Rain Gutter and Top Restoration (3 Viewers)

[Homey15]

Fwiw I use 3m panel bond adhesive as a first step before filler on rust patches. I apply it with a putty spreader just like you would a coat of filler. My rationale on this is: it has excellent direct to metal adhesion, is waterproof (in case a pinhole exists, it keeps moisture from getting through the repair) and it sands way better than any of the fiberglass/kitty hair type fillers. I believe it would be perfect to seal and dress up those repairs after final grinding/before primer. It uses the same gun as the seam sealer. Regarding the surface rust, I'd imagine a red scuff pad would do the trick, then wipe down with wax and grease remover, or lacquer thinner

Amazon product ASIN B000PEW4MI

 

[jvincig01]

Not sure how to approach this. The front of my top always had a strange peak. Now that it's all taken apart, I want to have the front profile flat, or close to it. Here's the issue, when I try to bring the visor and top together, it takes a good amount of force to get them together and it goes back to that darn peak again!

I think this might be a job for a fiberglass expert. Any ideas?

 

[jvincig01]

I'd just hit those spots with 80 grit sand paper by hand. That kind of surface rust is easy to remove.

Also, I'd recommend doing the body filler directly on the bare steel. The epoxy primer usually has a 3 day recoat window. If you aren't able to paint within 72 hours, you have to scuff sand tiny spot before you can put any paint on top. On a part like that gutter, it'll be a bear to get into the nooks and crannies.

So unless you live in a really humid area with big temperature swings (aka prone to flash rust), I'd try to hold off on epoxy until you're ready to paint within a few days.

I wish I could get all the time back scuff sanding epoxy my truck... Total nightmare of a process.

Good call! Thanks. What kind of body filler do you recommend? I think it needs to be something super smooth to fill in all the pores.

 

[merbesfield]

Not sure how to approach this. The front of my top always had a strange peak. Now that it's all taken apart, I want to have the front profile flat, or close to it. Here's the issue, when I try to bring the visor and top together, it takes a good amount of force to get them together and it goes back to that darn peak again!

I think this might be a job for a fiberglass expert. Any ideas?

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I would agree fiberglass work is needed from the looks of it. I would think you could do the work yourself. Watch some YouTube videos. Fiberglass work is not hard, just nasty.

 

[jvincig01]

I had these holes filled/welded the other day. I want to start working body work but had a question. It appears there is a little bump right between the top of the rear corner glass and side glass. Was this there before or did the heat from the welder and grinder cause the bump? I can knock it down into shape and use some body filler to make it look pretty. Just not sure if there was a bump there before I had it fixed.

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[airon23]

I had these holes filled/welded the other day. I want to start working body work but had a question. It appears there is a little bump right between the top of the rear corner glass and side glass. Was this there before or did the heat from the welder and grinder cause the bump? I can knock it down into shape and use some body filler to make it look pretty. Just not sure if there was a bump there before I had it fixed.

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yeah I would guess you have a little warpage from the welding. If it's not too noticeable I would almost leave it. If you're going for show quality, then probably going to want to fill and fix.

 

[jvincig01]

Wirewheeled some very light rust. Ready to epoxy primer tomorrow. I have two cans of the good stuff.

 

[Green Bean]

Your project is coming along great. That is good epoxy primer. Pricy. As you know, might as well use the whole can because it has no shelf life.

 

[Homey15]

I had these holes filled/welded the other day. I want to start working body work but had a question. It appears there is a little bump right between the top of the rear corner glass and side glass. Was this there before or did the heat from the welder and grinder cause the bump? I can knock it down into shape and use some body filler to make it look pretty. Just not sure if there was a bump there before I had it fixed.

This picture is upside down
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My money is on whatever was bolted to those holes bent the sheet metal around it, looks like it was torqued on and made a high spot at the mounting area...

 

[Malleus]

Not sure how to approach this. The front of my top always had a strange peak. Now that it's all taken apart, I want to have the front profile flat, or close to it. Here's the issue, when I try to bring the visor and top together, it takes a good amount of force to get them together and it goes back to that darn peak again!

I think this might be a job for a fiberglass expert. Any ideas?

View attachment 3009933

That "hump" is supposed to be there. I think if you flatten it out, you'll have water sitting there.

FWIW, I use an Ospho wipe on all bare metal before priming and painting. It eliminates flash rust and paint likes it. It's also very good at getting into nooks and crannies the sanding can't get to. The rust is converted to iron phosphate and can't grow. If I was going for a truly show quality finish, I'd use zirc-phosphate wipe. That's the gold standard for metal prep.

 

[Pierps]

To answer the earlier question of what filler I recommend. Maybe I'm too late to answer... but I personally am willing to spend the extra $20 or $30 per gallon to get the good stuff, because the good stuff is easier to sand and leaves fewer pin holes. It's funny how often I read that people are willing to spend hours doing extra sanding to avoid spending another $20. I know everyone's budget is different, but I've never understood this particular trade off. sanding and rework really suck.

So out of all of the fillers I used on my project, "rage xtreme" is my favorite- that's what I recommend.

Also, regarding the hard top side- It definitely looks like weld warpage to me. Whoever welded that up didn't hammer the welds out as they went and/or put too much heat in the panel. The hammering is important, because when the weld filler goes on, it's in an expanded (molten) state. As it cools, it shrinks, pulling the panel in and causing shrinkage. To be fair, it's also possible that whoever drilled those holes also over-tighted the bolts that went in there. That section of the hrd top side is double-walled, so if they used bolts that passed through to nuts on the inside, it's very possible that the bolts were over-tightened and dimpled the sheet metal.

But if you paint over it as is, it's going to look pretty bad. Hard to tell from the picture- if the low spot is less than 1/8" low, then you can get away with just using body filler. If not, you'll want to try to pull it out somehow before body filler.

 

[jvincig01]

The gutter is just about ready to go and I am going to begin the fiberglass. Well, let me take that back, I am passing it to someone who can shape the fiberglass, put it all back together, and then paint it. I don't have the fiberglass skill to do this right so I called a boat shop.

 

[jvincig01]

Finished up the epoxy primer today. On the bottom of the gutter where it meets the weatherstrip seal, there are some small pits from where the rust once lived. Should I fill these with bondo or something thinner like a puffy that still uses a hardener?

 

[middlecalf]

The very little filling I did on my rig was for filling small spots in my poor welding, and I used All-Metal https://www.uschem.com/export/sites...nts/TDS-Sheets/USC_All-Metal-Filler_04-20.pdf.

 

[Buckaro]

@jvincig01 did your metal gutter prime use a full can of SprayMax 2K epoxy? Based on this thread I’m priming with this epoxy and want to have correct number of rattle cans ready to go. Will you epoxy prime the fiberglass top or leave that for your boat repair shop?

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Thought I would share. The aircraft industry has perfected rivets. Look up aircraft rivet tools. The river shaver cuts the cap of rivets without damaging the fiberglass top. Rivet squeezing tools using air tools work well.

 

[jvincig01]

@jvincig01 did your metal gutter prime use a full can of SprayMax 2K epoxy? Based on this thread I’m priming with this epoxy and want to have correct number of rattle cans ready to go. Will you epoxy prime the fiberglass top or leave that for your boat repair shop?

I used 2 full cans. Granted it was a bit windy so I lost a lot of material but 2 cans should so it. I will also have the top epoxy primered by the boat shop.

 

[jvincig01]

Thought I would share. The aircraft industry has perfected rivets. Look up aircraft rivet tools. The river shaver cuts the cap of rivets without damaging the fiberglass top. Rivet squeezing tools using air tools work well.

Very cool!

 

[-MaTTi-]

Finished up the epoxy primer today. On the bottom of the gutter where it meets the weatherstrip seal, there are some small pits from where the rust once lived. Should I fill these with bondo or something thinner like a puffy that still uses a hardener?
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More epoxy! So shy thickness now.

 

[jvincig01]

More epoxy! So shy thickness now.

Once I lay down the body filler in the rough spots, I will likely hit it once more with epoxy.