Whats good for filling small holes in ali

[julians]

For instance, the holes (about 5mm diameter I think) left where the windscreen stantion bolts through if you've switched to an aeroscreen.

 

This is on a bare ali car, so I need something that when polished up you cant tell there was ever a hole there.

[Julian Thompson]

Ju, I honestly think you are stuffed on this one.

 

I would personally look at a nice titantium button head bolt in silver.

 

I did briefly wonder if you could ali weld the area but then I woke up and realised that the thin sheet would turn into a wobbly mess!

 

If you are mega arsed then just replace your scuttle panel I think ! I ordered my car with interchangeable aero but I didn't buy a windscreen and never will now so I wondered about getting a new scuttle panel myself to rid me of the holes ! But then I'll still have too many switches inside anyway and if I ever sell it I'll guarantee the buyer will want a bloody screen!

 

Cheers

 

Jue

[rogercook]

You could use Technoweld or Lumiweld or similar (a sort of hard ali solder) but this is quite a bit harder than ali and will have to be ground or filed down carefully to avoid marring the surrounding metal

[stevefoster]

A round cut piece of ali tape. Rub it with autosol or similar and in a little time it will

take on the sheen of the car. Lightest possible solution too.

 

/Steve

 

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[SvenDriver]

Don't try and use Techweld. It is designed for joining pieces of alu. It is hard to use - it melts at close to the temp that alu melts. Get it wrong and the piece you are welding wilts. Alu doesn't warn you when it gets close to critical temp.

 

My ideas are to:

1. Cut out a piece of sheet ali to fill the hole and glue or tack it in to position

2. Grind up some alu and mix it with araldite or something to make a metal paste that can be used to backfill - it won't be perfect.

[Jason Plato]

Use the one bolt hole for a tax disc holder ( in carbon of course ) , the holder covers the second also .

 

Dave

[julians]

hmmm, I didnt think it would be easy.

 

The bare ali is starting to look a bit tatty now anyway. So I'll probably fill it using small amounts of car body filler, then get the whole car resprayed.

 

 

[eric]

It is a professional job

 

I did with my caterham : no holes visible

 

My body repair specialist use alu rivet with flat head, with his hammer

he melts or mixes the aluminium of the rivet and the boby

You see nothing, it takes 10 mn per holes or less

but there is a lot of science in this repair

[sjwb]

Eric is quite right. You will have a devil of a job to fill such a thin panel with out sinkage or a witness mark around the hole.

However, just for reference, if you do decide to fill; chamfer the hole as much as you can and use hi-build primer as a base.

 

Steve B