Cracked sheet metal repair

faustmb

I'm getting close to welding up a few fatigue cracks on my 33 rear fender. A friend advised me to drill a small hole at the end of the crack to make a defined end to the crack before welding. Sounds logical , but I haven't heard that before.

Any advice on this ?

[Deleted User]

That is true making a hole should help . May even need a backing plate behind to act as a stiffener in flexing zone.

Glowplug

The hole being recommended is to relieve the stress which caused the original crack.

Kdancy

http://www.airgas.com/browse/productDetail.aspx?Category=374&product=ESA130TF43
Easy grind esab mig wire.

PAULARGETYPE

CRACKING OF OLD FENDERS IS A LONG TIME REPAIR PROBLEM I ALWAYS DRILL HOLE ON THE ENDS TO STOP THE CRACK THEN BACK UP WITH SOME OTHER MEDAL WELDED ON FROM THE REAR HAMMERED TO TAKE THE RIGHT SHAPE AND THEN WELD CRACK WITH A MIG I HAVEN'T HAD AND MORE PROBLEMS WITH THE CRACK AFTER DOING THE REPAIR THIS WAY

faustmb

Thanks guys. I have no hammer dolly experience, and don't want to be too adventurous on these fenders:)

commodorecollector

Ken - would the soft steel 1/16" wire work also on Hudson's from 34-39? My 1937's fenders need some TLC. I agree with you on the MIG welding, that stuff is a pain to grind and to form back into the contour of the fender. As for heat control when welding to reduce the chance of it warping only weld a small area (1" to 1 1/2") at a time and let the panel cool down before continuing.

Kdancy

Either method will work just fine. I've used both and prefer mig at this point. Both take practice to do properly. When grinding, use hard type disc and don't overgrind. Make sure the crack, tear or joint is actually welded and not just brazed together. Take time so as not to overheat and warp the metal. After tacking the piece up, I do one spot at a time, lightly hammer and
dolly the weld to take the crown down a little, then grind if needed and move to another area, taking care to keep from overheating. When finished, I'll go over with a flap disc, again not over grinding as you don't want to "thin" the metal.
Practice, practice, practice!

faustmb

I worked on removing the primer and layers of filler, more filler in this fender than I thought.

I'd be interested to hear preferred methods of stripping old paint and filler?

I'm using a wire cup brush on a small angle grinder, effective but messy. It looks like I'm going to have to learn some hammer and dolly techniques sooner than later

PAULARGETYPE

I ALWAYS USE A STRIPPING WHEEL FROM EASTWOOD AT THIS ADDRESS I USE IT ON A 4 1/2 GRINDER FROM HARBOR FRIGHT ( THE $14 ONE ) I USE THE 7'' WHEEL IT WORKS GREAT AND STRIPS EVERY THING DOWN TO BARE STEEL IN NO TIME

http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=PAINT+STRIPPING+DISC&ts=custom

bent metal

Hmmm? Lots of ways to skin a cat I guess. I fix those cracks different than the above mentioned methods. But I suppose any of them would work just fine. The first thing I look at is "why" it cracked, and how is the surrounding sheet metal. If the area in question is to the body mount side, the metal could be work hardened or thin by bending back and forth over and over, or rubbing. You might need to put in a patch. If the crack is to the outside fender opening, you need to check the wire. It's most likely broken, and should be fixed as well.

Maybe I'm over complicating the issue. But I would take a step back and look at the problem before I would start welding. Make sure your not just welding up a crack, when you really need a patch. ...Just my two cents.

PAULARGETYPE

YOUR 2 CENTS MEAN ALOT TO ME THANKS FOR THE ADVICE YOU ARE THE MAN WHEN IT COMES TO FABING THINGS THE RIGHT WAY

faustmb

Sounds like great advice. There are cracks on the body side and on the wheel opening. The first step is to finish stripping the old paint, filler, and undercoating to see what the metal looks like. These fenders are very flimsy... I'll post pics once I get it stripped.

[Deleted User]

I fixed mine by fixing the wire as needed cleaning everything out, drill a small hole at the end of the crack and hit it with a mig. There are areas where I would consider a backer but in this case most of the damage was caused by poor driving so I should be good. Mark

4Hud

Keep in mind that the condition of the roads were generally quite poor in pre-WW11 times. Vehicles were subjected to substantially more jarring and abuse than they are gonna see these these days.

faustmb

Mark, mine is the same case I think. I'll be able to judge better once I get to bare metal.

RL Chilton

Great Picture! Wonder if that ragtop is still around?

hudsontech

That picture was probably taken on one of the main highways of the day - tho out in the bood-docks somewhere.

Hudsonly
Alex Burr
Memphis, TN

faustmb

Made a little progress last weekend. I bought some stripping wheels from a local auto body supply house. They did a nice job stripping the filler and old paint. Worse than expected underneath, but not terrible. There were a few big holes...

Before


After a hour or so of metal work by a friend of mine



The wire is broken in a few places, any tips on fixing this? Got more hammering to do, then some welding

Matt

[Deleted User]

That CvCp in the pic above is a 32ET6, hard to tell tho it might be a roadster.

For fixing the broken wire , it is best to cut the rolled edge around the wire a couple it inches on either side of the break and unroll it enough to cut and remove the broken section, then replace it and weld it to the original wire, re-roll the edge and weld the cuts and the crack up to finish the repair.

Tom B

bent metal

What ET8conv said. That's pretty much what I would do. Although I don't see the damaged wire in the pictures. That brazed area I would cut out all together, and make new metal to go in that area.

faustmb

Thanks guys, I assumed that would be the method but I always like to confirm with those that have been there and done that. The wire is broken in 3 places, one was soldered and two were puttied.