Replacing underside of door

[gtt1951]

Hello Folks,
I have 2 welding classes left to go on my evening course and I was going to take in my spare passenger door (tonight), that requires the underpanel to be replaced. Finally got it out of the shed and had a look again, now that I have got the 2 bottom pieces from ESM (base and "riser" with holes).
Underside of the door.[frame][/frame]
Close-up of the worse bit.[frame][/frame]
I also have the outer bottom skin (but this has a defect and needs to go back) - both Left & Right ones were bought to do the doors that are on the car.
What is the best way of cutting out the bottom flat section (with the rubber door seal channel)? The outer skin bottom is folded over, but seems to be spot welded (?).
I was going to practice on this door - it was thrown in for free when I bought the Traveller last September.
Regards, George.

[bmcecosse]

If you see spot welds - you need to drill them out. That door doesn't look too bad - you sure you want to butcher it ??

[mogbob]

George
If you are cutting out the base of the frame and the outer doorskin ,then you will probably only need to drill out any spot welds on the vertical edges of the door frame, lower few inches.
Decide how high the outer skin needs to cover, to get you back to decent metal.Measure carefully, allowing for the joddle edge.
Keep as much as you can of the frame, particularly on the vertical edges ( to allow for the folding over of the near doorskin section.Keeping the frame structure's integrity will produce a sound professional job.
An angle grinder, with a thin cutting disc would be my weapon of choice.Clearly mark the lines, once a decision has been made.
Use a hacksaw for the delicate work on the very edge so you don't cut through the frame itself, just the doorskin.
Use all the safety gear as I am sure you are being taught.
Talk it through with your instructor, picking his brains and spend at least twice as long planning/ discussing the course/ order of things than actually doing it.The measure twice , cut once syndrome.
Enjoy the class tonight.
Bob

[gtt1951]

If you see spot welds - you need to drill them out. That door doesn't look too bad - you sure you want to butcher it ??

Well BMC, you weren't the only one with that opinion. I dragged all my own stuff down to college - Cebora 130 Mig Welder (s/h), angle grinder, ESM door panels and the door. Two of the other "mature students" had a look at the door and both said that it really doesn't need "fixing" - maybe a bit of "letting in". One of them does up VW beetles and said "people are fitting that sort of door, not taking it off". He also said that as the rubber channel is still in place, more reason to keep the bottom as is.
So the door has survived "butchery" but I have come home with donated mild steel strips that will do for the "repairs" to get rid of the rusted perforations.
Bob, thanks for your reply and the reminder to measure more than once before cutting.

The other good thing to come out of the class was getting my S/H Mig working properly. I had problems with it - wire feed, contactors not closing, nozzle melting etc. The motor feed assembly I had already stripped down and greased the bearing rollers, dismantled the welding head and cleaned up the pitted contacts, but it was the class lecturer that spotted the final problem - the wire on the original spool wasn't that "straight". Put on the spare new spool and it now works very well - which is very good as I bought it off another local MMOC member.
Thnaks for your replies and suggestions, George.

[bmcecosse]

You need to also make sure the wire hasn't gone 'rusty'. I have braced my drive roller assembly with some Meccano strips which seemed to help. I have also found that using 0.9mm 'gasless' wire is VERY much easier to use and a LOT less expensive with no gas to buy...... but if you really want to use gas - then 0.8mm wire is much better than 0.6mm wire. Of course in each case - you need the correct size matching nozzle. I found it MUCH less expensive to order wire and nozzles on ebay - even with the postage - the materials are a fraction of the cost anywhere local wants to charge me - even if I can find them in stock...... And I don't have to run about collecting the parts...Postie brings them to my door 2 days after I place the order! As for that door - I wish mine were as good as that one.........

[gtt1951]

BMC, thank you for the additional info. The tutor also suggested that I would be better off with 0.8mm wire and we tried the existing set-up with a 0.8 nozzle before we found out that the preloaded wire was a bit "bent". He let me keep the nozzle and said I might as well use up the 0.6 wire as I have just opened a "new" reel of about 0.7Kg.
The Argon/CO2 mix bottles was bought off eBay (carton of 3) and less than half the price at my local Camberley Autofactors (including the postage). My spare pack of 5 0.6mm nozzles also came from eBay and I agree with you, that sometimes it is far more economical to "shop" there.
The door condition - you did notice the clear-through perforated sections? Maybe I was just being a bit picky. My exiting doors are very good underneath, but not so good on the flaired lower sections on the outside. Maybe, instead of cutting those sections off, I can do a bit of fill-in welding? I've just managed to locate my old Arc Welder (an MMO 140) as a back-up - there should be a box of bits in the loft and maybe the original manual.
Best Regards, George.

[MarkyB]

It will end up looking like Swiss cheese if you hit it with an arc welder!
I seem to remember a tip about putting some copper sheet behind a hole you want to fill but it could be a figment of my imagination.

[bmcecosse]

While Arc Welder is great fun to use - it's no use on a Minor.... Others have pointed out that to use too large a nozzle means poor power transfer of current to the wire. Go on - buy a roll of 0.9mm gasless wire (may be described as cored wire) ~ £7, and some 1mm nozzles - and try without the gas.... Welding with gas uses it up at an alarming rate ! Yes - I believe a bit of copper behind is suggested - I've never tried it. You do have an auto dark helmet I hope......

[gtt1951]

Auto darkening helmet, fire retardant overalls, steel toe-cap boots (required PPE) - all were bought for the welding course. The auto-darkening helmet is fantastic!

[bmcecosse]

Steel boots for welding......slight overkill there... Oh dear.

[MarkyB]

Flip flops are fine

[lowride stepside]

real men do it in their pants with their eyes shut

[gtt1951]

It was a college requirement - Safety Elves must have been there first!