Birth of a 1970 Dart Convertible

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I'm having a hard time welding the floor pan back together. I got a mig with shielding gas. I don't have any pictures; I just had to walk away I was getting too frustrated. If I had a tig would that easer to weld? I'm not one for buying china tools but harbor frieght has one for $400.00. I laid all my blocks for my basement, built my log house my kitchen cabinets, dressers, baby cradle and so on but this welding thing is pi$$ing me off!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HELP!!!!!!! :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:
 
describe your welding problems in more detail. It will be hard to weld the light sheetmetal to the heavy wall frame connector, but there is a way.
 
I will get some pictures this afternoon after work. I got the welder turned way down and it seems that the ark is jumping back and forth from frame rail to floor pan. If I turn it up, it burns through. :wack:
 
Make sure the wire is not catching inside the liner if it is it will screw up the performance of your welder.
 
The wire is exiting fine. I tied turning heat and wire speed down. Do you guys think if I do a lot of spot welds and then try stitching it all together will work? Thank you for all your inputs with helping with this. I'm open to all comments and suggestions you guys and gals have. You guys know this build will get looked over with a fine tooth comb.
Thanks again
Jim :thumleft::thumleft::thumleft:
 
muddacres said:
The wire is exiting fine. I tied turning heat and wire speed down. Do you guys think if I do a lot of spot welds and then try stitching it all together will work? Thank you for all your inputs with helping with this. I'm open to all comments and suggestions you guys and gals have. You guys know this build will get looked over with a fine tooth comb.
Thanks again
Jim :thumleft::thumleft::thumleft:
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Stitch welding is the only way to do sheetmetal. I have found that by starting the weld on the thicker material and pulling the weld puddle on to the thinner material works best. What brand of welder do you have?
 
muddacres said:
It is a sears but made by centery. 120 volt but it goes to 140 amps.
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I used a Sears welder (made by Twecko) for years. I restored a ton of cars with it and built a few streetrods (A LOT OF FABRICATION). Make sure all your metal is clean and your grounding clamp is on clean metal too. As said before, start your weld pool on the thicker metal and draw it to the thinner metal. Think of the car you took apart and try to replicate the spot welds on the car you are building, these cars weren't designed to be welded with a solid bead. I use this technique everyday in my job as a collision repair tech.
 
When butt splicing sheet metal there are a number of things that are important. As others have said make sure the metal is clean and freshly ground (even if it is new sheet metal it will have rust inhibitor or scale), and make sure the gap between the metal is even. I usually turn the heat up a bit on the welder to ensure good penetration during spot welding..if you can see the back side of the weld you should see the bead come through. I do a spot weld for about 1 second. Then I take an air hose and blow on the weld to cool it. Next I take a angled die grinder with a 60 grit mini disc and grind the spot weld flush. Be careful when grinding as you can make alot of heat and warp sheetmetal. Then I blow off the ground weld to cool it. Then I do another spot weld. The reason I grind in between spot welds is to ensure the next weld penetrates the sheet metal and the previous weld with no porosity or tiny holes. Tiny holes can cause paint bubbles in the future if moisture gets in from behind. When you are done the panel or area shine a flashlight behind the weld and look for porosity and repair as neccessary. Make sure you use some fibreglass bondo (water proof on backside and frontside of weld to try and seal it. just a thin coat but use the spreader to push it into the weld to fill and small holes you don't see. This process takes a while, but the results are good.

If you are trying to weld your frame connectors in, use the same spot weld process and aim the gun/wire more at the heavy gauge frame and as others said start the puddle on the frame connector and pull it over to the sheet metal and stop. I wouldn't grid these welds as they are on the heavier gauge metal. Also make sure you grind the frame connector to get the mill scale off.

Hopefully I helped you, good luck!
 
Another trick I learned about butt welding, is very useful IF you have access to the backside of what you are butt welding. Take a piece of copper water pipe, and beat it into a flat pice of copper. Hold it on the back side of where you are welding....right up against the crack you are welding together. This will keep the weld from blowing thru, as the weld will not stick to the copper. Doing as suggested above (spot weld,cool,grind,cool, fix tiny holes or move on and repeat) is the best way to do butt welds. Good luck with your project. :D
 
I can't believe how insanely slick the 70 verts look. This is a great project.
 
I got a little work done this weekend. I tied the top of frame on the driver side, I used 1/8 steel and cut 3/8 holes in the top of frame and spot welded it from the bottom. Cut the passenger side floor, cut the frame rail and bent and welded the braces, which took me all day. I think that I'm going to raise the rear floor so that you can't see the frame rail; I will lose 1 1/2". I really don’t think I miss it. Cutting the driver side open was scary but doing the passenger side seamed easy. I'm happy with the progress so far. Maybe tomorrow I will start welding the passenger side in. Well I think sometime this week it will be topless, The point of no return.....................
 

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Looks like things are coming together. Keep the progress pictures coming....it inspires me to get out to the garage and get working on mine!
 
JDMopar said:
Another trick I learned about butt welding, is very useful IF you have access to the backside of what you are butt welding. Take a piece of copper water pipe, and beat it into a flat pice of copper. Hold it on the back side of where you are welding....right up against the crack you are welding together. This will keep the weld from blowing thru, as the weld will not stick to the copper. Doing as suggested above (spot weld,cool,grind,cool, fix tiny holes or move on and repeat) is the best way to do butt welds. Good luck with your project. :D
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I tried this once and the weld just spit back at me, so I abandoned that. I might have to try again using a water pipe. I may have been using aluminum bronze instead of copper.
 
52° here today who would ever believe it in February? I finished welding the passenger side rail in after work. All that is left to weld in now is the floor pan, but I might buy a new one if we go to Carlisle, so I will hold off on welding it in for now. I think that the driver side rear floor is thin, that is why it was hard to weld. It was rusty when I first got the car. Dustin and I took it past no return. We cut the top off, it is truly a convertible now. :cheers:
Jim
 

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I got a little more cutting done after work today. Here are a couple of pictures. Not very many comments......
Jim
 

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comments? were speechless!! Seriously . It's the views that count ,if you track those kind of things. Keep up the good work and keep posting pictures. The (FABO)world is watching.
 
Ouch, please tell me you did not cut up a GTS Rag !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Oh boy! I do hope this thing stays square,with all the cutting you did there isnt a whole lot left to hold it that way..Some braces across the door opening would have been a good idea before you cut the roof off.
 
That was a 6cyl car and rusty to boot. I hope it stays square to. If those frame rails are doing there job? I see that a lot of FABO members are watching, but is nice to hear what everyone is thinking. Thank you for watching my build.
Jim
 
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