General Rust holes - urgent help required

[JacquieC]

I have an old Uno which is great mechanically but covered in rust. I decided it was time to at least make it look better - I'm never going to cure the rust - so got the sandpaper, filler, primer, matched paint etc and started. To be honest, I thought the roof would possibly go straight through but it didn't. However, the door did. On the passenger side back door, there are now 3 holes about 1.5cm long each just below where the door meets the window seal at the bottom of the window.

Now, I'm female and skint! I don't have the tools etc to put a piece of mesh or metal under the holes from the inside. I don't know how to take the door panels off either even if I could fabricate metal pieces. I can probably get things made but need to try to fit them myself. The only saving grace I have is that I'm pretty good at manual stuff, it's just normally inside my flat.

Is there any way of filling these holes from the outside? I know I'm asking for a miracle. Filler just falls through of course.

Anybody got any ideas that doesn't involve going to a body shop? I know it won't look great but at least I won't have holes in the door at the start of a rainy winter.

Thanks in advance.

 

[JacquieC]

Please don't give up on life or send me hate mail but this is what I'm going to do!

I am going to cut patches from thin acetate and tape it over the holes using white electrical tape. I will run the tape across the width of the door and the tape is narrow enough to sit above where the door comes out a bit and straightens downwards. I am then going to put a layer of filler on the top, sand & prime twice then spray paint twice.

Now I can imagine all the sighs and shaking of heads but please imagine that you're a dad living thousands of miles away from your daughter who already has the above equipment and be kind

The car being as old as it is won't last for years longer anyway and I think it's quite an ingenious idea. If anyone has any other suggestions (other than a body shop), please feel free to share.

 

[fingers99]

The mesh idea is the best one. Well, apart from getting a better door!

The mesh itself is aluminium, dead soft, easy to bend, and you can cut it with ordinary scissors. Any decent Halfords will have some. All you need do is poke a couple of screws through it, cover it with filler, manipulate it through the hole, hold it in place (here the tape may come in handy, but it should go semi-hard in 10 or 15 minutes. Leave it a bit longer, remove the screws, fill in the hole with more filler, sand down, paint. Job done.

Wear disposable gloves or you'll spend at least as long getting your hands clean of filler as doing the job.

 

[Liquid Knight]

Where abouts are you? I'm sure one of the Fiat Fraternity can help.

Edited to add, Malta!

A little too far for me.

 

[JacquieC]

Thanks a lot for your replies. I haven't yet taped & filled so the mesh idea seems the way to go. I thought I would have to apply it from the inside but your method is great. Re the filler - learned that lesson the hard way; had to cut off all my nails as couldn't remove it!

No Halfords in Malta but I must be able to find mesh somewhere. The thing is no-one really does their own car repairs here - everyone is used to taking it to a garage and being ripped off is considered the normal cost of things.

I have another problem now though. I've derusted, primed and top coated parts of the roof and doors. However the top coat is matt so I read about clear coats and thought that was the answer. Unfortunately I've discovered that I can't buy clear coat here.

Now as I've said, I'm not expecting a perfect finish so do you think t-cut, polish then wax would bring a bit of a sheen at least?

 

[fingers99]

T cut is worth a go. Leave the paint for as long as you can before using it.

 

[JacquieC]

Thanks for your reply.

At the moment, the areas only have 2 top coats but they're a bit rough - like unsanded primer. My plan is to wet & dry sand and recoat a couple more times then leave it for say a week, t-cut, polish and wax. Does that sound about right? Do I need to leave time between t-cutting and polishing and between polishing and waxing too?

 

[MadMan0]

If you sand the matt paint with very fine wet and dry paper 1200-1800 grit (Wet), then use a rubbing compound with a rotary mop (or a soft cloth by hand) with pently of water you should get a shiny finish.

 

[JacquieC]

Thanks for that. Is t-cut ok as the rubbing compound or is it too harsh? Also, do I put the compound on first with a damp cloth then put plenty of water on afterwards to rub in? Sorry for being a bit dim; I normally renovate property not cars!

 

[fingers99]

Should be OK. T Cut is less abrasive than many cutting compounds. You'll be OK if you follow the instructions on the tin.

 

[JacquieC]

Thanks everyone. I'll cross my fingers and give it a go. Got some mesh from work so will fix the holes properly too. I'll let you know how I get on.