Replacing all 4 floor pans in my 1974 with pictures

[BarneyT]

Looks strong and sealed up, being a welding helper and grinding the work prepares you to be a welder and not lay down any unnecessary bead… I haven’t stick welded in 20 years. Once you go wire fed and gas you never go back.

Edited December 30, 2023 by BarneyT

[Son of Marty]

28 minutes ago, BarneyT said:

Once you go wire fed and gas you never go back.

True dat, now days the only stick welding you'll see is in heavy equipment repairs and heavy construction or it's the only welder you have.

[popovm]

On 12/30/2023 at 12:02 PM, Son of Marty said:

True dat, now days the only stick welding you'll see is in heavy equipment repairs and heavy construction or it's the only welder you have.

TIG seems to be getting cheap enough to be in the realm of the weekend warrior hobbyist. I am borrowing a MIG welder at the moment but if I ever need to spring for a welder I am hoping to end up with a multi-process and try my hand at TIG. It seems more precise and less/easier grinding afterwards. Just going to have to get better at MIG for now though and reduce bubble gum-ness of my welds. 

[JsnPpp]

13 hours ago, popovm said:

TIG seems to be getting cheap enough to be in the realm of the weekend warrior hobbyist. I am borrowing a MIG welder at the moment but if I ever need to spring for a welder I am hoping to end up with a multi-process and try my hand at TIG. It seems more precise and less/easier grinding afterwards. Just going to have to get better at MIG for now though and reduce bubble gum-ness of my welds. 

Same with me. I have an old Miller 135 MIG (gas + flux core) that works well but I'd love to try a TIG. Especially on the thin body panel stuff (~22gauge!) which is super easy to blow through. I *think* it would be better/easier, but then it could just be that I need to spend more time welding 🙂 

Right now grinding down a weld is a necessary evil for me. One thing I have learned from watching pros on youtube is to not try to make it "perfect" especially if it's thin metal. Strong first, pretty later.

[lunarkingdom]

I found with my old Lincoln 100 from 20 years ago and rosin core wire from 2007 lol if I set it at A heat and 2 wire speed it handles 2002 sheet metal pretty darn good as long as you minimize your gaps. I have never used a TIG before but 25 years ago all they ever used were Lincoln MIG'S with gas for sheet metal so what I have is cheap and good enough for my small needs. Like you guys said, grinding is still in my future lol just have to be humble and "grind" through it. 😉

Edited January 4 by lunarkingdom

[lunarkingdom]

4 hours ago, JsnPpp said:

I have an old Miller 135 MIG (gas + flux core) that works well but I'd love to try a TIG. Especially on the thin body panel stuff (~22gauge!) which is super easy to blow through. I *think* it would be better/easier, but then it could just be that I need to spend more time welding 🙂 

I suggest trying smaller wire (without rosin core, that's only for no gas AFAIK) and tip to match then just turn to minimum heat setting and tune your speed so it is hot but not blowing out the metal. You might be surprised how controlled your welds into thin sheet metal can be by doing that.

Edited January 4 by lunarkingdom

[popovm]

25 minutes ago, lunarkingdom said:

I suggest trying smaller wire (without rosin core, that's only for no gas AFAIK) and tip to match then just turn to minimum heat setting and tune your speed so it is hot but not blowing out the metal. You might be surprised how controlled your welds into thin sheet metal can be by doing that.

 

I am still figuring out my approach to heat. I initially was approaching it with the minimum heat but I have been seeing folks (on YouTube, mind you) saying high heat/voltage (and appropriately high wire speed) but just a half second weld will get you the smallest weld size. I haven't quite cracked that but will be practicing today or tomorrow on joining some new metal to some stuff I just cut out of the inner rocker. I am on .023 solid wire with 75/25 Argon/CO2 blend on an old Miller. 

 

I am doing the same thing as you albeit in a rustier car. I should make a thread on my car in the project thread forum. Here's a not so great pic of what I am dealing with. What's taking time is creating patch panels for the the lower front inner rocker, firewall, part of the lower rear inner fender, and the rear part of the cap of the frame rail. I have built 5 patch panels now in addition to the floor pan. Just getting up the courage to weld them all in now! 

 

 

 

Edited January 4 by popovm

[lunarkingdom]

3 minutes ago, popovm said:

 

I am still figuring out my approach to heat. I initially was approaching it with the minimum heat but I have been seeing folks (on YouTube, mind you) saying high heat/voltage (and appropriately high wire speed) but just a half second weld will get you the smallest weld size. I haven't quite cracked that but will be practicing today or tomorrow on joining some new metal to some stuff I just cut out of the inner rocker. I am doing the same thing as you albeit in a rustier car. I should make a thread on my car in the project thread forum. Here's a not so great pic of what I am dealing with. What's taking time is creating patch panels for the the lower front inner rocker, firewall, part of the lower rear inner fender, and the rear part of the cap of the frame rail. I have built 5 patch panels now in addition to the floor pan. Just getting up the courage to weld them all in now! 

 

 

 

I suggest you go buy a couple packs of 10 of the butt weld clamps from harbor freight they are the cats meow for joining all of that flat metal. Pick up some self tapping screws and some washers as the tops of the screws lack threads and without the washers will not make a tight fit. I bought their cheapest 30 dollar sand blaster and a 35 dollar half gallon of 80 grit glass beads and it was enough for the entire job, I hit all the edges where I would be overlapping and sealing (floorpan to trans tunnel) so it would not come back. I seriously think the "NAPA 4200  brushable seam sealer" was the cheapest and best seam seal solution, get 10 cheap brushes to apply it and  slop it around fast, slow it just turns into boulders and looks crappy I had to get buck wild Picasso with it lol. Yours is worse than mine but if you go back and look at the first panel I replaced (worst one first) top of page 1 which was my passenger front you are very close to what I had to do minus the rocker partial replacement. The MVP panels had enough extra on the edges that while it looks a little funny it allowed me to not have to fabricate any firewall or trans tunnel pieces.

Post a topic on it I will follow for sure, good luck it will turn out great all it needs is your extra time and attention. Good luck!!

[popovm]

8 hours ago, lunarkingdom said:

I suggest you go buy a couple packs of 10 of the butt weld clamps from harbor freight they are the cats meow for joining all of that flat metal. Pick up some self tapping screws and some washers as the tops of the screws lack threads and without the washers will not make a tight fit. I bought their cheapest 30 dollar sand blaster and a 35 dollar half gallon of 80 grit glass beads and it was enough for the entire job, I hit all the edges where I would be overlapping and sealing (floorpan to trans tunnel) so it would not come back. I seriously think the "NAPA 4200  brushable seam sealer" was the cheapest and best seam seal solution, get 10 cheap brushes to apply it and  slop it around fast, slow it just turns into boulders and looks crappy I had to get buck wild Picasso with it lol. Yours is worse than mine but if you go back and look at the first panel I replaced (worst one first) top of page 1 which was my passenger front you are very close to what I had to do minus the rocker partial replacement. The MVP panels had enough extra on the edges that while it looks a little funny it allowed me to not have to fabricate any firewall or trans tunnel pieces.

Post a topic on it I will follow for sure, good luck it will turn out great all it needs is your extra time and attention. Good luck!!

Thanks for the tips! I have a couple things that I hope will give me similar results to yours. I bought a pack of clecos to use and that should allow me to mockup the rosette weld pieces. I may pickup some of those buttweld connectors but I am going to try and fudge it with welding magnets. If I hate my life while I am doing that I’ll get some for when I do the passenger side. I have seam sealer in a caulk gun cartridge but I am not sure how I am going to get adequate coverage with it. Gonna wing that too but if that sucks I am happy to hear I can pop down to Napa and get something that’ll work. Long story short, I am learning that there are a number of ways to skin this cat.

[lunarkingdom]

16 hours ago, popovm said:

I have seam sealer in a caulk gun cartridge but I am not sure how I am going to get adequate coverage with it.

Make sure it actually dries or you will have a big mess to clean up, I actually bought a quart of some seam sealer on amazon for like 50 bucks, read up on it before I used it and could not use it. The stuff I got at Napa was 50 bucks and dried very fast. Seam sealer is great until it isn't, lol check before you apply.

Edited January 5 by lunarkingdom