[themustangkid]

I just purchased a 1968 mustang 289 coupe project. as to be expected it had rust in some of the usual places including a rust hole on the front bottom corner of the the passenger door skin. I'm not experienced in welding, and don't want to risk a patch where the result is highly visible. so i was wondering how viable of an alternative skinning the door would be and what steps are required to do so.

Thanks for the help!
-John

[Chuck M]

Skinning a door is much more difficult than repairing the hole. What you may want to consider is some of the adhesives that are used in body shops for panel adhesion. These are epoxy adhesives and have a variety of set times. Form your patch to fit from sheet metal. Prepare the surfaces according to the instructions on the product you are using and adhere the repair. Finish with filler and primer after the epoxy has completely set. As a side note, if you are doing a Mustang restoration, you are going to have to learn to weld. Read a book and practice on old sheetmetal. Mig welders are the easiest to learn and are capable for almost all auto repairs. Buy a quality welder. My Lincoln hobby welder was $400.00 as opposed to some $199 welders but as soon as you use it you understand why the Lincoln is worth more. Good luck with your car.

[1965stang]

I'm with Chuck. At first you might want to just rent a welder and practice on scrap metal to get a feel for what you're doing. Once you're confident and your welds look nice, just neatly cut out a square or even shape around the rust hole, cut a patch to fit it, and slowly tack it in alternating sides as you go to prevent warping of the door skin.

I had a nice hole in the corner where you speak of, and I'll admit I totally sucked at the first patch I tried on it. But I just cut that one out and tried again with a patch a little bigger and it worked out like a charm (I had the amps up too high on the welder so I kept burning a hole in the patch). If you saw my door you would have absolutely no idea I patched it. To me, that was 10 times easier than trying to skin an entire door. Good luck.

[themustangkid]

Thanks a bunch for the advice guys! ill give it a shot. hopefully it will turn out okay.