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Help - Im Confused

2003-02-26T02:39:08.000Z

Hi GuysCan someone help me with a little questionI am currently restoring a mini cooper which I have stripped back for a bear metal re-spray. The seams which join the panels of the mini have been cut out and welded. These welded areas will need to be reshaped using filler. My question is - for these areas should I bog dirrectly to the bear metal or to the 2 pot eatch or do I need to use something else before I bogg.Some people have told me that if I bog directly to the metal, the car will rust under the bog. These same people have also told me that you cant bog onto eatch because it wont hold..So you can understand my confusionAlso when they welded the seams the used a very hard grey filler (looked like something like Need-IT) do you know what this stuff is calledCheersTim

Feb 26, 2003 (edited)1.5K views

Replies (5)

· Feb 26, 2003

Tim,

Your post is probably better placed in the AACA tech forum since we only deal with pre war cars here and the mini is very different. there are some restoration experts here so I will leave it up for a few days.

Personally I would cut out the old rusted metal and weld in new metal. If I was going to use bondo, which is appropriate in some cases, I would use fiberglas bondo, and I would blast out the old rust and etch the metal with some sort of modern chemical, like por 15, before applying the filler.

Minis are becoming fairly valuable, so I think it would be worthwhile to do the job "right".

Shawn Miller

CCCA webmaster

(edited)

· Feb 26, 2003

I agree with Shawn on this. If you can, cut out the rust.

For what it's worth, I've had incredible luck with POR-15. I'm not selling it or anything, but it has worked very well for me. It seems to neutralize rust very effectively. It dries hard as a rock. My first experience with it was about 15 years ago. The car I used it on still looks good where it was applied.

(edited)

· Feb 27, 2003

thanks guys

Looks like Ill have to source me some por-15

will the filler bond to the por-15 well

tim

(edited)

· Feb 27, 2003

You should also get the Por-15 degreaser and Por-15 metal etch to use before you apply the Por-15 coating. I have used bondo over the Por-15 and it adheres to the Por-15 very well. Make sure the Por-15 is completely dry before applying the bondo or it won't stick very well. I had been told by a Por-15 dealer to apply the bondo when the Por-15 was still tacky, but it didn't work at all.

Steve Pugh

(edited)

· Mar 3, 2003

The current issue of Street Rodder magazine (don`t ask) has an article covering the repair of a rusted dash board using Por-15. The makers (RestoMotive Lab.) advises that spot fillers will work on pin holes but body filler "doesn`t readily stick to cured Por-15". Fiberglass will adhere to Por-15 that is still tacky to the touch, so that would give you a base for any fillers you will need to finish the area. BUT... that`s a whole lot of layers between metal and paint. I`ll have to agree w/ Shawn, cut out the old, weld in the new. J.B.

(edited)

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