New to welding - 1st mini project.

[N2ae86]

Hi there,

Been lurking for a while - absorbing all the great info on the forum!

I bought a Clarke 150TE a while back with the intention of making all sorts of cool stuff, yet havent really got around to practicing with it much (intend to change that)

Anyway I now need to do a spot of welding on my car and want to get opinions from those in the know of the best way to go about it.

1st problem is 1 of the seat mounts has pulled out of the floor - possibly due to rust around the securing bolt. Obviously I want to sort this. The floor pan is 1.2mm thick.

Now should I get some steel plate of similar thickness, cut it to size, tap a hole, weld a bolt to the back side and then weld it over the top of the existing location? Would that be adequate - can anyone see any issues with this?

Here is the problem

Is there a better, stronger, safer option?

Will obviously practice to make sure I can get good penetration on the 1.2mm steel before attacking the floor.

Any help and advice is greatly appreciated.




Regards

James

 

[madkayaker]

hello and welcome there is a few mini nuts who will know the answer to this. Get some bent panels from a scrappy to practice on they are best

 

[Robotstar5]

I wouldn't weld it on top of the mount as you will be relying on the weld to hold it, better to weld it behind / under the mount so you are pulling against something.
p.s. welcome to the forum

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

I assume that's inside the car looking down at the floor and the nut is underneath the floor? As stated above you'd be better having the new plate underneath so it's pulled up against the floor when you tighten the bolt, however most of the guys here reckon on not doing too much overlap as moisture will eventually work it's way in and rust from the inside.

I'd be tempted to use a large washer, say 2mm thick, with the nut spot welded too it. Run some weld around the washer edge to attach it underneath the floor, then a few tacks inside the car to attach the floor to the top of the washer, it'll be pretty strong Then grind off the excess weld above the floor, treat it for rust, Kurust, etc, and underseal inside and out to help to preserve it.

Although many pople will now jump in to say it's a moisture trap and you should butt weld it... :-)

Regards
Peter

 

[chrisg3103]

had me a bit confused there, do you mean the seatbelt mount? mounts on the exhaust tunnel? seat mounts are on the crossmember. if it is just remember your life depends on that weld! no pressure
id go for a new plate and captive nut seam welded underneath with a couple of plug welds thrown in for luck

 

[N2ae86]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replys!

Sorry I can see my title might have cause some confusion - its a Mini "small" project and not Mini as in car.

The picture has been taken looking down on the area from inside the car and is the drivers seat mount near the transmission tunnel.

Appreciate whats been said about welding the plate in from underneath however its a very confined space to work in a probably beyond my abilities at the moment.

At least working top down I would stand more of a chance of welding this properly.

As a temp measure I might cut some metal plate, put a hole in it and weld a nut to the backside and then bolt through the floor pan into the pate to pull it tight against the floor. Will be stronger than it currently is anyway.

Problem is I have a track day coming up shortly and need a quick and relativley easy fix to at least sort me for the time being.

Can anyone comment on the 2 lines and the depressed area surrounding the weld - are these stress seams - should I weld over and then grind down?


Cheers

James

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

they could be 'crumple zone' but I'd say they're more likely to be 'stiffeners' to stop the floor flexing.

For the odd inch or two I'd weld over them and not worry about it, but others may disagree with me on that.

Regards
Peter

 

[N2ae86]

The car is an 80's Toyota so wouldnt be anything as advanced as crumple zones - probably just crap steel, it seems they made the car out of old rusty washing machines so it wouldnt surprise me

Been scuppered with trying to tackle this as my mask fell apart. Time for a autodark once I get paid. I did manage to blind weld a bolt onto the back of a spreader plate to sort me for the time being though so I wont fall out of the car on the first bend!