Hi, just joined and looking for advice

[Mattvw]

Hey everybody, I've been reading for a while but thought I'd finally join.

I got my first welder on Friday evening, I've been welding arc and mig on and off for 12 years but never car bodywork which is what I'm starting with now!

I bought a brand new Sealey MightyMig 150 for a very good price from someone who used it once. Then promptly went to Machine Mart to get wire, gas, clamps and safety gear.

Here is my project for next week... I need to fix this corrosion...

And I have this repair panel...

So my question is, the metal above the arch is all perfect, where would be the best place to cut and make the join to make the repair as invisible as possible?

I'm very adept at using filler and sanding smooth, but I want it to have as little as possible?

I have a da, grinder and flapper discs etc.

Was planning on tacking it on then beading between the tacks?

Cheers for any advice!

 

[norsa]

Welcome aboard Matt. You have kind of answered your own question with using as little as possible of the repair arch. The biggest problem you will have is distortion but as luck would have it, there is a nice swege line just above which will check that back a little. I suspect you will fing more damage than you expect on the inner arch and may be worth a consideration as to whether that panel is available. There is no one correct way of inserting panel repairs. Some butt weld, some overlap and some joggle. The best way to learn is to not be afraid to ask specific questions, we are not here to judge but to encourage. Ill leave you for now with 2 major bits of advice. 1) Cut all the rust out because it will come back to get you if you dont. 2) PLEASE take that tank out before you do anything.
Nick.

 

[Mattvw]

Ah yes the tank, good call! Thankyou for the advice, it is very helpful.

I bought the inner arch too as luck would have it, sorry I didn't mention that, I was going to cut up that panel and patch where necessary.

I'm going to start prepping everything tommorow evening weather permitting, I've given myself the whole week of evenings and Saturday to do it, so I can take it nice and steady!

 

[norsa]

Ok well i will make an effort to follow the post regularly so any questions backed up with photos and we'll get on it step by little step.
Nick

 

[norsa]

Just as a parting comment and for directional purposes. We will make the inner arch fit to the outer arch not the other way round.
Nick

 

[Mattvw]

Right, I see what you mean, the lucky thing too is that a lot of the repair is under the plastic arch trim.

Making bodywork neat seems scary, I've only welded exhausts, steel panels on a canal boat and brackets for various things!

Also I have 0.6mm wire and Machinemarts C02/Argon mix I'm guessing this combo is ok for thin panel steel?

 

[norsa]

Welding is welding mate and you know if its welded or just sitting on top whether its a 6mm bracket or 1mm bodywork. Cleanliness and tight fitting of panels pre weld is the key to neat bodywork. May be worth a few practice welds on body steel (excess of that repair panel will do) to get your welder set up, few pics and we can get that sorted. I only use .8 wire but i believe your .6 is easier for beginner to use on body. You may be surprised at the rate you get through those machine mart bottles if they are what i think they are but it will work ok.

 

[Mattvw]

Cool, thanks again, I got a couple of the larger of the two varieties they do, I'll have a stab at the panel tommorow and see what it looks like.

I have an old wing that I might have a crack of cutting and welding back together

 

[Mattvw]

Well I gave it a go the other day...

First I cut out the bad metal.

Then cut my repair peices

This was the inner arch repair which had a skim of filler to cover any pinholes then some black hammerite painted on followed by 3M Seam Sealer..

Finally I welded on the outer patch

I burnt a couple of holes, and had trouble with penetration at first, lowest setting (30 amps) just seemed superficial, and the next setting was too hot.
In the end after messing with the wire speed it improves slightly, think I was having trouble with the gas shielding blowing away at first, so I kept my other hand close to the tip to try and keep it guarded. It improved greatly then.

The pic was after I had ground the welds back (didn't want to get all washed up just to take a pic in between.

This next one is a half sanded glass fibre filler pic, I'm going to complete the rest once the other patches are on, seems silly to do it 'right' now then mess with it again, its now got some zinc etch primer on it to keep it dry.

If anyone has any advice as to how to get better penetration I'm all ears!

I used Clarke CO2/Argo mix and 6mm mild steel wire, minimum settings (30A) and wire speed of around 2.5-3.5 over the course of the welding session.

 

[norsa]

a butt weld on 21gge steel is probably the most difficult one to do and i think it looks fine. Practice will make perfect. Experiment with different (quite acute) angles with the torch, get the gap(infill) as close as possible and when you cut the metal, be it the patch or the removed rusty bit, get the cut as square as poss so as to avoid beveled edges. Good effort. Why fibreglass filler not std body filler? Did you spot weld the inner to the outer and seal well?
Nick

 

[Mattvw]

Thankyou, it took me about 6-7 hours to get that far, lol.

The Fibre glass was because I figured if there were any tiny pinholes I couldnt see then it would be water resistant, rather than absorbing it like std filler, then I used UPOL easy sand over the top of it after sanding it back, now its just in primer waiting for tommorow evening when I'll get some liquid gold stopper on it.

I was almost square on with the torch, probably about 70 degrees so that might be why I struggled a little. I think I'm going to fit a new tip to the torch and check the wire tension etc when I next get it out, it seemed to feed fine, but it needed constant adjusting, probably the nature of the welder.

I did spot weld the inner and outer (I drilled the outer at intervals then plugged them) I then ran seam sealer along the edges and along the inside of the lip, once I have all 3 patches done on that arch I'll shultz the inside as well.

I was happy though because underneath its all solid so thats one worry less!

Cheers for your help (again) I'll keep the thread updated as I progress.