Hole filler

[basement]

I have some holes in the firewall of my E-body ranging from pin size to dime size.. I heard about a filler putty from POR15 and would like to know if anyone here has used it before and what they thought. I know this isn't the ideal fix but finding a donor fire wall is out of the question.

[moparnut]

Your much better off using a mig welder to fill the hole and or cut a plug out of sheet metal and weld it in as well

[1970RTSE]

Your much better off using a mig welder to fill the hole and or cut a plug out of sheet metal and weld it in as well

[rtgambit]

Your much better off using a mig welder to fill the hole and or cut a plug out of sheet metal and weld it in as well

I second this (or is that third?)! No worries about having a weld fall out on you, plus you can ground it smooth, prime it, paint it and (hopefully) never have to worry about it again!

[Steve]

The POR stuff is best suited for small rust pinholes and for filling rust pits. My experience tells me filling anything larger than a pinhole will fall apart.

[360 'CUDA]

I saw on American Hotrod with that Rustang project Roy (rip) , had a torch and a brazing rod filling in pinholes left and right.

I don't know what material the rod was made from

[moparnut]

I saw on American Hotrod with that Rustang project Roy (rip) , had a torch and a brazing rod filling in pinholes left and right.

I don't know what material the rod was made from

I was wondering the same thing

[ShelbyDogg]

I saw the same show.  Brazing rods are brass.  He filled the pin holes on the window frame.  That would have been an easy fix on my Challenger as it had pin holes on the dutchman, leading into the trunk. It would've been faster to brass them up.

[Stacked440]

BAD! :swear:you know better than to just fill holes by stuffing puddy into them!!   you need to zap the pin holes with a mig or cut out entire areas and make patches to weld in, otherwise you'll get 2-3 months down the road and your paint will start to puff up...and it will continue to rust   don't take shortcuts now! it takes longer to do the right thing but your car will last MUCH longer if you do the right stuff!

[Steve]

A good place for the POR putty is the floor board areas and the area under the rear seats. Those areas tend to get a lot of pitting and even pinholes. If you start in with the welder, you're likely to end up with nothing but one big weld. Kill the rust with Ospho and fill the pits and small holes with the putty. Paint over with zero-rust or similar.

[RUSTY Cuda]

I know some will cringe at this, but if you get ALL the rust out, neutrilize the metal, you can lead over pinholes & some pits, much easier to shape, no blowing through the weaker metal & it should hold up over time, now this is not for major rust, I cut out tons of that & replaced with welded in patches, but for a few pinholes I "think" it should be fine, key word is think, I'm not a pro! Rich.

[dougs bs23]

youll get arguments either way for using lead, which is good stuff when properly applied, but the larger size holes, IMO, cut them out and place in new metal patches, smaller holes could be blasted or stripped clean and brazed.  Rust is the enemy here

[Stacked440]

If you can, get a piece of copper on the other side of the panel, it provides backing for your weld even if you shoot through, and because of the type of metal copper is steel weld doesn't stick to it, just cant get it to hot.

[Grancoupe]

I agree with stacked440. i just got finished completely welding and smoothing the entire firewall and the inner fender wells for that matter. I welded everything shut. The only holes left were for the throttle cable, the master cylinder, one factory hole to the right of the master, and the steering column. There were alot of little holes everywhere. Some were factory and most others were from years of modifications. I used brass drift pins. One came to a point that I gound down a little. It was about 1/4 inch wide for tight places and the other is a drift pin that was round and about 1 in thick with a flat end. But the end against the hole from the inside and mig right into it. The weld will flost on the brass and fill the hole. I've used it to fill holes as big as a 1/4 inch wide. I would try dimpling the hole a little so there will be a ittle room to grind flat and still have some material left. Saw this trick on TV. Practice a little with some scra metal. I think you will really liike the results with a little practice. The best part is the brass absorbs alot of the heat and keeps the sheet metal from burming back. Good Luck