#41
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Had it been something for me, I probably would have made some new panels rather than welding some rather questionable sheetmetal back together. When it's a paying gig, though, you do what the customer asks.
It came out nice and the only real filler needed was to cover the factory joins at the roof corners. The areas that were the worst to weld were some really bad cuts around the rear window frame - I think the guy switched from a sawzall to a can opener for those areas. We both decided it would be cheaper and easier to just buy the pieces for $75 than to go repro or shape new stuff. 108 lbs. of sheetmetal, shipped, for $75 ain't bad....especially when it's useable stuff. I probably couldn't even have shipped the boxes for $75! I wish I'd taken pics..... Tim D. |
#42
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Does metal burn off? I can't wrap my mind around the statement that fusion welds are just as strong as welds with filler added. And if it doesn't burn off slightly, you must have your two panels absolutly perfect. Not one single wave that will need to be filed down. If you don't the metal is thin.
Maybe that is because I am still figuring out how to achive perfectly matched panels And maybe it's just because we were taught to have penetration on the backside and other "myths" that only adding filler can achieve
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Christopher Rathman Chris' Autobody Restoration Service |
#43
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#44
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John, it isn't on outer skins and items like that. It's wheel housings and other complex curved fitted parts.
When I make a outer wheelhouse lip for a car I get it close enough for MIGing, but I don't think I could TIG it. I always seem to have to move it a little bit after I fit the quarter panel. Never off enough to matter with MIG though.
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Christopher Rathman Chris' Autobody Restoration Service |
#45
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#46
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Back when I did only heavy collision work I installed an awful lot of quarter panels, over roughly 14 years I installed well over 500 quarters. Many of the jobs were both quarters, both outer wheel houses and both trunk floor skirts for muscle car restorations. The most common mistake I would see less experienced body men do is line up the new outer wheel-house to markings from the original one and weld it on and then have to fight with the quarter to get decent gaps .
What I used to do was punch all my holes so I was ready for plug welds but then mount the outer wheel-house with 2 or 3 drill tap screws & washers in oversize holes so the wheel-house could float around a bit. Then I would temporally mount the quarter with vise-grips and drill tape screws to establish my panel gaps. Once I was happy with my gaps I would go into the wheel-house and tack the 2 halves together in 4 or 5 places which would lock it in position, then I removed the quarter and fully plug weld the outer wheel-house on. That is how I always got excellent quarter panel gaps . Last edited by John Buchtenkirch; 12-05-2009 at 08:50 AM. |
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