Welding Help Needed - Phoenix

[azngosh8r]

Hello-

I have removed all the trim off my 69 longbed and want to have al the upper and lower trim holes welded up.

I can do the rest of the grinding, body work etc to finish.

Anyone interested in helping or direct me to someone that wont charge a fortune to get it done?

Thanks!

Russ

[67chevemall]

Just hammer the holes in abit, cut 30 -40 nickel size sheet metal pieces and rent a small mig welder, tack around the nickel, grind till it's smooth. Use fiberglass putty if you have to fill a little!
U can do it no problem!

Cheers

[azngosh8r]

ah yes, much better here. Thanks for the move!
Russ

[Hotrodhenryj]

The best way to do this is to use a piece of brass as a backup to the hole on the ones you can reach. Just have someone hold it over the inside of the hole while you weld it up. On the ones you cant do this with use the sheetmetal pieces on the inside and hold them in place with some good duct tape. Remove tape after tack up as you dont want a fire. I removed my inner fenders and door panels to access the ones I could not reach. This is the best way as no body filler will be needed as you can finish the metal with a pearl pad. Best to TIG them if you can because it is easier to tack up, but MIG is good also. Make sure to clean the metal well before welding. Hope this helps, and if you were a little closer I'd be glad to help you.

[azngosh8r]

Thanks for the info guys...it will make this alot easier the first time....
Russ

[67Fleetsidedream]

Beware of applying too much heat. And prepared for it not to be perfect. It is hard to weld up the entire hole without applying alot of heat. Also it would be better to use solid wire and gas (argon) to weld the holes FYI.

[Suicide-D]

cost about .75 cents I think. I split a 3/4" copper coupling and hammered it flat. Works like a champ. I was going to buy the 19.00 job from eastwood...glad I didn't

[Suicide-D]

I second the Argon and solid wire... and turn the wire speed way up.

[azngosh8r]

Thanks Guys, got it done with lots of your advice. Lots of metal there though...Now the Grinding !!!! Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Yuck!

[Opper77]

Actually, just a correction to the above......

Keep the wire speed as low as possible when doing bodywork..(Wire speed = amperage when working with a MIG welder....

[ShamrockCustoms]

Dirt Dobber has got the right idea. I did the same for a backing plate. WHy spent that much for a piece from eastwood? they just bend you right on over with their prices.......

[sevt_chevelle]

Now what I like to do is slightly put a taper in the holes before you weld them up. IF you have access to the back what you can do is take a socket place on the back of hole. Then take a tapered punch and lightly hit the punch with a hammer. Basically all you are doing is putting a slight "roll" in the hole. Why is that? You do this because when you weld up that hole it gives the weld MORE SURFACE area to bite too, so when you grind it smooth you wont grind it too thin. If that happens the welded area can fail due to being ground down to far.

The copper idea does work but sometimes it much better to just make a plug and weld in the patch. Anything bigger then 5/16 and I would make a plug.

Sorry but you adjust the welding speed til you have a nice BZZZZZZZZZZ sound, you dont just turn it up or down at free will. Everything must be set to work together.

Use a wire size of .023 if MIG welding, any bigger is OVERKILL and excatly putting more heat into the panel thats NOT NEEDED. For a gas mix use 75%argon and 25% CO2 its the best mix for sheetmetal. Pure CO2 gives you more depth but a harder or harsher arc control, plus its a UGLY weld.

The one thing NOT mentioned and should be is DONT COOL THE WELD. Allow the weld to cool naturally. Cooling the weld with air or water will DO MORE DAMAGE THEN YOU ARE TRYING TO AVOID and thats a plain and simlpe fact JACK and basic metallurgy. While welding the metal expands but then contracts or shriks because the cooler outside surrounding metal wont allow the hotter metal to expand outward. So it forms a bulge instead, now you COOL this area SHOCKING it into staying in that BULGED form. Now not only do you have this bulge but also work hardened metal which is harder then its surrounding metal making it hard to work with. If you allow the metal to cool naturally the metal will return to its past or original position(well most of it will)...Eric

[Suicide-D]

ok maybe I was wrong saying "Way up"... I started welding with this mig and had the wire speed set farely low around 3.5 to 4 and had alot of problems... now it is set to 7 with 10 being the highest. I do get a good sound while welding. I guess I should've been more specific.

[GMC JUNKIE TOO]

I have been doing alot of body panel welding here latley I used a copper backer and .023 wire and a flap disc to grind the welds down they work great they dont creat alot of heat and work fast.

[azngosh8r]

Thanks Guys! Love all this info......will shoot pics of the finished product in a couple weeks...