Sphinx
Member
- Messages
- 198
A few months ago I owned a Mazda which needed some welding on the rear arch. That's whatgot my **** into gear to learn how to weld and the biggest thing I learnt was that it's all well and good laying neat welds on some steel in the shed but it's a different story doing it on the car itself.
Well now I own an old e36 which needed some welding done on a jacking point. I've been putting it off for a while because...to be honest...I was scared of overhead welding on thin metal. I finally got around to it over the last few days and after some practice in the shed I had a go on the car.
During winter I took all the jacking pads off and gave everything a clean but I found some rust under the drivers side front pad I stabbed it with a screwdriver and it went through in places so to patch it up during the winter I put some gaffa tape on it and waxoiled over (that's what the red stuff is in the pics)
So, pics:
First up was to take the skirt off; with a bit of WD40 and some careful prying it came off with no broken clips:
The rust:
The other issue is that some numpty has jacked up the car under the wing at some point and dented it. Inside the arch has rusted from all the cracked paint too:
(this is after I beat the worst of back down when I did the arches)
I'm going to cut the lower section of the wing off and weld in a whole new piece:
On to the rust, I took the jack pad off and cut back to good metal. Took a long time using jenolite (rust removing acid) to make sure everything inside is clean before it gets covered back up:
I don't want to just weld a plate over; I want it all flushed in and hidden so I made a template:
Cut the shape out of steel:
I've test fitted it and tweeked it in places but the first cut was pretty close amazingly (i'm normally rubbish at cutting accurate plates to weld in) I've still got to drill some more holes for plug welds but the basic shape is there.
Day 2:
Despite the atrocious weather I've managed to get it pretty much done; all that's left is a coat of paint and to fill the sill with some wax.
Safety first! I had lifted the carpet beforehand and had the fire extinguisher to hand. There's lots of soundproofing around the area I was welding so it was a little smokey at time.
I planned to take pictures of every stage but as I was doing it inbetween rain showers I just wanted to get on with it. Packing everything up, then moving it back out and setting it all back up again 3 times really was NOT fun :mad
Anyhoo, small plate tacked in place:
Fully welded:
This is my first go at overhead welding and although I practiced in the shed, nothing prepared me for what it was like on the car. I set up the welder on the practice pieces and then it was a case of getting comfortable and taking things steady.
Then the main plate was welded in:
Kurust and seam sealer
It was all welded using the technique for thin metal I learned here but due to the relatively poor visibility and cramped position I had to stop frequently and check things over. I blew through twice but soon sorted that. The main plate was plug welded 8 times in strategic places so it's firmly attached to the structural metal underneath.
Oh and ignore the bottom of the wing being cut up, it was rotten anyway and I'm replacing the lower section so it was just easier to chop it out of the way.
Compared to some of the work i've seen on here I know it's not amazing but I'm happy with it
Well now I own an old e36 which needed some welding done on a jacking point. I've been putting it off for a while because...to be honest...I was scared of overhead welding on thin metal. I finally got around to it over the last few days and after some practice in the shed I had a go on the car.
During winter I took all the jacking pads off and gave everything a clean but I found some rust under the drivers side front pad I stabbed it with a screwdriver and it went through in places so to patch it up during the winter I put some gaffa tape on it and waxoiled over (that's what the red stuff is in the pics)
So, pics:
First up was to take the skirt off; with a bit of WD40 and some careful prying it came off with no broken clips:
The rust:
The other issue is that some numpty has jacked up the car under the wing at some point and dented it. Inside the arch has rusted from all the cracked paint too:
(this is after I beat the worst of back down when I did the arches)
I'm going to cut the lower section of the wing off and weld in a whole new piece:
On to the rust, I took the jack pad off and cut back to good metal. Took a long time using jenolite (rust removing acid) to make sure everything inside is clean before it gets covered back up:
I don't want to just weld a plate over; I want it all flushed in and hidden so I made a template:
Cut the shape out of steel:
I've test fitted it and tweeked it in places but the first cut was pretty close amazingly (i'm normally rubbish at cutting accurate plates to weld in) I've still got to drill some more holes for plug welds but the basic shape is there.
Day 2:
Despite the atrocious weather I've managed to get it pretty much done; all that's left is a coat of paint and to fill the sill with some wax.
Safety first! I had lifted the carpet beforehand and had the fire extinguisher to hand. There's lots of soundproofing around the area I was welding so it was a little smokey at time.
I planned to take pictures of every stage but as I was doing it inbetween rain showers I just wanted to get on with it. Packing everything up, then moving it back out and setting it all back up again 3 times really was NOT fun :mad
Anyhoo, small plate tacked in place:
Fully welded:
This is my first go at overhead welding and although I practiced in the shed, nothing prepared me for what it was like on the car. I set up the welder on the practice pieces and then it was a case of getting comfortable and taking things steady.
Then the main plate was welded in:
Kurust and seam sealer
It was all welded using the technique for thin metal I learned here but due to the relatively poor visibility and cramped position I had to stop frequently and check things over. I blew through twice but soon sorted that. The main plate was plug welded 8 times in strategic places so it's firmly attached to the structural metal underneath.
Oh and ignore the bottom of the wing being cut up, it was rotten anyway and I'm replacing the lower section so it was just easier to chop it out of the way.
Compared to some of the work i've seen on here I know it's not amazing but I'm happy with it