I have just made what appears to be a nicely shaped patch for the front fender of my 64 Chevy. There is a giant (2") rust hole at the rear bottom of the fender where it is bolted down. The cancer extends up about 6"s along the edge. I made a patch that includes all this portion and wraps around on the bottom and side edges.

I am seeing is that there is a brace just behind this section which is also rusty on the same portion. It doesn't have holes, but it is real rusty. After I cut out the bad portion from the fender, it will expose the brace and I can clean it up. The problem is, how will I reweld the brace to the patch panel. There are no apparent welds except for 1 or 2 spot welds. I would rather not purchase a spot welder for this one piece.

Any thoughts or ideas on this one? If I am not making sense, or you're not very familiar with this fender setup, I can give other details.

Use a mig welder to spot weld them together. Drill a hole in one of the patches and use the hole as the point you want to weld. This way you will get the penatration you need.

Use a mig welder to spot weld them together. Drill a hole in one of the patches and use the hole as the point you want to weld. This way you will get the penatration you need.


i agree with him

How about joining the old outer portion and the patch around the edges? What is the best joint? I was thinking a butt joint would be the nicest, but to flange the patch would be the easiest. I am a beginner welder with only stick welding experience. I would like the best combination of it looking purdy, and being easy to do. The patch is now 1" larger around the edges that aren't bent, so I can do trimming if I have to.

Well in that case I would use panel glue. Eastwood sells it and the gun to apply it. Good stuff.

I have thought about using this kit before. A few questions. They say the glue will only last twent minutes or so. Does this mean you need to buy a new tube for every patch if you don't complete them all in twenty minutes? Also, would it work in place of the factory spot welds?

The good kit from eastwood is in a 2 part tube. it mixes in the tip and sets in 20 minutes. 1 tube is good for a quarter panel replacement. Then take the tip off and put a cap on the tubes and it will stay for a while. it will also hold just as strong as the old spot welds.

i would butt weld it

I would prefer to butt weld it, but since I am still new at this, is it easy? I know the process, but how difficult/easy to mess it up? I have another patch to put in also which is right in front of the rear wheel. It looks like it will be very difficult since there is no access from the backside, and I need to patch the inner panel as well.

you can butt weld just tack it first and and keep tacking in betwenn the tack untill it is weld soild but tack and let it cool and tack and let it cool and when you have the old rust cut out put some rust mort on that inner brace