it was also used in the door area,where the upper and lower door frame parts were welded together. the area that the door rubber seals on.

 

i always like doing leadwork. my dad and grandpa both worked at fisher in the body shop. i used to watch them do other peoples cars when i was a kid. i have my lead working tools from when i worked there. the maple wood paddles,paddle scrapper,copper solder irons for small work. they were the same as tinsmiths used to solder seams together. the newer lead we used in the shop wasnt 70/30 lead it was a mixture of lead zinc and tin. it had to be worked a little different but still gave nice results. the biggest challange is gettin it to finish right. too little finishing its feels way too high,too little and it will "wash out". to get a feel of a slight wash out,feel any 60 to 80 oldsmobile a or b body non vynil top seam. where the 1/4 and roof meet. look at it and then feel it. doesnt feel like it looks. it take a good touch to get it to be right. just look atthe previous pics

 

Can you use any lead that may be laying around ? I ask this because I have a block of it from the 60's or 70's . It has some kind of stamping or number on the block .

 

Oldolds88 One thing I do have is a good hand. Not to toot my own horn but im a body man for lexus and I pride my self on my body work . I know what you mean I have done body work in that area it can be tricky too round which feels right would look too high and to little and you will end up with edges . I think that's what you mean atleast. I could be wrong. Doing lead is just one of those things to add to my personal skills. Cars today use too thin of metal to do lead work.

 

the lead has to have tin in it. body lead is usually 70%lead 30%tin. the tin helps it adhere to the parent metal,copper,steel,brass. the metal needs to be extremely clean,rust and dirt will not take a "tin". a tin is where you brush an acid or flux onto the area to be leaded after its slightly heated. then as you heat the metal,start rubbing the area with the stick of lead un till it starts to melt on the surface metal,when the area is covered, wipe witha clean rag ,lightly so that the surface is shiney. if there is any dirt or rust it will appear as black spots. also need to watch the heat so it doesnt burn the metal, that will also not take a tin.

 

if you do body work,you can certainly do lead work. it sounds like you have a good "feel" of what should be right. the finishing technique is very similar to filler,but the tools are different, vixen file,emery paper i also use a long flat cross cut file called a float.the emery paper doesnt clog up. bees wax for the paddle so the lead wont stick.oil could be used but i prefer the wax. i put a crosshatch pattern on the paddle face with a hacksaw blade scrapped diagnally. this is so oyou can pust and pat the lead to get it where it needs to go and to get the air bubbles out as not to leave pits in the finished lead.

 

I was trained as a bodyman, when I was in trade school back in the early 80's the high end shops still did some repairs with lead filler.
I learned how to work with lead at the time because I thought it was a dying art and would make me a cut above.
Plastic filler has come a long way and is better than lead in some ways like flexibility and it does not leach like lead filler can.
There have been many a paint job ruined by the lead filler leaching and causing paint damage/ blistering. Some would let the car sit for months before painting to give the filler time to leach.
I'm not a fan of all metal I think it is a gimmick and is to brittle.
Today I would just use a quality filler and remember that fill is a cheater no matter if it is lead or plastic.
There is no substitute for quality metal work.

 

right the repair needs to be washed with vinagar or a baking soda wash then metal prep. i also agree that metal work is always better than filler,but time is money to the payer or the payee

 

My opinion is I hate filler I hate sanding it and I hate having to use more than I need to. I don't mind spending an extra 10 minutes doing a little extra metal work as long I don't have to load it up with filler.

 

I have seen lead cause problems even after proper prep were the acids would still leach out.
We would always seal the area and the whole car with epoxy primer.
My thought is that it is not worth using and its time has passed,unless the car is very rare and going into a museum collection.
I also think the health effects that lead potently has makes it not worth using.
Old car paint also has lead content as well as other heavy metals.
One other plus for plastic filler is that you can apply it over epoxy primer.

 

Usually a mess like that would get filled with brass using an O/A torch.

 

that should have been cut out and rebuilt. if you put a torch to that and get it hot enough to braze,it will melt the hole a lot bigger than it is now. i have done these by taking the die grinder and burr wheel,grind out the holes to good thick metal then mig a new piece behind it. then lead. i would prefferably just use sheet metal.

 

That's the old school way of doing it. At least, through doing so, will you know how much repairable metal you will have left. If you're not going to do it that way or replace the panel with a new one, why go half way?

 

if the panel is available,by all means change it, didnt mean partial repair was the best,but its better than filling hole with whatever. and risking it falling out,because the holes kept rusting.

 

I agree that , with this area it's probably best to replace it then try and fill it , especially if there's rust you can't get at . The only way you can stop the rust is to remove it , you have to either cut or blast it out .

 

I'm actually more than a little concerned over the fact that someone who knows enough to lead that in wouldn't have replaced the piece. It's not like it's an overly complicated shape to fabricate. As was more clearly stated by others, if it wouldn't stand brazing, I don't think it shouldn't have been leaded.

No, I wouldn't have brazed it either.