POR-15 putty too thin

Last week I cleaned a few spots to try filling rust holes without welding. The plan for today was to fill the holes with POR-15 putty. It comes in a metal tube, and I expected it to have the consistency of old fashioned spot filler. It turned out to be more liquid than plastic, sort of like really thick paint. I had a hard time filling even these small holes, which were at most about 1/16 in. wide. I ended up leaving some on my working cardboard until it hardened a bit, but that was sticky and difficult to smooth. The photos show the result. I doubt that these were effective repairs, because the material is so thin.



My idea is to buy some fiberglass filler and mix up my own putty. I think Redline has it. I also need to buy some solvent to clean my hands.

Another big disappointment: my latex gloves leaked again. I need to check the POR-15 web site to see if latex is the wrong stuff. Maybe I just keep poking holes in them. Another week with black fingertips!

While I was waiting for the filler to thicken I worked on removing the remaining sound dampening material from the other side of the car. First I tried GooGone, the stuff that smells like lemons. That softened the glue, but there was lots of adhesive and scraping it off was hard because it just wanted to stick to everything. Whatever BMW used was sure good, because after thirty years it still has plenty of stick. Later I switched to paint thinner, because I had a lot more of that. It worked about as well. I finished up wiping with a rag soaked in paint thinner, trying not to breath in too much.

As I suspected, removing the think, felt-like pad and all that glue exposed the beginnings of rust. That will all get the POR-15 treatment.



In the bay next to mine was a 'Vett about the same age, being worked on by a young guy. This brought out the old and experienced Chevy engine builders. During lunch I listened to a fascinating discussion about the differences between ZZ this and that. These guys really know their stuff.