Body solder or ???

project74

project74

Trying to find my weed and
Heyo. I'm at the point with my Dart where I have to decide something. I've gone right down to the bare metal on it where the roof welds to the body. Two spots on the a-pillars and two on the rear sail panels next to the rear window. The 4 weld seams were filled with a body filler from the factory rather than being leaded. I've cleaned out all the old filler and now have to refill the seams which are fairly deep. Body solder (leading) is one option. However, I had an idea and need opinions.
There is a product from various manufacturers like LPS, Devcon etc. Basically what it is, is a two part steel epoxy, usually a tubular stick, one part surrounding the other. When mixed (kneaded) together it forms a super strong repair that is waterproof, sandable, paintable, can be drilled or tapped and is permanent. Very much akin to something like JB weld. Would this be a good alternative to body solder? I really don't want to refill the seams with a regular body filler. All opinions are welcome and thanks in advance. :)
 
its hard to give a good answer on this as there tecnicaly a flexable joint....ive seen many things used and every one of them has ended up showing itself sooner or later..lead was a good answer from the factory but ive seen even re-leaded cars showing there seems 5-10years ofter a re-do...after alot of thought im going to weld up my seams on my 58 ford
 
yeah you definately don't want that much filler, can get pics of brothers "done" barracuda.

How about a metal patch welded in and then a thin fill? EDIT: yeah 69.5 kind of nixed that for me, it's "supposed to flex"
 
How about a metal patch welded in and then a thin fill? [B said:
EDIT: yeah 69.5 kind of nixed that for me, it's "supposed to flex"[/B]
Click to expand...

Not true, tho' I've heard this before.
Lead was only used on the exterior surfaces, the inner structures are welded pretty good. Manufacturers go to great lengths to increase the structural rigidity of their car bodies. Flexible joints on roofs don't cut it.
Even tho' lead does flex to a degree, manufactures used it primarily because it was faster and less troublesome on the assembly line than polyester fillers.
Vinyl top cars typically had polyester filled seams, the finish work required for a smooth seam was not as critical when it was covered with fabric.

When we strip cars to bare metal, we take all the lead out. Seams are solid welded, given a coat of fiber-reinforced filler and then smoothed with polyester filler. Sometimes some metal work is required if the seam is too deep.

Lead was great when their was nothing else. Modern fillers will outlast the cars, if done properly.
 
Thanks guys :) Excellent info. And yeah resto, it had a vinyl roof. The seams were full of a light green filler. Might have gone vinyl roof again but previous owner drilled all the pins out so I've got lots of those to fill too. Those will definitely get the solder job.
 
i didnt mean that there designed to flex just that under the right stresses there going to flex...ive seem some pretty crapy roof seems lol.....how well does full welding hold up resto?
 
Like it was never done.
The big trick is to get ALL the old lead out of there. Leave any behind and it will weaken the weld (and it makes a Hell of a mess trying to MIG weld thru lead).
 
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