Very soon im gonna be welding in the front floorpans and the inner sills on my mk1 fez very soon and just wanted some tips on welding panels.

Ive been practising tack welding on scrap metal, sometimes it blows holes and sometimes it comes out looking alright. i can do continuous welds okay but i know your not ment to do that with panels as it distorts.

Ive looked through the restoration thread and seen that some of the welds look smooth and tidy on panels etc so what setup and what methods do you guys use when welding panels?


The welder im using is a brand new varmig 1600 if thats of any use?

Any help and tips would be appreciated Cheers

 

You don't say what type of welder you are using but I assume its a mig.

Take a look here for some very useful info

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk

 

yep its a mig, cheers for the link

 

Sorry just re-read you post and saw if was a varmig - I've been staring at the screen all day and my eyes are going.

Take a look at the forums on there. There is a guy restoring a Nissan 300zx, its a good read

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/s...ad.php?t=15465

 

thats a good website that some bits on my car are like that lol

 

Many spot welds, no continuous welds as is often incorrectly implemented. For a good idea how to. check out "weldingtipsandtricks and V8TV on youtoob. Very informative for the beginner.

Cut back to solid metal, make the panel fill the hole with a 1mm gap, clean every God damn thing in sight, be patient, don't lose heart and enjoy the day.

Hope this helps and good luck with your project.

 

And use a quality Mig wire.

.

 

thanks i dont know what the mig wire is thats with it but its all brand new so must be fairly good, when i get the angle just right i can do a quality weld. But i'll practise a little more tommorow on the spot welds before i attack the car

 

0.8mm wire, Argoshield 15, new tips, new shroud, SHIT LOADS OF PRACTICE!!!

Plus as already stated, make sure the metal you are welding is clean, not just on the side you are welding but on the underside also. If a butt weld is not needed make good use of mig-plug welds, basically two layers of metal overlapping with a hole in the top layer, ensure both layers are clamped up tight to each other then weld to the under layer through the hole and fill in the hole.

Get a decent mask, one of the self-dimming type.

Oh, and PRACTICE SOME MORE!

 

Great advice,a good grinders handy too.make sure the earth clamp goes onto a really clean metal surface,I had to grind some underseal off my Cossie to get a good earth as the lead wasn't long enough!!!!

 

Get the earth clamp as close as you can to where you are welding, clamp it to the main body frame not to a bolted on wing or other piece that may not have a good earth.

Clean the earth contact as said and if it's a cheap pressed clamp, cut it off and bolt the earth cable to a small "G" clamp or if you are doing a lot of welding drill the body and bolt the earth cable directly to it.

There's nothing worse than trying to weld when the earth clamp has fallen off and you haven't realised.
It's almost as bad as when the weld starts splattering and you think you've hit a bit of rust when it fact you've either forgotten to turn the gas on or it's run out!!

And have some clean tips to hand for when the wire burns back and melts to the tip, saves a lot of time if you clean up all the ruined tips after you've done welding instead of whist you are welding.

.

 

also if ya got a decent size magnet to hand you can get it flush all the way round, what ya got feed on and when ya welding and doing long stretch push the flow the keep the heat moving as if you drag the weld you leave the heat there hench the slight distortion

 

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/tutorial.htm

 

the earth clamp is all brand new and has good connection.
the mask i wear is a self dimming type, and the angle grinder ive got is decent enough for the job.
was gonna be doing bits today but the weather says otherwise

thanks for the advice though