welding a good idea

[rentascout]

Okay I need to weld a few pieces of sheetmetal in my floor pan and I was wondering what type of weld sould I do.

Note: I have never welded before and I can rent a mig welder from a local hardware store for 30 for 3 hours. I have already prepped the surface and cut the new metal to fit, it has about 1 inch over lap and fits pretty good.

I was hoping someone could help me out a little before I did something I cannot take back.

I know you dont do stuff if you dont know what you are doing, but you cannot learn until you do, and since it is a fllor pan piece and not a body panel i think I should be good. Let me know

 

[Don C]

The biggest problem with an overlap is that it traps moisture and salt. Butt welds are more difficult to do, and keep the pieces lines up. A few big magnets can help keep it lined up. Start by tacking it into place, and then weld a half-inch, or shorter, in one place, move to another, and keep it up until it's finished. If you try to weld a continuous bead things will overheat and warp, plus when the metal starts getting too hot it gets easier to burn through.

 

[rentascout]

okay so i keep hear the term plug weld and I understnad the concept, but cannot figure out if I drill holes threw both new and old metal or just the new. I will take my time and the bottom will be sealed off for sure. I cannot get this far and drop the ball

 

[Qcode351mach]

Okay I need to weld a few pieces of sheetmetal in my floor pan and I was wondering what type of weld sould I do.

Note: I have never welded before and I can rent a mig welder from a local hardware store for 30 for 3 hours. I have already prepped the surface and cut the new metal to fit, it has about 1 inch over lap and fits pretty good.

I was hoping someone could help me out a little before I did something I cannot take back.

I know you dont do stuff if you dont know what you are doing, but you cannot learn until you do, and since it is a fllor pan piece and not a body panel i think I should be good. Let me know

IMHO poor welding ruins many a good car next to shoddy metal work body work..The floor is a structural piece & needs to be welded properly..Your best bet would be to have a pro do it (you can do the finish work) Or save up buy a welder..& practice..Before you tackle welding the floor in .Take a look see at my vids..( I do have one on welding)

www.saturdaymorninggarge.com

More on my you tube channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/fuzzenut/videos

 

[73vertproject]

Hey, rentascout. If I were in your shoes I would try to buy a welder and llisten, listen, listen and watch, watch, watch what Q (Scott) has to offer with regard to advice, videos, and streaming videos. If you are serious about getting this far and not dropping the ball, I would follow his instructions to the T.

My 2 cents,

Doc

 

[M Beauchamp]

I would take Q's advise

He also did a thread showing how to do a proper lap joint which would be easier for you.

But you still need some practice or buy a case of beer for someone you know who can weld

 

[72fastback]

As a professional welder I agree with everyone else. before attempting it on your car practice practice practice. You might not want or have the money to invest in a welder so rent it a few times to practice. I do not suggest using a flux cored wire.{that might be what they will rent you} you must have solid wire and gas {some sort of argon mix} your welding supplier will know. Also when you rent the welder make sure you have a proper sized wire if it is to big it will take more heat to burn it and could cause you problems. Again tell your welding supplier what gauge steel you are welding {most probably 22 gauge}

I encourage you to do this yourself 100% just take your time and watch Q codes videos. His videos are based on welding on cars if you watch standard welding how to vids they might not apply. Welding on cars is basically just tacking. you do NOT do a bead. I know it was said above but it is worth repeating.

good luck.

 

[Don65Stang]

Here is another vote for doing it yourself BUT follow Q's videos and practice first.

 

[goodnigh]

We are getting ready to do the same type of work, but on the trunk floor and tail light panel.

Bought a cutting torch and small arc welder. www.northerntool.com frequently has both on sale.

Will definitely check Q's videos.

mike

 

[mach71351c]

You have a nice car to start with. It will worth the wait to fix it the best you can.

 

[marks73]

I bought my own mig for the same reason as you. Luckily I have a parts car and plenty of extra metal from new to thin as skin to practice running beads on.

 

[rentascout]

thanks for the fast responce. I have my old man coming down to help me, or pretty much do it. I believe the guage is 16 I am not sure it was a stand floor pan that you order from a dallas mustang or NPD. how should I set up the welder, my old man can weld but I want to make sure the mig machine is set up right. I will watch the video again and again then take notes and rewatch.

I just dont want some guy that I dont know doing the work. I had one guy yesterday show up and look and he said he would charge me 180 for the floor pan and the firepan area. I was sold and I am not hurting on money, trust me the Army does not pay me enough but I have a wife that saves like none other, which is good.

Well at the end he said I am glad you are not doing actually body welding becuase I am not sure I could do that.

Okay I am not the smartest dude, but when you advertise yourself as being a solid welder and you show up and tell me you dont know if you can make it work, that is some scary crap.

So let me ask even though I have not seen the video and yes I will watch it, do I punch weld the top then just tack areas or simply just do the top.

On a punch weld do I only screw through the new metal or both new and old.

Okay last question what do I do with the bottom????

Okay I need to weld a few pieces of sheetmetal in my floor pan and I was wondering what type of weld sould I do.

Note: I have never welded before and I can rent a mig welder from a local hardware store for 30 for 3 hours. I have already prepped the surface and cut the new metal to fit, it has about 1 inch over lap and fits pretty good.

I was hoping someone could help me out a little before I did something I cannot take back.

I know you dont do stuff if you dont know what you are doing, but you cannot learn until you do, and since it is a fllor pan piece and not a body panel i think I should be good. Let me know

Now I watched both videos and I was thinking about going with overlap instead of butting them up. NOw I know you stand the chance of getting crap stuck in the bottom side, but if I sealed it off using filler and undercoating that should stop that right.

 

[Don C]

All it takes is a pin hole someplace for moisture to get in, then it will be trapped, with no air circulation to dry it out. Say you drive over a stick in the road, or a rock is flipped up by a tire, and scrapes off even a little undercoating. Or, if it's not sealed completey on the top and you spill a bottle of water, or forget to roll the windows up and it rains, the moisture enters from the top of the floor. If you go to the trouble of repairing it you just don't want to take a chance of it rotting out in a couple of years.

 

[Qcode351mach]

There's only one way for you to do it with out welding..Since from your picture it seems your only replacing a small section in the rear & front & leaving almost all of the floor intact..this will get you by till you decide you have the skills or want to have a pro do it..You can do the overlap & use panel bonding adhesive...Filler is not an approved repair method over a lap joint..You need to follow the instructions then after bonding run a continuous bead around the joint under the car & inside the car. my only concern is that you cut out right where the seat belt mounting point is & IMHO with out having the new piece welded you comprise the integrity of that mounting point.. using the above is a tempory hold..till it could be done correctly

http://www.tcpglobal.com/autobodydepot/itemdetail.aspx?itemno=SEM+39747

 

[72fastback]

We are getting ready to do the same type of work, but on the trunk floor and tail light panel.

Bought a cutting torch and small arc welder. www.northerntool.com frequently has both on sale.

Will definitely check Q's videos.

mike

you say arc welder do you mean stick welding? Because if you are you will be doing a lot of swearing I wouldn't recommend using a stick welder for body work.

 

[rentascout]

Q thank you very much, I look forward to getting more advice as time goes on. MY dad is a great welder that is just one of the things I never took the time to learn from him though. It is sad I know, He talked about welding in a few spots up top then a complete bead in the bottom since that was the one that was going to get hit more often with crude.

 

[M Beauchamp]

Here is some setting help

The chart is just a basic guild line to get you close to the heat you want to start at.

If you where to weld a thin piece to a heavier one you need more heat.

likewise two thin piece you would need less heat.

But if you start to weld a bead on sheet metal it heats the surrounding metal up very fast and changes your amperage making it weld even hotter, so your method with short little weld should have been fine.

I use the A setting with the wire speed at about 2 1/2 when welding sheet metal butt joint.

I use the B setting with the wire speed at about 3 1/2 when puddle welding sheet metal to something like a frame rail.

The C setting is petty hot and the wire speed of about 4 -4.25 when welding 1/8" to 1/8"

Another thing to try is to tack at a little hot setting then turn down when you want to finish the weld.

The weld that you described would have welded up better if you used a copper backing tight to the back of the weld.

This method lets you weld a little hotter and a little longer stitches.

I use .025 hard wire with shielding gas and never use the flux core crap. 100x better welds

Good luck

Marc

M,

Here's your video ..Sorry for the quickness & rough cut but did it on the fly to help ya out ! Keep in mind this not how I do my floors Mine are butt welded..If your going to do it that way, your gonna have to wait till I finish the real video..Now get busy !

here is Q's lap joint

So this is a lot smaller area than it sounded like so I think your going to make out fine.

Q was also talking about just using epoxy panel adhesive, which would work for this small area using both a stepped lap joint and epoxy panel adhesive.

This would also ensure that the lap wont rust because its full of epoxy

 

[goodnigh]

you say arc welder do you mean stick welding? Because if you are you will be doing a lot of swearing I wouldn't recommend using a stick welder for body work.

No, it is a wire-feed MIG ready welder. Good call.

mike

 

[72fastback]

you say arc welder do you mean stick welding? Because if you are you will be doing a lot of swearing I wouldn't recommend using a stick welder for body work.

No, it is a wire-feed MIG ready welder. Good call.

mike

basically they are all arc welders except for gas welding of course but the term is usually used for stick since it was the first kind of arc welding. OH and there is plasma welding but even I don't know how that works