body and interior A Kinky Post

[pilotnbr1]

A short summary of an afternoon spent repairing a rusted Hofmeister Kink... Its a tough area to work due to all of the bends and lack of access...

 

I am taking care of the rust in my car's body and like many 2002's the side quarter window seals were not changed when they should have been. 

The problem-

 

The first cuts and one spot weld to remove the first portion-

 

The second portion removed-

 

 

Patch one-

 

 

Patch one welded in with the last bend left up so as to provide access to weld and grind within the channel-

 

 

Ground welds,bent the fold down, and then welded the fold into place. Leaving the fold open on patch one was the key to the whole repair...

 

Positioned patch number two-

 

 

Welded in and cleaned up. Did alot of the final metal shaping with a hand file-

 

Sprayed some primer on for protection until I sand blast it and really protect the kink-

 

Still needs some final touch up put it was getting late and had to call it a night.... Hope this helps some people. I was very fortunate that the rust had not compromised any of the outer defining structure. With well placed cuts my patch number 2 required minimal shaping other than a slight bend down the length with a slight crease running top to bottom at the center...

 

EDIT- sorry all the pics are sideways.... On my laptop they are correct but when uploaded they are not. A little frustrated with the picture upload as the first time around I attempted to just embed a link to my google drive but the forum disallowed that...

Edited October 31, 2013 by pilotnbr1

[bob02]

Nice work! Thanks for taking pics also.

[TR]

I am beginning to accept the fact that metal only lasts for only a limited number of years no matter how much "love" it gets.  So I guess it is just a question of time before we will all have to fix rust problems like this -- or have someone else do it $$$.  

 

Question: how did you fill the gaps around patch #2?

 

Thanks for the great photos.

[pilotnbr1]

The biggest gaps around patch number 2 were not all that big- but there was alot of variation to the gap size around the patch because I did not spend that much time cutting the outline of the patch. I read a quote somewhere "if you can walk across it you can weld it" - it has some truth.

 

I am just learning welding myself but what I have found when it comes to welding is that the size of the gap is not as critical when compared to the thickness of the metal- So for example I would much rather bridge a big gap when welding rather than go from thick good metal to thin rusted metal. I have found that if i go from thick to thin suddenly the weld puddle will burn through and make the bead unpredictable. In this particular case I just did a bunch of spot weld and jumped around alot to control heat.

 

Additionally nice clean metal on both surfaces to be welded is far more critical- it is super annoying to have one side give you a nice good arc but the other side just pops and you don't get good penetration.

 

My welder is just an Eastwood Mig-135 running 75 argon 25 co2 with .025 wire. I love this welder, it is cheap, and has infinite variable control for power and infinite variable speed for wire speed. Has plenty of power- for this job was on about a 3 out of 10 for power and it runs off 110 volt plug.

 

Other tools for anyone interested were

-drill with bits, spot weld cutting bit, carbide burr for grinding

-4 1/2 inch electric angle grinder running metal grinding disc and flap discs

-3 inch electric high speed rotary saw - cheap harbor freight and works great!

-Eastwood air high speed metal saw- another favorite of mine for only $40

-center punch

-body hammers and dolly set

-vice

-autobody magnets

-hand metal file

-optionally I used a Speed Blaster abrasive media gun and a syphon feed blasting gun to remove paint 

-For patches was just a sheet of 20 gauge mild steel

-Weld thru primer to protect the welds and beneath the plug welds

-cutting oil- get more life out of bits and saw blades

-of course all the associated hearing, eye, body protection, fire extinguisher...

Edited October 31, 2013 by pilotnbr1

[jerry]

good work.  it is well documented writeups like these that help those of us contemplating similar work, to take the plunge.

 

now to get the kink out of my neck...

[pilotnbr1]

Right now am going to do the other side. I will take some more pics and angle the camera differently!

[GoFaSSter]

 

now to get the kink out of my neck...

 

 

LOL!

[foreste2002]

Great write-up!!

[pilotnbr1]

Here is the right side all media blasted...

 

I decided to fix the hole below the kink first-

 

The cut-

 

The patch traced it on some scrap paper,cut, then bent in vice using adjustable wrench as a brake-

 

Welded in with initial grind-

 

The heat caused some shrinking so had to do a couple rounds of primer, sanding, and then some hammer off dolly metal bumping.

Here is a shot after some sanding-

 

Got it leveled and primed-

 

Still needs some touch up work around where the kink out bevel meets the lip of the quarter panel... 

 

 

Back to the kink. I decided to make some access cuts through both layers of metal in the kink and then bend the tabs up.

 

Rust was a little worse then I initially though and will have to replace a little bit of the side wall within the channel.

 

Formed the patch, once again with just a vice, hammer, and pliers-

 

Patch in place ready to be welded-

 

Got most of the welding done but then ran out of mig gas... 

 

Obviously more grinding to be done....

 

Shortly after my 3 inch cheap Chicago Electric Harbor Freight metal cutoff tool died.. The cord shorted right where it entered the grinder. I will fix it but with no gas and then the cutoff tool down it was a sign to call it a day.... TO BE CONTINUED....

Edited October 31, 2013 by pilotnbr1