I did this a little while ago. I'm not a welder but I bought one to learn and fix my Pontiac. Practice on my trucks first. Here I have some pretty standard bedside wheelwell rust.



I ground off some paint, cut out some metal.



I was doing it in stages and left the edge for support. Another day and ready to weld I cut everything away.



Patch panel cut from my old fender.



Handy dandy welders magnet to hold it while I tacked it.



After what seemed like a thousand tack welds and grinding.



I don't know how perfect it's supposed to be, welding every single imperfection takes forever. I am using flux core though so that is probably making it harder. I used JB Weld to fill imperfections.



Sanded and primed.

 

It's looking good so far Sean. And the flux core will do the job alright but a gas mig would definitely work much better. And as far as the flux vs. gas mig I can't weld with flux for crap but someone whose skilled with flux might prefer it to the gas. But all and all it looks pretty good so far

 

Thanks. I'm getting pretty good with the flux, good enough to know when to adjust off the recommended settings now. Plus I hear when I finally do use gas it will be easy.

 

It's a day and night difference. I'm in my second year of welding at the local vocational school where I live and I've gotten fairly decent but I haven't played much with the flux. I just don't like the way it runs compared to gas.

 

Hey Sean... What are the specs on your welder that you bought? Or if anyone else wants to chime in, what's good for doing just this type of work...auto body repair. Liking for something reasonably inexpensive that works good.

 

Check pawn shops for cheap welders. Mine's a 110 MIG, welds up to 3/8 steel.

 

Didn't even think of checking out a pawn shop, good idea. Are most capable of doing the thin auto body metal? Don't need 3/8 however would be nice if needed.

 

Yes a 110 mig will be perfect for auto sheet metal. I would suggest getting a gas mig. They are much easier to weld with and lay nicer beads

 

I wanted new, and I wanted to be able to do almost anything. I don't see myself having to weld over 3/8. I wanted 110 so I could plug it in everywhere instead of having to wire in a 220 plug and weld where the plug is. It's gas or flux, I never got gas so I've been doing flux. It works fine for me, but everybody else gasps at the thought of using flux on body panels.





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I agree with you though that I bet if you try gas... you won't go back because it will be easier. Btw... do you know what gauge the metal is on our trucks?