I'm working on my 3800sc swap and I had to replace some of the sheet metal because of rust. In the process of getting the donor metal I had to drill out spot welds of course and now I need to find a way to fill them to make it look nice. Granted, they are in the engine compartment and no one will probably see them but I guess its about perfection. So, does anyone have any ideas on how to fill 3/8 inch holes in sheet metal?

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Goody

The beauty of a solution lies in its simplicity

Take a piece of scrap metal and weld it in and grind it down smooth, paint with Rustoleum...filled my stock radio antenna hole that way.

I would assume you would hold the piece on from behind and weld within the hole then grind it right? Let's say many of the holes will be covered with the insulation would I need to worry about these kind of places being a place for rust to take hold?

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Goody

The beauty of a solution lies in its simplicity

When I did mine I just turned the welder down low and filled the holes by stitching starting at one side and working my way across til it was filled. Once you do a couple it gets easy, and it helps to have an auto darkening face shield too. I tried the metal from behind method but it seemed to take a lot longer. I had a lot of holes too because I removed my hinge boxes and dogbone mount from the strut tower. I would fill all the holes to keep noise and fumes out of the cabin.

Get a brass welding paddle. Hold it on the back of the hole, weld the hole closed and your done. The weld won't stick to it. Fast and easy.

I like the brass idea the best. I'll give that a shot. Thanks for the input

Sorry but I said brass and ment copper. They are super easy to make. Get a piece of copper tube, 3/4 or bigger and flatten about 4" of it. Use a flat faced hammer and flat spot on vice or something and get it a smooth as possible. Make a wood handle out of a wooden dowel and use a small screw to hold it in the still round part of the tube. And you just made a $25 tool for $5.

That is even easier! Thanks for the help