Can stainless steel be welded to fenders and quarter panels?

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dibbons

dibbons

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In order to complete my changeover from the 1972 side marker lights to the 1971 style I need to modify the openings in the fenders/quarter panels. I am thinking about making the proper mounting opening in some scrap stainless steel which I hope can be tacked on (by some type of weld, don't know which would be best) behind the sheet metal. This is necessary because the 71 side marker lights are recessed into the fender. But I don't know anything about welders. Before I search out someone to help, just want to verify that sheet metal and stainless steel can be attached by a welding of some kind. In the foto you can seen the indentation in a factory 1971 fender that I need to duplicate with the stainless steel I am thinking about using. Thank you.
 

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Hi Dibbons,

I know you can combine stainless and non stainless (as it is done all the time with stainless and nickel-metal alloys in oil and gas industry). The preference would definitely be to use like metals in this case, but to answer your question you can either MIG or TIG weld the patches on. The manufacturing facility I supported preferred MIG welding between their SS and Carbon steels, using filler material (stick) to match the stainless material you have on hand.

In your case, you never know what issues you may have, so I still recommend locating some carbon steel sheet metal to match the fender. It's just better to keep things simple.
 
Welding wire is normally some type of S/S. You should have no problem welding S/S to carbon steel.
 
I wouldn't recommend that you use stainless steel at all. Here's the problem, stainless steel is a much more noble metal than the mild steel of the fender. This will cause the metal of the fender to corrode at an ecelerated rate. These two dissimilar metals can be welded together and they are in some industrial systems. However it is not the first choice and it is against code on any pressure containment system.
 
you can weld ss to mild steel with either ss wire or mild steel wire it welds easily .
as said welding dissimlar metals can be an issue
 
My biggest thing with ss would be adhesion of body repair materials to it? Epoxy stay on it?
 
Good question regarding body fillers. In this case, however, the stainless steel bracket/fixture/whatchamacallit I am fabricating will be attached to the inside of the fender/quarterpanel to provide the proper recess for the 1971 style side markers. I will simply enlarge the hole in the body panels enough for larger red/yellow lens to squeeze through from the inside. The bracket doesn't even have to be welded because there won't be much stress on it while it's just holding on to the side marker. Any one of several imaginative ways to keep it there would be sure to be satisfactory, I'll keep thinking.
 
Not sure why some guys are worried about corrosion. Stainless steel is steel with alloys such as nickle in it to stop corrosion. It's still basically steel. The only "corrosion" you'll ever see is if the regular steel parts rust. Just like they normally would if not properly primed and painted. And if you sand the stainless and prep it correctly, regular primer and paint will work on it fine. Read this article on welding 304 or 316 stainless to carbon steel: http://www.bssa.org.uk/topics.php?article=101
 
I'd use a good body adhesive, look in any automotive paint store. It's a little expensive but works great. I think the last time I talked to them it was $35.
 
That's a good idea, never used the super strong body adhesive before, forgot all about 'em. That way I won't be heating up the sheet metal and won't be paying for outside labor.
 
You can weld it with GMAW (mig). I did a lot of this with 316L wire and trimix gas (co2, argon, helium) at the shop I used to work at. I'd imagine it can be done with TIG as well, but I'm not very experienced in that area.

Stainless warps a bit differently than mild though, so you really need to watch your heat.

Honestly, I'd just grab a piece of mild steel and use that rather than setup a welder for stainless just to do this one panel. That is, if you're dead-set on welding it.
 
I'm converting all four quadrants over, but the more I think about it, the more a strong adhesive looks like the most painless way to go.
 
dibbons said:
I'm converting all four quadrants over, but the more I think about it, the more a strong adhesive looks like the most painless way to go.
Click to expand...


You are on the right track with the bonding adhesive........

3M makes a bonding adhesive so strong you couldn't get the piece off if you wanted it to come off. The OEM's have been using it for years.
 
You can weld stainless to carbon, use a ER309 wire and good shielding gas. But you're going to have an issue with the metal shrinkage because carbon and stainless do not have the shrinkage properties.
 
3M 5200 adhesive is sold in marine stores and comes in a small tube. Follow directions and they will be there forever.
 
I was considering the marine sealant suggested until I read things like this on the internet:

"Stainless unless pickled in acid will not stick well to polyurethane. Steel will oxidize and allow better adhesive bonding. This is especially noticeable during temperature changes as different materials change lengths at different rates.

i once used hot melt glue to attach aluminum to Stainless. it held pretty good but got slightly warm during machining. i put it in the sink under cold water and it literally fell apart.

roughing up Stainless surface will help but adhesive will stick best if surface is chemically treated (pickling) in a passivation type acid. something about the adhesive molecules have trouble sticking to Stainless precisely because it is corrosion resistant."

and this:

"Stainless Steel, Chromium
1. Degrease with trichloroethylene.
2. Etch with concentrated hydrochloric or muriatic acid for 15 minutes at room temperature or with a solution consisting of 90 parts water, 40 parts 96% sulfuric acid, and 0.2 parts Nacconol NR (National Aniline) for 10 minutes at 150° F. followed by 10 minutes at room temperature in a solution consisting of 90 parts water, 15 parts 70% nitric acid, and 2 parts 48% hydrofluoric acid.
3. Rinse in hot distilled water and dry with hot air. "
 
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