Looking for hell hole welding advice |
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Looking for hell hole welding advice |
AndrewBlyholder |
Aug 15 2020, 12:36 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 109 Joined: 20-September 04 From: Richmond, CA Member No.: 2,791 |
Launching in my hell hole rust repair. Need some advice on the usual welding technique for patching.
Many of the patch parts have flanges that match the factory stampings. I assume the factory spot welded these things together. Is that correct? Don't have a spot welder, and probably couldn't reach most of these locations if I did. What's the usual technique then? Drill holes in the flanges and fill with rosette welds? Or just weld the edges of the flanges? I'm replacing some sections of the main longitudinal tubes under the battery. That tube was a double walled on both the inside and outside faces. The replacement panel I have from AA has the double wall spot welded onto it. But how do I go about getting both panels weld together at the butt joint where the patch meets the original? Grind/cut the outer face back a little bit more than the inner panel, weld the inner first, and then weld up the outer? Battery tray replacement questions: - The lower support has three flanges on it. The front and side flange are easily accessible for welding, but the rear flange is turned inward. Do you weld that one too or leave it unwelded? What did the factory do there? - The easy way to attach the battery tray to the support would be to weld them together first. Is that recommended? But if you do that, then there would be no way to weld the inward turned rear flange of the support. Thanks for any and all suggestions. Andrew Blyholder |
AndrewBlyholder |
Aug 23 2020, 01:17 PM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 109 Joined: 20-September 04 From: Richmond, CA Member No.: 2,791 |
Ok, here's the part where you learn by seeing other people's screw up.
First the lame excuse: I didn't bother with a door opening brace before starting this work because despite all the rust holes and cracks, the chassis had shown no signs of sagging. The passenger door was opening/closing fine with a normal panel gap that hadn't changed. And I was in a hurry of course to get the car back into operation for the next autocross. After getting my first big repair piece welded in - the inner half of longitudinal under the battery - I noticed that the door gap had opened up .1" at the top of the door. I had been worried about that gap closing down due to sag, but apparently the cooling shrinkage from all the welding had pulled the rear firewall/door jamb backwards. So off to the store to buy the biggest turn-buckle I could find and spent the afternoon fabricating a door brace: A 1/2" dia. turn-buckle, a couple of pieces of scrap angle iron, a couple 1/2" dia. bolts, and a fabricated 1/4" plate at the hinge mount. I went to the lower door hinge location rather than the top hinge because I didn't want to be flexing the front door jamb any. This way, when I tighten the brace, I should be just moving the rear jamb forwards. I measured across the top of the door opening before tightening the brace. Turning the turn-buckle to tighten the brace, I can decrease the top of the door opening by about 1/8" . That's enough to get my door panel gap back where it should be. But how much will it relax back after I'm done welding? I still have the outer half of the longitudinal to weld back into place. Will that stabilize it at the braced dimension, or will it still relax back some. If so, how much? Any advice out there? Andrew |
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