i am new to welding and would like to know about how hard would it be to fill in those areas. would it be hard. is it worth it?

 

Granted it looks cool, but VERY, VERY hard to do well. Plus the fact they work really well for what they're designed for!! When you take them out, you'll get rain sheeting down your door windows.

 

thanks, that is a good point. what about the side molding would that be really hard?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by zdowell17 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks, that is a good point. what about the side molding would that be really hard?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The trick is to not heat the metal too much. You'll warp the sheet really easily. It's a LOT(no joke) to weld, file, bill, sand side moldings. I think it makes EG's look like Geo Metros when it's done(my opinion). Try color matching the molding and rain rails first, most people seem to be satisfied w/ that. It's your car though man, do whatever you want to it.

 

what esle is bad about those rain rails is that they are a stress point in the car, so though your car will look like a race car, when you take a few hard turns, if you dont mold that to perfection and strength, the paint and filling will crack up. then youll be screwed. those rails are more than there for a reason.

The side moldings on the other hand i did on my ls which came out nice. I wouldnt recommend you doing something like that yourself. Unless you practice a lot. or else your car door will have more ripples than the ocean.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by integralicious &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what esle is bad about those rain rails is that they are a stress point in the car, so though your car will look like a race car, when you take a few hard turns, if you dont mold that to perfection and strength, the paint and filling will crack up. then youll be screwed. those rails are more than there for a reason.

The side moldings on the other hand i did on my ls which came out nice. I wouldnt recommend you doing something like that yourself. Unless you practice a lot. or else your car door will have more ripples than the ocean.</TD></TR></TABLE>


True, true. If he welds it completely though and takes his time on the rain rails, you can use English files to knock the weld down. That's the hard part, you have to penetrate deep enough to get a good weld otherwise when you file it, the weld will crack. On the other hand, if it's too hot, the panel wil 'pop' and you're f*cked, it's warped.

 

I highly recommend <U>NOT</U> welding the top of the rain rails. I seen a kid in my autobody class do it. And this guy was good, he did his door handles, side moldings, and trunk perfectly. Simple bondo and you couldnt tell. But when he did the rain rails it was so weak up there that it just warped to hell and bondo couldnt save it. It took him 3 semesters of everyday work to get it close to perfect. It is a very long hard process i seriously wouldnt do it.

Side Moldings are easier because of the type of metal thats on the doors and panels. I thought it was the same as the rain rails until i saw him do it.

Good luck though.

 

actually...this is only partially true. if you can make the rain guttes as strucurally strong as the rest of the roof panels, it can and will last. I know a few guys that have done this, and daily drive their cars ( I was apprehensive at first too) but there is a local guy that has done it on quite a few cars to date. Daily driven in Canadian weather.

I still wouldn't do it myself though.

Clayton