restaurations using filler

[Mikadoo]

I haven't attempted any oldtimer repairs yet myself, but I've noticed the complete lack of filler in the R4 repairs, unlike for example with this VW Beetle repair:

http://members.chello.nl/h.tillaart/restoroelfoto2.htm
http://members.chello.nl/h.tillaart/restoroelfoto3.htm
http://members.chello.nl/h.tillaart/restoroelfoto5.htm

With this stuff you can cover up quit a bit. Most of the work is creating a perfect steel piece and weld. So the more professional approach is to avoid using it as little as possible?

 

[68pleinair]

mien dutch ist nojt wary goot yja? :P

 

[Mikadoo]

Mijn dutch is redelijk goed, jaja but there's not much comment on the pictures. It just says they removed the rotten bits to weld in new steel. "Er is weer hard gewerkt!" = "Worked very hard again!" . And in part 5 they have finished the welding, the filler is used to cover up the new bits, they still need to sand the car, and put on a ground coat.

They plan to use this car for a wedding, so they're on a strict schedule.

 

[68pleinair]

Ich kan deutschen wert nicht sprechen den ein fickt entweder :P

 

[malcolm]

The Beetle repairs looks OK.

I used quite a lot of filler on my Renault 4 to smooth out dents and to smooth in areas where I'd welded in new metal. You can see quite a lot of filler on the bonnet (hood) to repair the dents.

Modern body filler is pretty good stuff. The only real problems with using it are where there are pin holes in the metal. Then water will get between the filler and metal and cause the filler to bubble. The same can happen if you use body filler on a seam in the bodywork - for example at the top of the Renault 4 rear wing.

I try to make my welded repairs as close to the right shape as possible and then use as little filler as I can.

The rear craftsmen seem to be able to make the welded repair perfect and don't need any filler at all. I'm always amazed when I see a perfect unpainted aluminuim body. That must take a lot of skill.

 

[Simon.AU]

The topic of this thread reminds me of a Dauphine Gordini that I looked at many years ago. The owner said it had no rust, then said it had all been cut out and replaced with fibreglass.

It had too, lovely work on the sills, and where the chassis rail meets the rear inner wing. He was so proud of his handiwork.......

 

[La Poste]

I know someone who loves filler, and who can painstakingly recreate the contours of a rotten panel with nothing more than a trowel, a bucket, and a sheet of sandpaper. He once replaced the entire sill on a 2cv van with about 14kg of the stuff - the end result was indestinguishable from the original panel until one afternoon he had a puncture and had to jack the van up... Whoops! :lol:

Personally I hate the stuff with a passion, and am proud of the dents on my cars as they're part of each one's history (the dents in the roof of my R4 van are from when the goat used to sit on it, the dent in the front wing of one of the 2cvs is a souvenir of one of those Spanish mountain villages with impossibly narrow streets, etc.). I've got a friend in Belgium who shares the same opinion, and who proudly ruffles a few feathers when she parks her battle-scarred DB2 amongst the over-restored concours contenders at Aston-Martin club events. To me the very word filler conjours up images of overpriced, tarted-up old wrecks with shiny new paint and two-inch thick underseal lurking in the Gullible Fools Only pages of Autotrader... Sends shudders down the spine! Lead-loading is the way to go, although it does take more practice to get it right than slapping on a blob of filler.

In a previous existence I knew of a coachbuilder who restored vintage and classic cars, and who with little more than his bare hands could make anything from a mudguard to a complete Aston-Martin bodyshell. A genius in the same league as Leonardo Da Vinci. Needless to say he never used filler, although if you asked him to restore your R4 the bill would probably be into seven figures...