Firewall smoothing, painting and hole welding up.

[Rileys68Camaro]

Okay, I'm just really pissed right now. The guys that worked on my car were total hacks, but it keeps getting worse.

What I've got, is I decide to paint the whole car monochrome type. Firewall, inner fenders, dash, everything body color.

Well, my master cylinder leaked, and they hacked the Vintage Air Surefit install, so I've got oval, jagged edged holes, vent tubes right over my headers/starter etc. Several extra holes need filled. They'd drill a hole, 3/8" say, and then oops, wrong spot, but not bother to weld it up.

I've also got several 3/8" holes in the floor pan that look like oopss'.

So, I want to put a DSE fill plate in, weld up all the uneeded holes, run either a bulkhead or the hoses through the original blower motor hole. Nothing crazy extream, I'll still have the wire harness, ignition, coil, etc visible.

So, what should I expect to spend to have my firewall cleaned up, and painted with a few misc holes filled? I'd probably have my inner fenders done at the same time and maybe the dash. Shop rate is about $65/hr here.

The car is still a body with a motor, I can pull the fenders and motor/trans as I need to anyway to fix those mounting problems.

All I'd need is the welding and prep/paint done. In flat black.

I'm so sick of this stuff! Having to take it back apart, fix it and put it back together.

[MrQuick]

where are you? sorry to hear of your problems but its too common. maybe we can find a rep. shop for you.

[paul67]

Have you got access to a portable welder or someone with 1 , if you are removing the engine and they are only 3/8" holes cut some or get some scrap plate 16 g about an 1" dia , this needs 2 people, if you or someone is in the car holding plate over hole the welder fills the the hole on the outside then grind flush , on the paint side i would and have used spray tins with just as good results.
paul67

[Rileys68Camaro]

I'm in South Eastern Idaho.

There are a couple good shops, but I don't know how they'd do with this. A lot of them won't touch classics.

Not sure if I'm a good enough welder. I've done some sheetmetal, but it's been a while. I'd be afraid of burnig more holes or warping, especially on the fill plate.

Would rattle cans hold up? I mean, I'd rather not do it that way, but if it'll last for a few years anyway, I'd be good with that. It's all in the prep I know, but paint quality is a big thing too. It's just flat black.

What about the inner fenders? Spray can? Recommend a paint for that?

[paul67]

It would be very hard to blow through because of the plate covering the hole you weld that in as well, you would spot weld a couple of times them cool place down with wet rag then start again the cooling down will tighten the metal up . you could a 130 mig with .8 mm wire at about mid heat , that what I did .
paul67.
the paint is just normal car paint or use a small compressor I cannot say what paint for the gun as i live in the uk and our regs are not as tight as yours as well still use nasty ones .
paul67

[MuscleRodz]

I feel for you. I had 2 different hacks get ahold of my car and $3500 of my money before I found someone good to work on it.

Mike

[JoshC]

I hate to see things like this. It is exactly what took me almost a year to chose a body shop... I ended up sending it to Goodmark Installations in GA this past Monday. I have very high hopes for when it returns in the next week or so.