Has anyone attempted to fill in the side trim holes?

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cfordyce05

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I have a 1970 Swinger that I painted for a senior project in high school and I thought I wanted to keep the side trim pieces on to prevent door dings. But I have decided that I'd like to remove the trim while I'm doing some fender bender repair from an unfriendly encounter with ice and the ditch. How would you go about filling in the holes with out welding? A backing piece and what kind of filler... I'll see if I can get a picture of the car on here so you can see what I'm working with. Thanks.

Casey

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I would think after years of opening and closing doors, eventually the filler would crack and break loose. You're better off welding, its worth the time, trouble, and money.
 
Get it all welded up the first time man. I know it's a bigger pain but in the long run you'll be glad that you did.
 
paint some push in plastic rivets and push them in until you repaint the entire car then weld them up.
 
res1vw21 said:
paint some push in plastic rivets and push them in until you repaint the entire car then weld them up.
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good suggestion on the rivets!

welding them closed is the only way that will last, fillers will crack.
 
cfordyce05 said:
I have a 1970 Swinger that I painted for a senior project in high school and I thought I wanted to keep the side trim pieces on to prevent door dings. But I have decided that I'd like to remove the trim while I'm doing some fender bender repair from an unfriendly encounter with ice and the ditch. How would you go about filling in the holes with out welding? A backing piece and what kind of filler... I'll see if I can get a picture of the car on here so you can see what I'm working with. Thanks.

Casey
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JB Weld, but I prefer REAL weld!:cheers:

Nice paint job too, I hope they gave you an "A"!
 
Thanks for the advice. The reason I would like to stay away from welding is that if I don't put the trim back on, I only need to scuff the whole thing, fix the small paint chips that occurred on the top of the doors and quarters, and respray the whole thing with clear. If I welded the holes closed, I would have to take the whole area down to metal and re-do the body line. What I was thinking on the filler was that I could put a backing in behind the holes and bevel the current primer to create more surface area for the filler to bond. I don't see why this would be more prone to cracking than any other body filler.
 
About 10 years ago I did it on my '65 Bel I with lead and aluminumized backing tape. Worked well though I did it before the car was painted. I used an article from Mopar Muscle published around the same time.
 
I remember someone using a POR 15 floor patch kit on the back side of trim holes, then skimming the front with body filler. Don't know how long this would hold compared to the lead.
 
SEM panel bond adhesive or equivalent FUSOR product. Don't use "bondo", if you try to fill a hole, it's open on the back side and will soak up moisture and rust the metal and crack and fall off.
 
Remove the trim leaving the hole. Take a countersink bit and ream the hole into a small bowl shape. Back up the hole with a block of copper and using low heat weld the hole over a small bit as a time as not to warp the metal. Grind any excess weld down flush but again go slowly to keep the heat down.
 
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