Did some sandblasting. My handheld SpeedBlaster broke. i want to buy a 20lb pressurized sand blaster.

The passenger outer rocker had a lot of rust holes. Almost like swiss cheese. The panel it self was in good structural shape. it would have been a lot of work to cut and weld so many smaller patches. I decided to fill these holes with the mig welder. On the right side of the image you can see i already filled some holes.

After a little wire wheeling.

As a backing i used the a copper ‘welding helper spatula spoon’ thingumabob. Steel weld does not stick to the copper so the spoon comes right off. After a little grinder the final result was to my satisfaction. i held the spoon on the outside of the rocker and welded from the inside. i only need to grind down the outside since the inside will no longer be visible once the floor and inside rockers go back in.

holes filled and finished off with sandpaper flap disk on grinder.

the two holes on the left were too big. had to fill with a metal patch.

End result. almost perfect but once some primer goes on and a little filler to cover. the work will not be noticeable.

i am not sure how ‘correct’ this type of repair is as i have not seen it done or discussed in the forums. But i like it!

Getting the rust out of the inside of the rockers would have been impossible without sandblasting. With the new compressor sandblasting was a lot smoother. No need to wait for the compressor to catch up. Only downside is that sand gets EVERYWHERE. Between the sand and the paint fumes the garage wax toxic. I had my respirator on until the last minute before running out the door.

After blasting i spray painted with eastwoods rust encapsulator.

Picked up a used air compressor on craigslist. Craftsman 60 gallon / 5 HP. probably about 10 years old. replacing the oil / belt / air filter before firing it up. cant wait!