AT LAST! Hairys Resto!!

Coming on nice, a little more rot than you was expecting?

Had a very similar crack in my rear chassis leg. Look forward to seeing some new metal going in  

ew said

Coming on nice, a little more rot than you was expecting?

maybe just a little!!

Hope to be tucked away in the garage Saturday putting it right! 8)

Started welding at last, well…. kind of!! After finding more and more rot, cut away most of the beam mounting area at the rear end, leaving the studs and mounting section

..had repair section zinc primed and ready to go on


First bit of welding - the brake hose bracket had just dropped off the repair panel so I welded it back on… (Not too many grapes!!)

Went to weld repair panel on but it needs a good hammering in to shape and it was getting too late (don't want to annoy the neighbours)
Not got too much time to play tomorrow but hope to get the panel welded on, seam sealed and rust primed.

Will make a refreshing change to be sticking bits back on!

I'm no expert but you'd need to let the primer dry overnight before you can seam seal it. I've found if you try to apply seam sealer to primer unless its completely dry, it kinda melts it and lifts it off the metalwork.

TBH I wasn't sure if to seam seal first then prime? :dontknow:

Well I always prime just after welding, ie the same day, to avoid corrosion starting. You need to wire brush the inevitible rust off the panel just after welding, and before painting. If you wire brush then seam seal, then you need to wire brush again, you'd just rip off the seam sealer right?

Also if you grind the welds, although they are less strong, it can remove areas unreachable by the wire brush, therefore making it last longer even though its less strong. Unless your welding's better than mine and you can produce neat stuff without any blobs, etc at all!!!

Well, what a waste of 3 hours  :evil:  The chassis mount repair panel is crap - I've cut it, hammered it, jumped on it, driven on it, blew it up… (well the last few may be an exaggeration!) but the fit is just awful.

I tried to get the repair fitted and welded on, but having issues with the MIG (See HERE)
Then just as I seemed to get somewhere I ran out of gas  Oh, and I got weld spatter in my ear too OUCH!! 8O

Away next weekend so that's it for now - think I may just make up my own panel now, I've had enough of this Hadrian one

Rant over - and breath!! :wink:

You're not alone, I found the rear beam mount the hardest place to weld, especially laying on my back with the car 40cm above my face. I would personally drill holes in the panel and use the plug weld method with your 130 welder at a medium + setting. If you're having trouble shaping the panel, try and plug weld into place through one of the holes part of the panel that fits up ok. Then quickly, to make use of the heat from the welder, use a small metal working hammer to knock a bit more of the panel    into shape to weld the next hole and so on.

If it is really that bad you might be better to cut the repair panel into a couple of bits and weld it on in several pieces. Sounds like you got through your gas quickly, sure you haven't got a leak in the connections? If you're using disposable bottles, machine mart do a good bottle for a bout ?8 with 20% free. Get a couple as nothing as bad as running out of gas on a sunday.

If you're lucky next time you might get to perform the welders dance -that's when a bit of hot metal goes down your jumper or sleeve and you dance about furiously trying to shake it out

Oh and as Paul says, I'd prime first then seam seal - preferably etch primer

Andy,

That repair panel looks rubbish - the ones I have are much smoother without all that creasing you can see in your pic.

You can see a pic here http://www.golfmk1.co.uk/PatternPanels.htm

Fitting panels in this area - what I do is get the holes lines up first on the studs and bolt it up.  Then to a couple of tack welds - don't worry too much about the fit.  Then hammer and weld as you go to get the fit right.  It'll be almost impossible to get the panel fit right off the car.

Cheers

Rich

only a mm or two gap but enough.

It's a rough repair panel , you have to fettle it , roughly .

You are learning and doing well keep at it  :wink:

Cheers………..

chudd said

only a mm or two gap but enough.

It's a rough repair panel , you have to fettle it , roughly .

You are learning and doing well keep at it  :wink:

Cheers………..

..That gap was after a LOT of fettling!! I'll be bringing out the lump hammer soon!!

thats determination!

could always try a little heat on it to help bend it into shape

I bet the welds don't look as bad as this:

http://www.mig-welding…rum/showthread.php?t=1040

paul_c said

I bet the welds don't look as bad as this:

http://www.mig-welding…rum/showthread.php?t=1040

OMG!

No progress on car today but thought I'd build myself a trolley for the MIG. I could have bolted the dexion together but guessed it was a good chance to brush up my welding skills!

Got this far…

…and then damn gas ran out  :evil:  I can't get over what a con those small bottles are - I've only used this one on the trolley!

Anyway, picking up a bottle from BOC tomorrow so can then get it finished. Hope it doesn't take as long as the resto has so far  At least if it supports the MIG I know my welding can't be that bad

thouse white gas bottle's havent got a regulator on them!! thats why your using so much gas!! if you get a bottle from boc ask them if they have a regulator to fit on the top too, the little bottles are a total waste of time!!

jamiegolf said

thouse white gas bottle's havent got a regulator on them!! thats why your using so much gas!! if you get a bottle from boc ask them if they have a regulator to fit on the top too, the little bottles are a total waste of time!!

Regulator and tube/adapter for the bottle is around ?60, BOC will have them (but they might be more costly than that). I found a specialist welding supplier shop not too far away and took a visit, no doubt there's cheaper options (eBay springs to mind) out there.

Can't understand why you're using so much gas Andy, you definetely haven't got a leak? I use the Machine Mart bottles (see here, 600g CO2 is the best value) and could easily do 20/30 times the welding you've done on that frame with one. Your regulator looks like it has no gauge, how do you know what rate you're using the gas at? I got a similar regulator with a gauge and pipes to go from big to little (my welder default is big bottle) for ?25.

Cheers