Ok. I'm going wingless. I bondo'd up all the dings in my doors, qp's, and gas door. Did a damn good job too for my first time. I had to drop another layer on some spots because the bondo hardened up a bit too fast on me and pitted but it looks great now. No cracks.

I took my spoiler and antenna off and want to cover the holes. Now, i have people telling me to weld. Would a stick welder on low heat work? My friend elmo's dad has one. I could try a few shops in town too. Um, 2 of the holes closest to the tails seem damn near impossible to put a plate under (I plan on cutting up my driver side fender for plates since it's got a real nasty dent). How should i go about this? I mean, i could always just build up and close the hole off completely by welding or weld caps in the inside, grind, and bondo. Idk. I'd rather ask than to fuck it all up. Somebody should totally do a write-up on this. Me no have digicam otherwise i'd do it. I also refuse to pay the money some of you guys paid to have someone else do the job. I did do a search. Lol. One guy paid almost a grand for a shaving and turbo spoiler conv... :wallbash

Your friends dad named your friend Elmo. Dont use his welder, the stupid juice may rub off and you'll have an accident.

I have a feeling you should probably just pay to have it done. Our hatches can warp very easily from welding, not to mention the 8 or so holes in each of our quarter panels. Your quarter panels will be waiving to you in the sun if it not done correctly.

Use J-B Weld for the plates underneath and bondo the top. :thumbsup

a MIG welder on low setting produced a good result for me.
on the larger holes i made small 2" squares of 1/16' steel and then put a 16-penny nail in the center to hold it in there while i welded it.
i also had a towel with a hole in it the size of the spot i was welding that i wet down to minimize deck temps and splatter.
the nail makes a great place for the ground clamp too.
the smaller holes i found that the 16-penny nail fit just perfect and i could just weld it in there.
if you get it level the back of the car should look like somthing out of a Mad Max movie.
then i just shaved them down with a grinder then i filled and blocked them so there smooth and now the deck is ready for paint prep.
(sorry no pics of it finished yet :( )

Nice little writeup with pics foggy! You should add it to the wiki as I've seen this question a few times in the past now.

Originally posted by foggy45
a MIG welder on low setting produced a good result for me. on the larger holes i made small 2" squares of 1/16' steel and then put a 16-penny nail in the center to hold it in there while i welded it. i also had a towel with a hole in it the size of the spot i was welding that i wet down to minimize deck temps and splatter. the nail makes a great place for the ground clamp too. the smaller holes i found that the 16-penny nail fit just perfect and i could just weld it in there. if you get it level the back of the car should look like somthing out of a Mad Max movie. then i just shaved them down with a grinder then i filled and blocked them so there smooth and now the deck is ready for paint prep. (sorry no pics of it finished yet :( )

Dude, that's exactly what i'm looking for. Looks like i need to get me one of these: http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?cat=Mechanics+Tools&pid=00920568000&vertical=TOOL&subcat=Welders&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes
Always wanted one for home projects anyway. I was going to stick weld if it came down to it even though i hate it. I can mig/tig anything though. I just lack the equipment. Been welding since i was a sophmore in highschool so that would mean almost 8 years experience. I gave you a point for that how-to. Man, that's perfect. Much love, no homo.

Jb weld... I've never used the stuff. And for some reason, i'm iffy about that holding up over time. I DID think about it for a second or two though. Other people have told me pop rivets work, chicken wire works, and somebody even told me to lay a fiberglass mat down and glass the holes. All of this sounds pretty sketchy.

Originally posted by CustomGS
Your friends dad named your friend Elmo. Dont use his welder, the stupid juice may rub off and you'll have an accident. I have a feeling you should probably just pay to have it done. Our hatches can warp very easily from welding, not to mention the 8 or so holes in each of our quarter panels. Your quarter panels will be waiving to you in the sun if it not done correctly.

Well, you do have a point. Elmo wrecked his '91 accord when a slighty dryrotted tire blew out on him while he was going 60 on the highway. His brothers wrecked eachothers' cars almost a week later. One was some crappy import and the other was a 2gb gst.... He had it junked without selling me a thing. Stupid juice indeed and i wouldn't want anyone's genetic material rubbing off on me. That's pretty fucking gross dude.

I've tig welded beads on empty pop cans without them warping. No purpose really other than i was bored in shop class. We used to vaporize pennies and dimes with the plazma cutter out of boredom too. It's ok, assume because i'm new i dont know how to weld. Spent 3 years learning in highschool (our vocational wing was awesome and we had very good equipment). Spent 1 year as a teachers aid. Spent another 4 months as an apprentice before i had to move.


Why pay somebody to do a job i can do for less money and get the same results? The only thing i'm having somebody do on my car is tint my windows, 3 angle valve job, combustion chamber re-shaping, .020" overbore and wheel alignment. If i dont get a wheel and tire package, i'll pay to have them mounted and balanced. I put tint on that list because i've seen alot of diy jobs form bubbles and our rear glass is heated so i want a pro doing it. Everything else i'm pretty confident i can do myself or with a friend or two under my supervision.

Sorry for the long post and any grammar/spelling issues. :) I'm totally not trying to be an ass or anything. It's just i will find the least expensive way to get the best possible work done. Hell or high water.

foggy, that's awesome, I probably wouldn't have thought of that myself. an old welders trick is to get a piece of copper and place it behind the hole you're filling and weld the hole shut. the copper gives you something to weld against and doesn't stick. pops right off with a little suggestive force, old hot-rodders trick for filling firewalls smooth.

I've never mastered that trick. I posted that we used to vap pennies with the plasma cutter, right?

Well, tig, mig, and stick kinda had the same results. We experimented. :D I can't remember how much/little heat we were using. They just turned into red, glowing balls and turned green while they cooled.

it needs to be a good chunk of copper, something like the size of a dolly for body hammering. not a tiny thin sheet