Hi guys I been welding a bit in the engine bay due to rust in drivers side seam in engine bay posted up a while back ended up with a huge hole lol,

 

Problem I now have is all the seams on drivers side are fully welded and smoothed out and look nice,

But the other side the Seams are just spot welded, and don't really want to weld them up cause just stone chipped all the arch and underneath and the heat is gonna peel it off and will have to do it all again.

 

I took the standard bead of seam sealer off on passanger side and was gonna do both sides with new seam sealer even though on drivers side didn't have a seam it was just to look the Same,

But that seems easier said then done.

 

I took passenger side seam sealer off because I knew I wouldn't be able to match the way they done it perfectly and thought if I do both sides atleast it will look the same, but what a mess I made got a gun and tube of sika flex but it's so hard to get it right and ended up taking it all of again.

 

So now the passenger side I put a thin bead of sealer on and with my finger and thinners smoothed it out which looks better but the side with seams welded up looks so good it makes the original look crap..

 

Here's some pics what would use do just leave it has it is, weld this side up and 're stonechip arch etc , or any tips on another way to make seam sealer more smooth..

 

This is the side I welded up and smoothed out

 

And this is it with primer on it got dark and I made runs everywhere but didn't care cause gonna flat it back smooth anyhow so don't laugh

 

This is passenger side with seams not welded up

 

 

And with this with seam sealer smoothed out has best I could but looks so bad to how smooth other side came out but it will smooth up a bit a lot of it is runs in primer where I blasted it on and was getting dark.

 

 

I'm crap with spray gun so bro in law is gonna come round and primer and spray it properly just don't wanna call him round paint it and not be happy, god I wish I wasn't so fussy everyone keeps saying it's in the engine bay who's gonna see it,

It's just if I do something I want it to look right.

Another pic of side I welded and smoothed

Sika flex is an amazing bonding agent, it cures fairly quickly and still pliable even up to 20 mins depending on temperature you are working in, when i worked with it i was bonding two units together so the excess would squeeze out and i would clean off with a plastic door wedge and WHITE SPIRIT, don't use thinners. the good old middle finger wet just to smooth out, or the traditional way would be masking tape both sides that you are putting the bead of sika on smooth out then peel the tape off.

Sika flex is an amazing bonding agent, it cures fairly quickly and still pliable even up to 20 mins depending on temperature you are working in, when i worked with it i was bonding two units together so the excess would squeeze out and i would clean off with a plastic door wedge and WHITE SPIRIT, don't use thinners. the good old middle finger wet just to smooth out, or the traditional way would be masking tape both sides that you are putting the bead of sika on smooth out then peel the tape off.

 

Oh I used thinners lol, will it do anything to it,

Horrible stuff to use, I thought would be easy with mastic gun to make a bead like stock seam sealer,

It's so hard to keep same speed moving plus pumping it out and not shake.

 

Cheers for reply

lol, it is quiet tough, if you put it in a bucket of hot/warm water it will help it to squeeze more freely from the mastic gun, using the thinners if i remember makes it tacky as it breaks down some chemical adheasive stuff and takes longer to cure, its been 6years since i last used it ,and i used it frequently on repairs of caravans etc.dont try and do the big long squeeze on the mastic gun short squeeze frequently.

Whatever you decide just make sure you have given your grinder to the bank manager and its in a locked vault LOL:tt2:

Whatever you decide just make sure you have given your grinder to the bank manager and its in a locked vault LOL:tt2:

 

Once this car is done, I'm throwing the grinder and welder away lol,

Don't ever wanna see them again...

what would I do with this? id stick a vg lump back between those inner wings and drive it :p

what would I do with this? id stick a vg lump back between those inner wings and drive it :p

 

I will do asap lol...

 

This weekend I'm off work and I think it's getting engine bay sprayed however it looks, but hopefully it will look ok.

It did look like this lol..

 

Been stuck on this for about a month due to work and weather only getting couple hrs here and there can't wait to paint engine bay and start putting it back together..

 

Yuk

 

well I for one am impressed with the work you've done... nice job.... :)

well I for one am impressed with the work you've done... nice job.... :)

 

:blushing: thank u,

 

I'll post some pics when it's finished, so can see it all done with my dodgy repair...lol..

 

I done it to has good has I could, not really welded old cars much and used filler once before which didn't work out to good, but looks like it's getting there now.

 

I'm happy with my repair its the other side I'm stuck on cause I ain't welded seams that side can't filler over it to make a smooth look, so trying to smooth seam sealer out so looks smooth but it's harder then it looks, for me anyhow. .

Hi guys I got the engine bay in primer tonight made a little shelter out of a car cover lol, a little electric fire and all went quite well.

Had the fire on till started spraying then when finished turned fire on again...

 

Drivers side looks great passager side is ok but not perfect where seams are.

 

Couple pics..

 

 

 

 

 

Now gotta flat it all down, for top coat.

 

Cheers for looking.

Good work Terry, it's nice to see you cracking on with it and the end result will undoubtably be better than you make out on here

Good work Terry, it's nice to see you cracking on with it and the end result will undoubtably be better than you make out on here

 

I hope it comes out well, I work on cars for a living but mechanical all this body work stuff is horrible and this engine bay is holding me up I wanted to paint the engine bay at home cause now I can put the engine back in and drive it to brother in laws work for respray,

Rather then tow trucks and the chance of scratching wings etc putting engine back in..

 

By spring it will all be done and I can't wait lol..

Great work mate, saw the trouble you had with the welding and nice to see that you stuck with it and got the job done..:thumbup1:

Great work mate, saw the trouble you had with the welding and nice to see that you stuck with it and got the job done..:thumbup1:

 

So much happier now, that welding I nearly gave up on, main problem I was having is trying to grind welds flush so u wouldn't know they were there,

Atleast its going better now,

 

Thanks for reply

The 2 main chassis rails either side of bay I stone chipped that's why it looks really bumpy I'm hoping it will protect it a bit better down there..

And where battery tray is and opposite side is stonechipped,