lead loading/body soldering

[agnoraan]

Over the years I've had people ask me how I did the lead loading or body soldering as it's sometimes called, on my '69 Camaro. Here's a brief outline on how to repair either a rusty panel, or to repair the lead on a car after it's been stripped, just like they did back in the day

The front of the hood had some small holes in it. I could have cut out the rusted area & welded in new metal, but as it was on the front edge of the hood I decided to lead the repair instead. This cuts down on heat that could possibly distort the flat part of the hood & is an easier/quicker repair, as that area is also multiple skinned. Here's the procedure to lead load/body solder it.

First off all of the paint was removed & the panel taken down to bare metal. I also sand blasted the area to remove any traces of rust left. The metal was then gently tapped down below the surface of the rest of the hood.





Here are the items you'll need to carry out a lead/bodysolder repair. A blowtorch or oxy acetylene, brushable flux, a stick of solder, tallow (in the large tub, this is rubbed into the wooden paddles to prevent the solder sticking to it), wooden paddles to smooth the solder & a file to file the repair smooth afterwards.







The area is then brushed with flux ( the dark grey in the pic). This is then warmed up with the torch until it flows molten & is then wiped off with a moleskin cloth or leather (workmens) glove to "tin" the repair. You need to wipe it until all of the grey has turned bright silver in appearance. Keeping it clean is important at this stage

[agnoraan]

The area has now been "tinned" & ready for the lead/ body solder to be applied.







Applying the body solder, the lead stick (not visible in this pic, not enough hands to hold it & take photo) is melted with the blowtorch & pushed down onto the tinned metal until it starts to flow onto the panel. Put enough on until it's just proud of the surface to be repaired

[agnoraan]

As the lead is being pushed down onto the panel, you can smooth it out as you go. Dip your wooden paddle into some tallow, this stops the lead sticking to the paddle. You can then smooth the lead out as your applying it in a molten state to the panel. Spread the lead with the paddle just as you would if buttering some bread. The aim is to get it so's the lead is just proud of the panel & as smooth as possible to save time filing to shape afterwards. It goes without saying that if you don't put enough lead onto the panel you'll have low spots in the repair, which will need for you to repeat the procedure again. The down side of this is that as soon as you heat up the repair that you've done to add more lead, your original repair will start to go molten also destroying most of the work already done





Here's what you're aiming for, the repair is just proud of the surface & is relatively smooth ready for filing.







The repair is then filed to shape ready for etch/epoxy primer.

[agnoraan]

The finished article. ready for priming.








Once completed it's nescessary to make sure that all traces of flux have been removed from the repair or it will affect the repairs in the future. Wash the repair down liberaly with panel wipe/thinners & then some fresh soapy water & dry immediately.

It's really quite easy to do & I find it very therapeutic you can get kits that contain everything you need to do this from people like Frosts restoration equipment. A bit of time & patience & it's easily mastered. The beauty is that moisture cannot penetrate the repairs from behind. it only takes one pin hoile in a welded & filled repair & in time the moisture will get through the filler, this way it can't as all holes are filled with lead. Obviously it takes practice, especially on a vertical panel where the lead tries to fall off as it's being warmed up :pmsl: but it's do-able for the hobbyist.

Cheers.....Nige

[agnoraan]

These are some before shots of the rust to be leaded on the rear 1/4 pillars on my Camaro. These were caused by moisture getting trapped under the vinyl roof. The metal was de rusted using Bilt Hamber De-Ox gel and a light clean with a wire brush in a drill

[agnoraan]

here the lead has been applied

[Migge]

My car ist heavy enough

[agnoraan]

And this is after the lead has been filed to the correct contours, ready for the priming process











There's no real magic in doing this type of repair and the major benefit is that it's permanent. Cleanliness is the word though when doing this. I hope that's helped to show how this dying art is performed

cheers..Nige

[catsx11]

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[Roger King]

I'd be interested to know why, apart from the craftsmanship angle, you would choose to lead load rather than use a high-quality modern filler? I have stripped enough cars for restoration which have never been restored before but have significant structural rust in the steel under the lead, so it's not foolproof even from the factory.