Welding question on front aprons

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slowpoke17

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 6, 2018
Messages
50
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1
Location
MA
My Car
1973 coupe
When I bought my car the PO replaced the front aprons on the passenger side but did not weld them in. They have holes every couple of inches like the original panels that were removed. I have the drivers side also in place now for rough fitting and they seem to be located well. My question as I'm not a welder but will be looking for someone to come and do this for me: is it better to spot weld like the passenger side or can you do an overlap weld on the backside? It looks like they can be welded on the backside out of sight onto the shock tower and radiator support. Or should I also make the holes on the drivers side to match. I would think grinding down all these spot welds will take a while and some are tight spaces. Also if I do some prep and grind the finish off before the welding, can I prime it with weld through primer after I make these holes? I can then go back after the welding to finish it off. Thanks.

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You may already be aware that there is a Battery Tray Support Bracket that was installed on the outer side of the inner fender battery apron.  It needs to be welded between the apron and the frame rail on the bottom. At one time there was a guy reproducing and selling them on eBay. Here is a link to the forum thread on it.... 

https://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-battery-tray-apron-support-winner?page=4&highlight=battery+tray+support

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I would stick to the spot welds. They do look cleaner after clean-up. And my opinion as a welder of 30 years, is that the spot welds are stronger when used this way, the overlap makes it tougher. Just be sure to move around a lot. if you look closely there are some places on our cars where they did lay down string beads, but mostly on structural things!!

 
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