948 replies to this topic

[Gilles1000]

Well, the M-Machine floor is also made from three main panels:

both side and the tunnel, whereas the original is one pressing. Again, once the carpet is on, wou won't see the difference...

[Viktor]

Cheers Gilles, I'm still not sure which route to follow but will decide in the next few weeks.

 

Today I started to prepare the floor, by removing some of the old rusted panels. Some photos of the process:

 

 

 

The cross member is not too bad closer to the tunnel, but the opposide sides by the doors are all rusted!

 

 

Then I started to remove the rest of the floor over the toe board, it was a pain but at the end I managed to get it done

 

 

 

All the rest of the floor removed

 

 

Cleaned up

 

 

And a lick of K-Rust 

 

 

Then I did a couple of small repairs in preparation to get the quarter panel in. 

 

 

Old and rusted metal out

 

 

New metal in

 

 

Welded. The bit on the right hand side was better welded...

 

 

Grinded down

 

 

And painted

 

 

And that was all for today. Not much done, but always adding!

 

Have a nice week.

 

Victor.

[Retro_10s]

Really enjoying this project, Victor. Keep on welding!

[Viktor]

Cheers mate!

 

Shame I cannot spend more time on the project, but a small progress is still progress, isn't it? ;))

[stuart bowes]

Every little bit you do is one less bit to do :)

That's what i keep telling myself anyway lol

I try and get some progress every other day or so even if it's just something fairly minor

[Gilles1000]

Hmmm, repairing the waist rails. I remember it well, although I did it with the rear quarter panel in position.

I really enjoyed this job to be honest :) And once you've managed the first one, the remaining ones are nice to do!!

 

Your repair looks nice. What is the bump at the lower side inside the rail? Is it only that you have too much metal not grinded down, or do you also have the bump inside the cabin?

 

I agree with everyone. Small progress is still a progress. I wish I had time for very small ones at the moment...

[Viktor]

Hi Gilles, not sure which bump are you referring to? I believe I have grinded down all the metal and left a smooth surface for the quarter panel to be added.

 

Perhaps you can mark-up the picture and send it across?

 

Thanks for commenting!

 

Victor.

[Gilles1000]

I know I should have done it earlier :)

I meant the bend line (marked red) below the flange for the rear quarter panel, I marked the area with the red arrow.

 

Not really important on this side as it will not be seen after you bring thae rear quarter panel on, but just check that the surface inside the cabin is smooth.

 

Edited by Gilles1000, 05 October 2022 - 11:41 AM.

[Viktor]

Okay, now I know what you mean.  Yes, that is a bit bent, mainly due to when I removed the spot welds from the old quarter panel. I would straight it before placing the new quarter panel.

 

Good spot! :)

 

Victor

[Viktor]

A frustrating one this weekend

 

I decided to do a repair on the central tunnel, but it didn't go as expected...

 

I marked-up the area to repair and cut the rusty panel

 

 

 

I also removed the rest of the floor from the toe board. All cleaned and ready to receive the repair panel

 

 

Then I made a cardboard template and cut a piece of clean metal. I pre-shaped it, to follow the curve of the tunnel.

 

 

 

Then I clamped it to the car, ready for welding

 

 

And then I started welding, and here the problems started. I tried first with a higher setting, as this gives me a good penetration, but then it started to make holes in the old panel. So I decided to use the lower settings on my welder and it went okay, but still a few holes in the old panel. In my view, this might be caused for the following reasons:

 

1.- Old metal, lower quality

2.- The area I'm trying to weld to, is still affected by rust, so I'm not welding to clean strong metal

3.- When welding I'm generating too much heat, and that is making the holes in the old metal due to items 1 and 2 above

4.- Wrong welding settings. Not sure how I can change this, as I'm using the lower settings. Perhaps a different speed for the wire and / or different settings for the gas flow?

5.- I'm not welding correctly (most likely). This might be in relation to the time I pressed the trigger, the angle of the welding, etc.

 

What I noticed is that I have these issues when welding new metal to old metal. When welding new metal to new metal all goes well.

 

Anyway, this is what I managed to do at the end. There were a couple of areas where I needed to put more weld to close the holes

 

 

On the other side, the penetration does not look any good.

 

 

All of that was yesterday, and then today I tried to fix it, but I made it even worse.

 

 

 

I'm really worried now, as I have pre-ordered the floor panels from M-Machine, which means I have to weld them to the existing tunnel. After what happened this weekend, I don't think that is the right solution for me. Many things can go wrong when welding the new floor panels to the old tunnel.

 

I'm going to ring M-Machine tomorrow morning, to see if I can change my order and get a full floor with the tunnel on it. I believe they also supply the one in the photo below:

 

 

I know this panel is not the right one for my car, but unless M-Machine can give me an alternative solution, I cannot see other way around.

 

Long welding between old and new panels is not my thing, so I think the sensible thing to do is to follow the path, that aligns with my current skills.

 

Any thoughts or comments are very welcome.

 

Cheers.

 

Victor.

Edited by Viktor, 09 October 2022 - 03:23 PM.

[stuart bowes]

I know its not the correct 'professional' answer but can you not get to the point where you're at, with questionable penetration, and then weld from the other side as well. Admittedly it uses up twice as much gas and more time grinding but if it works.. and with one side welded you won't be blowing holes through that no way

The other thing is use a heat sink, a nice lump of copper on the back side helps dissipate heat and you can have the welder turned up more

I'm not trying to convince anyone I have all the answers or anything lol the quickest of looks at my own build will correct that immediately

Edited by stuart bowes, 09 October 2022 - 03:48 PM.

[Viktor]

Thanks Stuart, that is helpful mate. Not a bad plan as you suggested. It will be time consuming, but I'm sure I can make it work.

 

I have a small piece of copper, that I use when I start cutting holes in the panels.

 

Victor

[stuart bowes]

I've got a length of copper pipe, I just hammered/viced one end flat and bent it to about 45deg. hold it by the tube with the flat part behind what you're welding..

 

I'll be honest I'm still not 100% sold on it, sometimes it helps, other times it just makes things more awkward and I end up tossing it aside and just being careful instead

 

when I know (or strongly suspect) it's gonna blow through, what I tend to do is do a fast run quick burst of splattery weld slightly back from the edge, as a sort of stopping point that the hole won't go beyond, then just do a lot of slower moving but very short bursts (letting the red glow go down between) on each side until it meets in the middle

 

it's probably the 'bodge' way of doing it, but since starting that strategy I've definitely been swearing a lot less and pieces go in more quickly and easily than before.

 

realistically I suppose the 'pro' answer is, if it's gonna blow through due to being old and thin from rust, then you should cut back turther.  or replace the panel.  but who's got the money to replace an entire car.. and it becomes like triggers broom, a few new heads and a couple of new handles

 

there's definitely a knack to welding old metal that's for sure, fabricating with new steel is a piece of p1ss by comparison

Edited by stuart bowes, 09 October 2022 - 04:39 PM.

[Viktor]

Thanks Stuart, all good advice :)

 

I love the reference to Only Fools and Horses! My favourite British series (from a non British guy).

 

Cheers.

 

Victor.

[sonscar]

Combination of not clean enough and technique possibly.The tunnel is probably thinner due to the pressing when manufactured.Aim towards the newer metal and kind of hover on the old.Do a tack,wait a second for it to dull to red then tack again overlapping the previous tack.Do this five or six times then move to another area and repeat.Get comfortable and have the area lit well,a dry run does not hurt.Do not rush.
I am not a welder but have done many car repairs,I can recommend the tutorials on the site mig-welding.Making good progress,Steve..