Missiles cowl repair needs help

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blue missile

blue missile

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Here are the pics of the repair.
The firewall pieces were easy. But the cowl sheet metal buckled the first time and after removing it again and taking ANAL care not to heat the metal up past 105 ( the ambient temp) it buckled again but not as badly. portions of it have the feel of the top of a canning lid. Does anybody know how to get rid of the built up pressure, or fix the problem?
Andrew

cowl 1.jpg


cowl 2.jpg


cowl 3.jpg


cowl 4.jpg


cowl 5.jpg
 
Andrew, my guess is that the upper portion will continue oil-canning until the front plate is welded in place.
 
Fish,
the front is welded in place as in the bottom pic. I was also hoping the front welding might have changed the condition.
I probably will have to borrow a torch and give the heat/cold a try.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Andrew
 
Thought I would let all know how this turned out,
The torch & ice method did no good, probably because of what caused the condition in the first place.
So last week I cut out the panel for the third time, and this time I went back with 16gauge metal. Again taking real care not to let the welding heat build up or migrate into the middle of the piece with cold water and a sponge after each small section of welding.
All is well ,I will have to use a thin coat of bondo at the upper seam by the windshield to fair out the transition, but otherwise it looks good.
Andrew
 
Andrew, I think you answered your own question when you said "after each small section of welding". On any thin sheetmetal, such as you find on all vehicles, you have to basically stitch weld with the mig, and then jump around from one section of the weld to another section so the heat doesn't build up. If you attempt to run any length of bead, no matter how small, you WILL get warpage. One short buzz, move to the far opposite side of the patch, buzz, then half way in between the previous two, buzz..... and so on. Keep moving around the work, and keep putting in very small "buzz" spots, and keep doing this until all the edges are filled with weld - run NO beads. :)
 
OldVart, thats exactly what I did as well as cooling each small bit. Both times I tried the 20gauge, it warped anyway.I did the same thing with the 16ga and all is well.
Andrew
 
Glad you got it done to your satisfaction. In an area where you can use a hammer and dolly, you can stretch the metal back after some welding, but in the place you're working, the metal shrinks with each weld spot and you can't get at it to stretch it back to shape. I've had more than my share of those damned oil cans, bumps, and hollows over the years. :)
 
Sid,
I dont know if you have been following the build but I have cut/welded hammered/dollied stitched/ shrunk inserted/deleted repaired/replaced more than 50sqft of metal so far and that @#%$$#@@@ 3sqft of metal was well lets say a generator of NOT HAPPY THOUGHTS.
Thanks for the help
Andrew
 
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