru in a couple of spots, and have to build those holes back up.

Chasing bunnies.

Until you decide you've wasted enough time, cut out the bad steel, and make a patch.

Of course, this was just my experience. Maybe the guys who've done a lot of weld filling have a different experience.
Been there, done that. Unfortunately I’m apparently a slow learner and have done it more than a couple times...
 
Lot's of good advice there , If you can't get to the back side to neutralize the rust it will likely come back , that being said on areas where you can access both sides of the panel I have achieved good results welding pinholes using silicon bronze wire in my mig machine .
 
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