bodywork: pulling out 1/4 panel dents, +, brazing?

[BerniniCaCO3]

Hi!

Spring break starts on the 20th, perfect time to repaint my 1990 colony park wagon.

Not much time till then, 2 weeks, so I need to plan in earnest. I'm taking it to maaco for their single stage polyurethane btw, will be pulling trim, sanding, and taping myself to take care of prepwork. Don't hate! The blue book value of this old car is a third of what a pro job would begin to cost-- I just want it not to look like a rusty jalopy, doesn't need to be a showcar.

Anyway! Two body work issues.
Last fall I mangled the quarter panel on a pole I didn't see (have since added blind spot mirrors ) Hah-- and it turned out under the crumpled steel, was flaking bondo-- I wasn't the first!
I've been reading up on it, but I'm still nervous. How hard is spot welding and using a slide hammer to pull the dents? Can I rent a spot welder?
Or can I get behind these dents and pry them out? It seems like two layers of steel, one behind the outside layer and then pinch welded together at the bottom seam, so I honestly don't know if I could get between them...

Second. Left rear wheel well has some noticeable rust, about 4 square inches of flaky paint. There's somewhere else that has a faint touch also, bubbles under the paint. Not so bad really, it's not a rustbucket at all. I've done elementary mig welding, torch welding, and brazing before; and probably can get access to an acetylene torch-- but I've no experience in autobody work specifically. How scary is grinding off this section and brazing on a new piece of fresh steel? Very scary with a high risk of looking like shit if I'm still learning?
I'm wondering if I should just sand it down, maybe counter some of the rust with naval jelly or fill in at the very edge where it's crumbling with bondo, and go ahead and paint over it?
Hech, in 5, 8 yrs if I've still got the car I can repaint it and do the body work right. Wondering if I can kindof smooth over the rust spot-- it's not in a prominent place, and if small bubbles form under the paint 2 yrs from now, it's not a showcar. But if it'll look worse than that, or if in balance, brazing on fresh sheet metal isn't so scary hard, maybe I'll go ahead and try to do it right!


thanks for the advice and encouragement,
-Bernard

[gadget73]

usually you want to weld body panels, not braze them. It can be done with a mig if you keep control of the voltage. Torch makes the area too hot, which will warp the metal extensively. Ideally, if you can you want to cut out any rust and replace the metal. The less plastic filler the better off you are.

[BerniniCaCO3]

Thanks!

Oh, and found a stud welder from harbor freight for $80
Not professional... but it only needs to work, oh, for 15 studs.

Hey, placing another rock auto order: the long piece of trim along the bottom of the doors, between the wheel wells, what would I look for to find the trim clips that hold that on?
I might just call the ford dealership, if they don't want arms and legs for the bits of plastic.

[87gtVIC]

Probably better off pulling those clips off of another car. They come off easy enough with a little flat head screw driver and a hammer to tap it off of the rivets.

With the stud gun make sure to work the dent on in the reverse order of how it happened. Dont even think about plopping a stud right in the center of the dent an pulling it out...you will just make tons more work for yourself. Use dikes to cut the studs off when complete and cautiously go around to each exposed stud and knock it down with roloc disc..I say cautiously because you can easily heat up the area warping the panel further. And when you go to use your filler please make sure you have total bare metal where the filler is going.

[1980c10]

Everything 87vic said is correct. Also on rust repair try to get to the inside of the panel to get some rustproofing on the inside after you weld the panel in, also do the same on where you use the stud gun anywhere you put a stud will will burn through whatever protective coating was on the inside.

Aside from that take your time and make sure it is proper. If you do shitty work now it will come back to visit in a few months lol.