Car Body Sheetmetal-Old Leadwork Geezer Needed

On Sun, 23 Oct 2005 11:31:06 -0700, with neither quill nor qualm, JR North quickly quoth:

I used to work for a body shop (wrenching for them) and had the fine experience of watching a real lead artiste at work several times. He'd flux the area, melt some lead on, and heat his wooden paddle to melt some beeswax onto it, then carefully reheat the body panel and solder before smoothing it down with the paddle. The body file came next and left 'er smoother than a baby's butt.

Solder seal the joints, then fill with a metalized filler like Alumaplex or a fine chopped glass lighweight filler - NOT a polyester filler. Get the best of both worlds. The new filler is less than half the weight of lead, much simpler to apply and finish,

Leadwork CAN be a bit different. Big thing is to clean the parts REAL well and remove any grease/oil/dirt. Even handprints will cause it to fail. You can buy the paddles and lead from Eastwood, they have a kit as well that includes a video that is pretty good as well. I use a O/A with a VERY wide tip to do most of my heating, you want to heat the area larger than you plan to lead to allow the lead to feather at the edges, then you remove most of it with the body files. Then you do metal finishing with files/heat and hammers to cure any small warped areas (careful use of just enough heat will prevent them a lot) Don't use propane for heating because it puts a LOT of water onto the parts and can cause rust under the lead when it is trapped in a seam. Seams can be cleaned and tinned prior to assembly as well which will bond the parts together and keep the seam from shifting. On fixed panel seams (roofline/QP/Rear valance areas) you just heat from behind and allow the lead to flow into the seam (like sweating a pipe joint). For a first timer I suggest extra tinning butter and a couple extra flex files (takes a bit to get used to adjusting them). Seasoned maple, and oak work well for custom paddles if you don't want to buy extras (they get charred during use). Your going to want a respirator to keep from breathing the lead fumes. Light sunglasses also make it easier to watch the flowing lead.

Looked at the Roadster pages. Nice work so far.

Steve W.

I would suggest using a "tinning flux" instead of regular flux, just in case you didn't already know about it. It makes the work sooo much easier. It's flux with powdered solder in it already, just flux, heat and it's tinned.

John

Look in the yellow pages under "restoration". There's a shop here in Fridley (MN) that does leading, but it's a bit of a hike from Seattle.

Eastwood, Co. sells bodywork leading supplies. I've got a set of the files and paddles that I haven't used in years; if you're up to trying it yourself, I'd be happy to dig it out and we can decide what it's worth if you want it.

Dave Hinz

Nice work, Jason. That roadster's going to look like new when you've finished.

Chris

Greetings JR, You will find that once you get the hang of it that it is real easy. You can build up a surface quickly, melt part off if too proud, smooth with a cloth, etc. It's kinda fun. And much more satisfying than using bondo. I wonder if the lead free solder would was well as lead. Probably not. It's probably too brittle or will become too brittle. The biggest problem with leading is sanding and creating fines and dust. It's amazing how little lead you have to ingest to make yourself sick. ERS

No help on the leadwork, but I hope that the moron to rear-ended you is paying for your time! Co-incidentally, has anyone ever been sued/charged for causing excessive damage/injuries in a crash due to modifying their vehicle and compromising its safety (fender height etc)?

Mark Rand RTFN

Hmmm ... how can (liquid) water exist on a part that's hot enough to melt lead? Bob

So what happened with the jerk in the truck?

Wes

Yes you can, but the kits are OK for folks who want to get started and don't have a real clue how to start. As for other sources check Hemmings for lead ingots and sticks, you can make your own flux and even tinning butter if you want to bother with it.

POR-15 makes a few body fillers and I have had great success with them.