Leadding

[jimbo]

Has anyone on here ever done this?

 

I can imagine it's not popular with the drag folks. but maybe the restorers out there?

 

If so, have you any pointers? What kind of heat should I be getting on the repair, etc.

 

Cheers,

Jim

[BIGKEV]

Brazing - google brazing - bit of a lost art these days

[pauln]

I've done a bit as it's really good where filler would crack (not on my cortina but other cars). I have'nt used pure lead but plumbers solder which melts at a lower temp and has a good pasty stage. The main problem on bodywork these days is tinning the steel to get a key (no point in doing this on untinned steel as it fall straight off), in the old days you would use a killed spirit flux such as bakers which works perfectly but these days you can use solder paint (solder and flux in liquid suspension) but it's no where as good. My efforts have been ok but have always needed a skim of plastic filler to finish. Heatwise any small propane torch will do the job.

[mk2dk]

I've done it a couple of times on my Escort. Looks dead easy but it's actually quite difficult. I use "chassis-lead", which is a different mixture than plumber solder, a propane torch and solder-paint. It's important that all surfaces are clean and you have a lot of patience. The hard part is seeing the right temperature - to little heat and the lead stays hard - to much and it all lays on the floor.

[NginEEr]

my dad was trying to teach me how to do this on my old fiesta and its hard. plus the wooden block i was using gets hot fast lol. i used i think its called tallow to help spread it with the wood block too. dunno if anyone elsse does it this way?