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Learn to weld or pay the man? Budgets...


theNomad

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11 hours ago, theNomad said:

After much time off and working on many other things, I'm diving in. 
I only have 115v to the garage, and don't want the added expense of running 220v up 2 stories into the attic and across the entire house, so I bought the Eastwood 125 welder at a low price with coupon etc. Real gas MIG and variable. I'm not going to become a fab shop anytime soon, but can always purchase the good stuff later.

 

After previously stripping interior and sound deadening (what fun) I wire wheeled the main spots today and cut out the offending floor. No going back now!

20180718_122459.jpg 
My panels are currently 1/4" overlapped and I am planning to but weld them in so the task of careful trimming and fitting is to come. I've gotten the edges of the cut areas to bare metal on top and relatively clean below (still have paint and primer in many spots below but no coatings).

Its tempting to spray primer and weld the lapped edges! I see where so many areas are just spot welded and body sealed but I really want to learn how to do it "the right way" so here I go.

 

Any advice before I move ahead? Words of wisdom? Tips or tricks? 

 

20180718_122548.jpg 20180718_121148.jpg 

I decided to keep it all square and left the sides spot welded to the frame as I could see doing more damage than necessary drilling out the spots in good metal. The rear passenger is longer as there was a small hole further up the tunnel that I wanted to account for and just figured I'd lengthen the entire panel. I'll be able to use the cut of parts for patch steel in the driver heel area that i still need to do. I'll use small pieces to patch some holes in the spare tire well also.

20180718_154153.jpg

I'll be practicing butt welds on the old floor steel and scraps of the new before I do the real floor.

I ended up lap welding my floors. I welded from the top and the bottom and then sealed over the welds with seam sealer before painting and undercoating. It's super solid. Butt weld would be best, but the lap weld is very strong as well.

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mike tunney

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1 minute ago, thinksound_mike said:

I ended up lap welding my floors. I welded from the top and the bottom and then sealed over the welds with seam sealer before painting and undercoating. It's super solid. Butt weld would be best, but the lap weld is very strong as well.

 I just read through a thread showing epic replacement of panels all over. Nearly every structural piece was actually plug welded so essentially lapped. Good prep and rust prevention of course. I figured I'd really give it a shot with the butt welding though. I've got other areas of concern that I need to do in the future. Today I'll be doing some more grinding and fitting.

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Switched from wire wheel to Flap discs like was suggested, wow, that's a lot more fun! Nice a clean now all around. 
I used the Harbor Freight sheet panel clips I got and they work very well. I used the scribe but still got too close in a few areas trimming the panels. I tried to go slow but should have gone bigger first. I didn't realize just how much material can be taken off with just the flap disc to clean up the edges. I should have utilized it more and could probably dial in to a very tight fit. 

I have a few gaps I'm disappointed in but overall I guess it looks ok.

On to the store so I can make a copper backing spoon and then test out the welder.

20180719_122306.jpg

20180719_122257.jpg

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Just small tacks swapping on all four sides to keep the heat down. After a few, check you're getting the weld through (full penetration). If all is good, keep going with the small welds until the whole seam is welded. If you get small holes in between the tacks, just sand them down a little and weld it up. 

It's all in the preparation, and you've done that really well by the looks of things. You'll be fine!

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Yeah it looks like your ready for the hot glue gun (welder) get a 5 gallon bucket full of water and soak a old bath towel in it in case you get the under coating to hot, other than that use small tacks like Andy said and when your done put bright light under the car and with the shop lights out look for light leaks to see if you need any touch up.

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If everybody in the room is thinking the same thing, then someone is not thinking.

 

George S Patton 

Planning the Normandy Break out 1944

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First forray is done. Its not pretty but it's solid. You guys who make this look easy have real skill!

20180726_144108.jpg

First bit of learning and more to come. I'll stay away from outer body panels for a while. 

I'll skim seam sealer on it today and maybe paint the underside with rustoleum white, maybe pick something a little tougher as i clean up the whole underside later.

Inside will get some simple white rustoleum and then peel n seal once I deal with all the other areas.

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