hey,
I shaved my trunk a while back and i welded the pieces in , well it is a 4dr sunfire so i removed that ugly plastic thing so it looked JUST like the cavy trunk but with more HOLES the size of the lock hole. anyways, i was unexperienced with WELDING back then.. and i warped the metal a bit. I have the hardest time ever making it look smooth and even, Whenever i think its done i go across it with my hand and i can feel the waves.

anyone know any tricks to ease the process? this will be my 3rd attempt to make this even.

thanks

how are you welding it? are you going straight across the metal all the way around, or are you tacking back and forth? you wanna tack the metal in and work back and forth because if you just go straight in a line all the way around the metal, thats a good chance of warping the metal. also you can use a thin layer of body filler to take out small imperfections such as waves (depending on how wavy it is)

well i cant afford to start it fromscatch so i am gonna try to fix it.

But when i first did it . i welded it spot by sport in a row.. INstead of going back and forth.. so the metal got too hot and warped a little.. but now i know thats not how to WELD lol.. i did a good job on shaving my antenna

but anyways i heard there is a Dark primer technique to see the low and high spots? anyone know how that works?

what there talkin bout for the high and low spots . just go buy some cheap paint(Dollar General has flat black for a buck a can) and u keep the can away from the trunk and mist the paint on.. u dont want to paint the whole thing like u were painting it.. just mist it were it looks like tons of dots..or a really light coat. Then u take a sanding block or slapstick and sand it down.. Where teh paint stays uncut.. its low.. if there is spot that sands the paint off quicker then other places its high.. Kinda hard to explain it on here but its pretty easy and simple to do..

Ic, makes sense.. i will try that.. i got a long straight sander its about 15" long.. not sure which sander to use on this project.. i was using DA sander before, which i think took too much off and wasent flat and straight.. so hopefully this way it will work nicely.

hence why i said a thin layer of body filler. it will do the same thing. apply it to the area and just sand the whole area. whatever is left on the lid is where all the low spots are

you want to use the straight file sander.. you cant level with a da.. take it and use long strokes. keep changing your sanding angle as often as possible.

^^ yep. i(and prolly most everyone else ) go at 45 degree angles.. not up and down like some would think.. sand going up from the right and down to the left.. then visa versa many times.. takes alot of work.. but it pays off in the end..

when you mig weld the best is to do on the thin metal on cars today is to tack a spot weld let it cool do it again in a different spot
also what kind of welder is it?? are you running 75/25 gas??? flux core welder??
is the metal clean?? big factor when mig welding
if the metal does warp, you can do a cold shrink or use heat to shrink it back you can also you hammer and dolly to remove the low spots
a warped piece of metal takes allot of patient to work back and experience also, i like to tig wled when doin metal work but perfered mig, a corretly tuned mig welder and a expericned welder can make a mig weld like a tig welder
my suggestion to you is to start all over for the reason of puttin to much material on top of material and it will crack and look like it is a bondo buggy
if you could afford to do it the first time you can afford to do it over
or send it to me and i will make it right for the right price


can i haz bondo