how to do a right front fender tip repair without any fillers or Bondo
By: board member ebfabman

The following is step by step instructions on how to fix that rust hole in the bottom of your right front fender, using the end butt weld method with R/F Fender Tip that we sell in the “Patch Panel” section of this website. This hole is caused by the battery acid that has been spilled over the years and not cleaned up. To prevent further rust damage to the repairs you make be sure to either clean up all battery spills with baking soda and water or use gel cell batteries in the future.

1.) We recommend that you make your cut write on the fender cup body line. This will make your welds easiest to hide the weld that you will need to do further on in the process.

2.) Now do the same on the fender tip patch panel. This is also a good time to clean the surfaces that you are going to weld to keep any contaminations from getting into your welds, causing problems later on in the process.

3.) Carefully align the two pieces and hold them together with a clamp. Place your first couple spot welds on each end of the repair then a couple along the repair to keep the metal from moving. When done, then you can place the a series of spot welds along the repair spacing them approximately 3/8″ apart and allow the metal to cool.

4.) Once the repair cools, place another series of spot welds between the ones from the first series and alow that to cool also. You will need to repeat this process until the repair area is filled with spot welds, always making sure that you allow plenty of time for the repair to cool between each series. This will assure you that the metal will not warp, causing you to have to do further damage repair.

5.) Grind the welds smooth. You may find small spots that did not weld together at this point. That’s alright, just spot weld where necessary to fill the repair area all in and grind it smooth. Extra care should be taken at this point to making sure you don’t gouge the metal with the grinder.

6.) Clean the repaired area with mineral spirits or lacquer thinner and it is ready for epoxy primer and paint.

As you can see if you carefull and take your time, this repair can be made without any body filler at all!!

We would like to give a special “Thank You” to “ebfabman” for providing us with these step by step process and pictures for this repair.