wecycle

I am thinking I would like to "shave" the 7. By that I mean remove the emblems and badges to "clean up" the look. What method would you suggest for filling the holes that remain after removal of the badges/emblems? A method that would prevent rust is preferred of course. I have thought of a few and would like comments/suggestions on the pros and cons of each (and on other methods that may be effective).
1 braze the holes shut, grind, fill with bondo or spot putty as needed, prime and paint. Coat the backside with undercoating.
2 Lead (solder?) the holes in then sand prime & paint. coat the backside with undercoating.
3 fiberglass the backside then fill with bondo or spot putty as needed. prime & paint.
The major concern is to kill the little bit of rust at the holes.
I have done prep and paint on a few cars before, but never had more than a few scratches to deal with so I am concerned that no rust be left under the repair.

"Badges? We don't need no stinking badges." - from The treasure of the Sierra Madres

TIA

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

I sand, clean, prep, then paint with an epoxy primer. The badge holes are small enough they can be puttied. I use Evercoat Fiber Tech filler, (part # 100633), it has fiberglass and kevlar for strength. This is the toughest filler I've ever found/used. Sanding must be started as soon as it begins to set and before it fully hardens. Otherwise you will be using 24 grit sanding disc on a side grinder to cut it down.

I've even used this to hold expanded aluminum wire mesh to the backside of fenders to fill the holes in when shaving the side markers. I have one body that was done this way 3 years ago with no signs of cracking.

Follow the putty work with another coat of epoxy sealer/primer, then a glazing putty and a high build primer and for final smoothing.

Manntis

I just weld 'em.

-xlr8planet-

iTrader: (3)

I welded them

slowautoxr

iTrader: (6)

Bondo will fail after a number of years. We did that to my brother's car (now my rallyx car). My black/white RX-7 was welded about 20 years ago and it still looks good.

1985GSL

iTrader: (4)

i shaved my door handles and badges.... the door handles I welded then used duraglass and for the embelems I used duraglass and they turned out perfect and i havent had any problems

stilettoman

iTrader: (1)

If you plan to keep the car, do it right - weld up the holes, grind the welds flush, and smooth off with polyester filler (bondo, etc). I recently repainted the nose of my beige colored 84, and I think it looks much cleaner. I have done several over the years, never considered anything but welding. That includes welding in a small plate to fill the side marker holes on a few cars.

The red convertible was built in 1990, and still looks good. In addition to removing the side markers, I filled in the groove for the rubber side molding on the front fenders to match the rear quarters, which were from an RX-2.

wecycle

The use of heat (solder, braze or weld) would seem to open up the possibility of cooking the paint on the backside possibly resulting in a rust problem.
How would you address that?
I have carbon arc, stick welder and a wire feed (flux core) welder but no acetylene.
I would guess that the wire feed would be best to limit the heat damage and avoid burn through.
Brazing with the arc torch would avoid burn through as well but would heat a larger area.
If I use the glass/kevlar filler would it be best to dimple the holes for the badges to provide a deeper recess for the filler?

Thank you all for the input so far.
Dennis

mikewoodkozar

Where did you get that hood?

flight_of_pain

i have welded and used just filler before, if you are going to do it, then do it right and weld.

isaac

unless i am mistaken thats a hump from a Z-car hood

stilettoman

iTrader: (1)

"Where did you get that hood?"

Read my post. Details are here:

"My projects shown at:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/646433"

Hades12

In class we welded them, Cut a peice of metal, hold it with a stud and weld it to the hole, Then fill and smoth, Coat the back in a fiberglass filler.

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Welding/brazing the holes shut (like I did) does burn the paint on the backside, however it's easy to get some paint/undercoating on them. None of the emblems have "hidden" locations. You will have a remove a interior panel to get at the backside of the rear emblem, the plastic wheel wells to get to back of the fenders, and that plastic "grill" to get at the back of the header panel. Just be sure not to get everything so hot that the metal warps and you'll be fine.
Good luck!