Econoline ... Body seams ...

The Exorcist Van

This one you posted has the seams... what... is that mod "shaving" or "smoothing"? I would think filled with tack welds... Bondo would crack out.

There was a post a couple of years back showing a member who welded all his body seams. Can't remember who but if I remember correctly it came out very nice....
Dan

didn't vango weld his up? I believe this is his at the beggining

To avoid warping only do small spots at a time. Jump around to other seams so there's time for the different spots to cool. If you weld a whole seam at once you'll ruin it. As stated already,using only bondo is a waste of time as it will definitely crack back out.

Wouldn't Bondo Hair with a skim coat of body putty work well? I am planning on getting rid of my seams when I take on the body work project and am NOT a welder! I used Bondo Hair (reinforced fiberglass in body putty) on the gaping holes after cutting out the rust in the wheel wells on my F-250 and it is holding like a champ. As mentioned the warping potential with welding on these thin pieces of metal seems daunting.

A wheel well may not have any to no flex in it. And from what I have seen on my van is the paint flaking off in the seam areas from the seam sealer. Now I am not saying bondo hair won't work, but welding would last a long time and stop paint from flexing over the entire length of the long seams.Body flexing at the seams will cause the filler to crack and then you will have problems with paint and moisture....just my 2 cents

What about old school lead/solder on the seams? That is what the shop manual shows on doing a body panel replacement. I'm no body man so completely uneducated on this, is there a reason it wouldn't work? It would be a lot less heat on the sheet metal than welding. Hoping to learn something as I would like to have those seams disappear when I get around to the body.

Leading is becoming a lost art, but would be the best way to go if you have the ability.

Sheet metal on these vans is not that thin, especially at a seam between two sheets. It's definitely a thicker gauge than sheet metal on modern vehicles.

Still, you want to err on the side of caution with lower temperature and gradually increase until the welds start laying down nicely. Want to keep the need for grinding to a minimum. Then a light skiff of regular bondo or high-build primer should fill any tiny bumps left over.

Am I right? I'm thinking that the tack welds would create a surface for the bondo that would resist cracking.

OldSkoolVannin wrote:Wouldn't Bondo Hair with a skim coat of body putty work well? I am planning on getting rid of my seams when I take on the body work project and am NOT a welder! I used Bondo Hair (reinforced fiberglass in body putty) on the gaping holes after cutting out the rust in the wheel wells on my F-250 and it is holding like a champ. As mentioned the warping potential with welding on these thin pieces of metal seems daunting.

I am a body man with about 35 years experience. The reinforced fiberglass stands, kitty hair, pussy hair or whatever you choose to call it is not really a good product for the body trade. It is brittle and if it fails the whole piece will let go. You mention mixing it with bondo, well that is a good idea if you are going to use it as it adds some flexibility. Myself, I will never use the stuff.

To properly do the seams you will have to sandblast them, clean them out and then mig of tig them. There is no other way around this if you want a proper and durable repair.

If you run your hands up and down over the seams you will see how uneven and poorly fitted these vehicles were made, hey lets face it they were a low dollar work horse. Once the seams are welded solid you can prep for bondo but be prepared that you now have a HUGE flat panel to sand straight!

I think the visible seams add character so I chose to leave mine as they were.There are ways to properly do it, just make sure that if you do it you do it right.

kgdb

I've been in the Body shop business for 22 years & welding then grinding the seam is best but use All-Metal then a light skim coat of putty to finish it out. The All-Metal will resist cracking unlike normal Bondo and will give you a no worry repair. the best is made by Metal Works.

All Metal is a great product to use,just dont get it on your skin. Its not as easy to remove as bondo is and it sure as hell isnt as easy to sand either. I've used it in wheel well repairs or window pinch wells or any area prone to moisture. It doesnt absorb moisture like bondo will.

Hello, Im new to this forum, but not to custom body work. I have a 61 3 window that Im customizing( 61 Econo turbo). Im going to smooth the seams on my pickup, using the "lead/solder" kit from Eastwood that is lead free. It doesnt take any special tools, a rag, and a propane torch from the hardware store. A little bit of practice you could do it with ease.