i am just beginning repairing and customising the boywork on my panel bus and was just wondering about filling the seams to give it a smoother look. i have begun on the small seams between the rear vent and the rear window-panel as they are tiny, but was hoping to do the larger ones around the panel that VW welded in where the second sliding door would be if there was one (behind drivers door).

are their any problems with this if i use reinforced g/glass filler?

Welding in metal would be the ideal method, but i dont see a prob with the reienforced glass,

dont forget this panel suffers from afair bit of flexing, from door banging etc etc

Are there still people around that do lead wiping? If the joint has flex cracking could be a problem with most fillers. Lead wiping I believe is permanent, just like weilding without all the heat. I've never seen it done though, I have only ever hear about it.

In a flexible join, lead wiped in can still crack.
To be more successful, the metal must be pure clean and then tinned.
The lead loading process is not that easy as it tends to want to drip and run down, or if it is a few degrees too cool it is not smoothe enough.
Once it is in it is filed and sanded to a smooth finish.
Fibreglass will definitley crack.

the paint cracks in the seams anyway, just wondered if the fibreglass reinforced filler would fill the gap and maybe be flexible enough to cope

Fobreglass reinforced filler will crack.:o

Lead wiping would be great if you can find someone to do it. You need a block of wood to stop the runs from memory.

Bloody great precess watching someone do it.

Could watch it for hours.

I've done a bit of lead wiping, but not as much of an expert as the 65 y.o panel beater that retired from where I used to work.
The wooden blocks and paddles are made from redgum and soaked in oil to stop sticking and dragging. There is only a small window of opportunity when doing it as the lead cools and heats quickly.
I prefer not to use it for several reasons.

It is inconvenient
It is expensive
The tinning solution promotes rust
It is heavy
It is very poisonous
most of all I have troble doing it vertical

The only way to truly make the seams never crack would be to weld them. Lead still will crack, looking at the amount of movement in the joins.

A flexible sealer as used on new cars OEM style. There is a 3M product that is perfect for the application I will get the product number off it at work.

Thanks helbus! i was sure there had to be something out there that could be used

any luck with that number helbus?

Memory like a bloody sieve!
I will endeavour to remember tomorrow.

<Walking away mumbling '3M sealer number. 3M sealer number. 3M sea.......>

The product we use for ouside seams like that is Sikaflex 227 It is available in white or black.

and it can be painted over?

Has good flexibility properties, good adhesive properties and can be painted over. Available in a cartridge in black or grey.

brilliant!

i have some stuff at, but i cant find it to get the name... my bro in law is a panel beater and told me to get it to run along under my guttering. i got it from autobarn. I'll have a look over the weekend and see if a can find it.

Sikaflex 227, is the saviors name. all hail the savior.