Rear wheelarches

[stag36587]

Happy New Year to all. I am recovering from shoulder surgery but hope to be back working on my minor - even one-handed- by next month.

I have been planning (in my head) my next welding jobs. For rear wheelarches, have people found it best to replace the arch panels before the lip repair sections.... Or the other way round?

Also, I want to improve my welding attempts between new driver floor panel and transmission tunnel, it's just not neat or I think strong enough at the moment.

Happy days!

[barrie102]

Practice , practice and practice some more to improve your welding.

Assuming you are using MIG play on scrap metal see the effects of setting alterations, find a comfortable set of settings for yourself . BEFORE you touch the car.

thats the best I can advise.

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

Rear wheel arches are quite difficult to fit, Ive fitted 4 and found I had a lot of reshaping to do on the edges. Its sort of a case of fitting both at once, obviously the wing edge that you bolt to is the most important to get right as it will effect how the wing sits. Take your time and it should be ok.

[stevey]

also if yourdoing the back arches, watch out for the lead seem at the top if your using lots of heat

[rayofleamington]

for a novice, I'd recommend argon or argon/co2 rather than just pure co2
The difference is small but I find it more difficult to do neat work with pure Co2 - according to the net it is rerlated to the heat capacity of the gas, as co2 is 'colder' (i.e. it sucks more heat). I'm not sure if that's right but I think I can tell the difference when I run out of argon mix and change to co2.

As for the rear wing seam and lip jopint - I'd recommend a LOT of practise before tackling that job. Not only is is fiddly just to get the parts to mate up, there are plenty of ways to put distortion into the visible panel above the seam
Oh yes - annd as already mentioned, you'll find some lead where 2 body panels are joined, and it's not fun to try and weld through a leaded joint for the first time.

[stag36587]

Thanks guys, I wasn't aware of the lead joint - exactly where is it and in what direction does it run?

My reference to improving my welding is all bout being a perfectionist... continuous improvement.... I find that as I weld more and more, I keep wanting to do better than I have done previously. There is one seam inside the car that I just don't like, so will do it again...when the weather improves a bit. The garage is just too cold at the moment.

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

The seam runs from the back window down to the wheelarch edge. If you look inside the boot you will see the over lapped edge inside.

When the rear arches on Stevies car were tackled about 2 years ago a better panel was availble than when I did mine, about 8 years ago. It has more of an outer edge and the bolts were already welded in place. Im not sure were he bought it from but Im sure he will be along shortly!

[stag36587]

I have had a brilliant weekend. For the first time in well over a year (during which I got married and had shoulder surgery - no connection, I can assure you) , I have managed to do some welding on the car. About 15 months ago I bought a secondhand but unused Clarke 150 welder from a morris minor owner in Wellingborough. I set it up and used it for the first time yesterday and it is absolutely brilliant - 1000 times better than my last one. I trial welded a few patches and by the end of the afternoon I had trimmed, grinded and finished the driver's floor and it is a much neater job than previously.

I am now trial fitting rear wheelarch inner lip repair panels - they more or less line up and should be fine with just a little fettling. One question I have though - should I try to joddle/joggle (which is it? ) the original rear quarter so the repair panel sits behind or on front of the original, or merely butt weld it?

I'm planning to crack on with this now at a much faster pace...

[beero]

I'm no expert but I have always found it better to have the new metal under the old when doing a lap/joggle joint, less likely to burn through. I guess because the old metal is thinner by the time you have ground of any paint or rust.

[chickenjohn]

You'd be far better off making all repairs with butt welded joints. Using lap welds where there was originally just one skin are really a bit of a bodge and encourage future rust to take hold. Overlaps should only be used where there was originally an overlap on the car, and should be repaired using spot of plug welds. Or they may be used where there is a big danger of visible distortion in the outer visible panels, here, joddle the accepting side, punch or drill holes in the repair piece for plug welds and make sure the old metal is clean and rust free and treat both surfaces of the overlap with zinc weld thru spray.

In fact if you are worried about your welding skills, I would advise going on a restoration course. You will learn to weld properly there and to a high standard and learn all the other skills needed to properly restore a classic car.

As for the lead, it runs diagonally backwards from the corner of the rear window- you can see where it is by feeling for the join inside the boot of the car. Again, to make repairs properly in this area - melt the lead out with a blow torch, then when the welding repairs are clean, re-instate the lead in the seam with a lead loading/ body solder kit (available from Frost).

[stag36587]

Looking forward to another Saturday on my rh rear wheel arch.

I have successfully welded in the flange repair and have trial fitted the whole inner wheel arch panel that I bought from ESM. That will need some "minor" fettling to get a perfect fit but it is "1000" times better than a previous panel I had bought previously from another supplier and which was a dreadful fit - curves too shallow and all sorts of strange tensions in the metal.

Enjoy your cars this weekend.