body panel best approach

[ben niblett]

Hi everyone looking for a bit of advice on welding a repair panel for the drivers side on my mx5.
OK so the car currently looks like this apart from i have ground the rust off so that i'm not welding to rust:

ive bought one of these from the bay

Ive since took the rear bumper off put this panel up to the car and scribed around it. My question is do you have to butt weld these panels or shall i leave about 15mm from the scribed line and overlap or under lap the panel??
Im fairly new to welding and would prefer the easiest method. Any advice/ things i need to know from experience would be very much appreciated
Thanks Ben

 

[mike 109444]

Butt welding is preferred BUT if you are after the essayist then using the "extra" you have left on, get yourself a goggler/edgesetter. See pics. Note the overlap it creates allows you to do plug welds (worth getting the double headed hole punch version). The proble with creating the overlap of the stepped edge is it is a place that water can get between the two pieces and then rust. Hence the preferred butt welding.

 

[ben niblett]

Ah brilliant id never seen this tool before that is certainly a good option. I did come up with another idea which is to butt weld it but in preperation make some little flanges with a hole each side then basicaly drill holes in the current and new panel and screw the two panels together using the flange before welding to hold the panels flat and in place. Just an idea??

 

[mike 109444]

One if the big problems with doing cosmetic panels (as apposed to say chassis parts) is the distortion that can creep in as the metal gets hot and cools, pulling in different directions. The way that's recommended is small tacks spread out over that area and allowing cooling (damp cloth?) in between. Don't try to do long run or it will distort.

 

[mike 109444]

Ps there are vids on youtube on welding thin car panels.

 

[RonA]

Hi everyone looking for a bit of advice on welding a repair panel for the drivers side on my mx5.
OK so the car currently looks like this apart from i have ground the rust off so that i'm not welding to rust:

ive bought one of these from the bay

Ive since took the rear bumper off put this panel up to the car and scribed around it. My question is do you have to butt weld these panels or shall i leave about 15mm from the scribed line and overlap or under lap the panel??
Im fairly new to welding and would prefer the easiest method. Any advice/ things i need to know from experience would be very much appreciated
Thanks Ben

Hi,
Just a query I'm working on a mk1 mx5 rear wing, but having problems finding all the spot welds. Are there any in the position shown in the modified photo, that is the flat face of the inner wing (not the flange). RonA

 

[Kayos]

I'd say butt weld it, leave a small (0.5 to 1mm) gap and do little tacks, leaving plenty of space and time between each one, go over with a flap disk when finished and it should only nead a wafer thin but if filler

 

[norlander]

I'm a fairly experienced welder, but as it happens I am just tackling my first vehicle repair.
So I can confirm that mike and Kayos are right, I spot welded my new bits in place, then joined the spots up afterwards. I'm doing about 50mm maximum before leaving that bit to cool and moving to another bit.
I did one panel with an overlap, but saw straight off that water was going to get behind the overlap so I am going to cut that out and butt weld it.
And yes, the welds ground down nicely with a flap disc as has been said.
BTW-I had to use fluxcore wire, it worked ok, I was pretty chuffed, the important bit is to remember that MIG needs a good earth (or return) contact and I found fluxcore will chuck out a load of spatter if it does not have a sound clean contact, once I paid more attention to the earth it was better.
But I would still advise the use of anti spatter spray on the panel adjacent to the joint to be welded if you have to use fluxcore.
Good luck.

 

[mike 109444]

View attachment 61736
Hi,
Just a query I'm working on a mk1 mx5 rear wing, but having problems finding all the spot welds. Are there any in the position shown in the modified photo, that is the flat face of the inner wing (not the flange). RonA

Ron I can't see how that could be "spot welded" IF you are referring to the area at and just before your arrow, rather that the return/lip having looked at Ben's replacement panel. Could it have been glued/mastic in that area, then spot welded on the return lip?

 

[ben niblett]

View attachment 61736
Hi,
Just a query I'm working on a mk1 mx5 rear wing, but having problems finding all the spot welds. Are there any in the position shown in the modified photo, that is the flat face of the inner wing (not the flange). RonA

No spot welds here no just in the inner lip and the sill

 

[ben niblett]

Thanks for the advice guys im just waiting till next weekend now so i can have access to the welder

 

[kev kent]

heat stop paste either side of the weld will stop the panels distorting , it absorbs the heat and stops it spreading.

 

[ben niblett]

[/URL][/IMG] Okay if anyone still follows this post and wants tonsee how it went here are the pictures

 

[mike 109444]

Well you certainly got busy with the cutter !
If you have not already ground it down then take care that you don't grind it to far an thin the weld. Look out for the metal turning blue due to heat and thin metal.
Looking good though
Keep the posts coming as there have been several that have needed to repair same parts.

 

[ben niblett]

Yes i did do a hell of alot of cutting.
since this i have had some trouble with getting thin in places and come away in one place :/ ive just gone over the patch with fibre glass and seem tonbe pretty solid as a whole

 

[steveo3002]

next time cut the repair panel down as small as you can so that you only replace the rusty bits