Welding my transit chassis

[matt142857]

Hi I am new to welding and I have borrowed a welder and gas bottle from a mate to learn as I have always wanted to make a transition from wood to metal and I have a bit of welding to do on my Transit so I thought it would be a good time.
Here is the rusted part just above the exhaust pipe.

I have hammered away all the loose rust so is it just a case of grinding back the rest to bare metal and cutting a plate to fit, then spot welding it in place and then seam welding it? I have some 2mm steel from a mate that he used for his Defender will that be ok? After that I am going to coat the whole underside in Waxoyl to hopefully get rid of any surface rust and prevent to much more work underthere.

I have been doing quite a lot of practice on scrap metal that I got from a fabricators who also let me have a go on his welder and gave me some tips, it seems to be going pretty well, after no time I was getting good neat welds with good penetration, might post some photos soon to see what you guys think.
Cheers for any help
Matt

 

[Wozzaaah]

You really should cut out all the rot, if you don't it will still be festering away under the new metal.
2mm is about right for that.
What welder is it?

 

[matt142857]

OK so cut out a rectangle round the rust on the bottom with a grinder and then weld in the same sized rectangle?
It is a Wolf weld 135, and I have a separate large Argon/CO2 mix gas canister.
Cheers,
Matt

 

[Wozzaaah]

Pretty much, yes.
Just make sure you cut it back to a good edge and you'll stand a better chance of getting it to weld nicely, any rust still there will make it difficult to get a decent weld, even more so as you'll be welding upside-down.

 

[matt142857]

Brilliant, thanks for the help,
Matt

 

[WAYNE WRX]

Your repairing the same part as me on the transit, although mine has gone in two places, so I have decided to replace all that part, so have ordered some 2mm and will be doing it in two, one L shaped piece 30X155X1570mm for the piece that the structual beams run into, the 30mm bit will be plug welded to the floor pan and then seam welded, and then another piece (at 120X1570mm) coming from that new piece to the back of the rear end of the van.
Ive never welded upside down before so wish me luck pmsl

 

[Engineer]

That looks quite bad, so its worth checking it very carefully, as its sometimes easier to just buy a new part, and either cut it down to replace the rotten area completely, or replace the whole thing. Even though this seems like more work, its often much quicker than patching a part which is very rotten, and will provide a much better final job.

 

[WAYNE WRX]

That looks quite bad, so its worth checking it very carefully, as its sometimes easier to just buy a new part, and either cut it down to replace the rotten area completely, or replace the whole thing. Even though this seems like more work, its often much quicker than patching a part which is very rotten, and will provide a much better final job.

I wish they sold a part for this, I've look everywhere and it seems only possible to fabricate it

 

[Engineer]

Have you tried Ford? They used to be available from Ford parts dealers.

 

[matt142857]

Everything else around it looks solid it is just that section, it looks like the otherside has been welded before but in general for the age the chassis is in very good condition and that is the only thing that needs doing.
Cheers

 

[Engineer]

Get a knotted steel wire brush to go into angle grinder, and after removing the rot with 1mm cutting disc, clean up using wire brush. You then need to make a patch using 1.5mm mild steel, with a good overlap around the edges. Always wear ear defenders and ideally a leather welding jacket if working under a vehicle, and make sure its properly supported on axle stands.

 

[octo0072000]

pratice on some scrap first dont even attempt that before you can at least do some decent welds on the bench first it's twice as hard to weld under a van on old steel and cut the rot out as said above

 

[the snooper]

the steel on that part of the van is just standard thickness so your 2mm should last quite a bit longer, you can get the rear lower which does form part of that section but its not the rear lower pannel that rots the back corners also go on the transits which also includes the corners of the floor

good luck with it

 

[octo0072000]

Body parts

you mean this bit you can't get ????? there is 11 pages of transit body parts

http://www.auto-paints4u.co.uk/body...86-2000-rear-spring-hanger-swb-left-hand.html

 

[the snooper]

no he isnt welding the spring hanger its box section that is at the very rear of the van



just had a look through all of those parts and the part required isnt there

 

[WAYNE WRX]

you mean this bit you can't get ????? there is 11 pages of transit body parts

http://www.auto-paints4u.co.uk/body...86-2000-rear-spring-hanger-swb-left-hand.html

Thats the place where I'm getting the rest of the bits from, as in wings and sills etc. No part on there for this I'm afraid, as to getting it from ford, I haven't tried there, knowing it would be too expensive, its an easy bit to fabricate anyway




I like the advise on a leather welding jacket

 

[octo0072000]

sorry thought that spring hanger was part of that section
hadiran do chassis sections here is a list of sizes

http://hadrian.dominohosting.biz/ha...oCategory=CHASSIS CHANNEL 18SWG&Ret=ModelList

that any good

my old SWB tranny used to run a rover V8 and auto box out of a sd1
those were the days ironicly it still did more to the gallon than the 2 litre V4 engine that managed 12mpg the v8 did 16 mpg with a bit of wheel chopping/ changing on the rears all good fun

 

[the snooper]

no nothing there either im surprised that part isnt made because they are a common part to rot away

 

[octo0072000]

no nothing there either I'm surprised that part isn't made because they are a common part to rot away

i know i have welded loads of them in my time i used the universal chassis sections or just bent some up in a vise with lengths of angle iron