Inner wing repair

[Oh!]

Has anyone got any tips on making sure that everything is lined up once you cut away all your reference points. I've scribed around the panel after bolting it to the existing captive nuts but it's bound to distort as the hinge side of the panel is flat whereas the existing hinge cover plate is curved.

Any hints on this and general welding aspects helpful as it's the first time with the gasless mig

Thanks

[SR]

ello mate ,any work around the a post area and your besy bet is to keep the door on or refit as soon as possible ,u will be suprised the amount of movement this welding will cause in b post area,keep an eye on parralell /uniform gap,try not to do runs of longer than3 inches ,then move to oppopdsite end of panel and repeat, this is only what i have learned though ,good luck mate.steve

[salty_monk]

You'll do better if you use gas....

[chickenjohn]

First of all, I wouldnt cut away all the reference points! Leave at least one captive bolt in place. Then when the rest of the inner wing is welded in then cut this bit off (if rusty) and weld the new in. measure all the distances from the captive nut (s) you left and make a diagram with all the measurements marked on.

The danger is you could end up with captive nuts that won't let you fit the outer wing properly!

Like the salty chap said above- its easier to use a MIG welder that uses CO2 (or ARGON mix).

As for learning to weld! There is definitely a knack to it. See my post in December on tips- the main tip is to PRACTISE, PRACTISE, PRACTISE, ! on LOTS of scrap steel (1mm) before you set torch to car!

good luck!

[Alec]

Hello Salty,

until I saw John's post I thought I had a fellow gas (Oxy\acetylene) welding fan.

Alec

[chickenjohn]

Hello Salty,

until I saw John's post I thought I had a fellow gas (Oxy\acetylene) welding fan.

Alec

Salty might mean that, and oxy acet is supposed to be better, or should I say neater.

But I think the original poster meant one of those MiG's with the gasless filler wire, which doesn't sound too good to me either...

[rayofleamington]

I've never used a gasless mig, however I've never heard anything good said about them
Oxy acetylene is certainly the best when used in the hands of a skilled craftsman - hence I have no desire for a set just yet. The benefit of mig is that the localised heating cases much less temperature distortion, and as long as you tack all round the job and do short runs in different places each time you can take away the need for skill to keep the panel 'fairly' straight.

As for the door post - only do it when the door is fitted otherwise you are likely to feel despair when you fit it later. Eleanor's car has had the drivers side door post done badly and you can fit your finger in the rear edge door gap
If anyone knows where to get longer hinge bolts I'd love to know! (especially if they come with an 8mm packing piece for the bottom hinge and a 5mm one for the top )

[Kevin]

If anyone knows where to get longer hinge bolts I'd love to know!

Well Ray the front shocker bolts fit if I remember correctly and although you could shorten them I dont know what you would do about the head.

[Oh!]

Thanks for the advice - at the moment the gasless mig is performing okay, as it's the inner wing and I've lots of grinding discs it's more of a learning experience than a professional job. Also my previous experience of oxy-acet is that the weld pool is harder to maintain as a pool rather than a well with rusty metal!
And for infrequent welding it easier just to remember the gasless wire rather than keeping an eye on the gas as well.

Once I'm finished I'll let you know the results

Thanks

Owen