Welding up old screw holes on bodywork

[czm]

Hi there
I have a number of old small screw holes in some body work that I would like to fill up before a respray

They are only around 3mm diameter, can I use my MIG to fill them in and grind them down smooth?

I would normally have some copper behind the weld to stop distortion however the location of the holes means that is not possible.

What do we think?

 

[colnerov]

Yes.

 

[czm]

So just use the MIG?>

 

[chunkolini]

Practice on a spare hole first, work around the edge flicking the switch to build up the edge of the hole then fill in the middle.
Takes a few seconds once you have practiced.

 

[whm_fab]

ive had this type of jobs on many rally cars before that had big wheel arches in different places, what i normally do to keep distortion down to a minimum, is instead of trying to fill the hole with the welder (more work,more heat) i cut out little squares of 1.5 or 2mm steel, and plug weld it to the back of the hole. that way your not welding to an edge, no chance of blowing the hole bigger etc .
only downside is, its obviously not very aesthetically pleasing on the backside, if thats a problem ?

 

[123hotchef]

we all like a aesthetically pleasing backside

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

I did a few like this.

I held this brass drift behind the hole and put stitch welds in from the top but I think I could have got away without using it.

This nice pattern was just luck.

Nicely ground down.

Now with all the holes filled.

 

[MoreWellie]

he did say

but I think I could have got away without using it

and it was a nice sequence of pictures

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Since doing that job I've done plenty more hole patching on my exhaust in exactly the same way without access to the back.