On Mon, 4 Dec 1995 RobertS355@aol.com wrote:
> boards, and outer wheel wells - and the doors still line up! My problem is
> that I'm now getting to the rear wings and the tricky parts that ultimately
> show the quality of the work. I'm a little nervous to say the least.
I have
> replacement wing panels from Moss which appear as though they will line up
> just fine but I'm perplexed as to how to join the panels along the line of
> the crome trim. The following cross section is REALLY crude but it's the lip
> on the replacement panel that I can't exactly figure out. Do the two panels
> just get butt joined? Should I just tack it in place with the welder and use
You could butt-join them, but that makes accurate fitting a real pain and
makes welding more difficult.
Don't just tack them and use filler; you need a continuous weld to
prevent water entering your filler from the backside.
> filler? Is brazing a better low-temp option.
I don't think brazing is better--the rod melts at a low temp, but the
process is slow enough that you end up putting a lot of heat into the
panels, with warping, etc.
Your diagram came through scrambled, so I can't figure what you mean by
a lip on the replacement panel.
My recommendation would be to cut the panels allowing about a 3/8 inch
overlap. Then use a joddler (Eastwood calls it a flanger, I believe) to
press about 1/2 inch of one panel (probably the old fender will be
best) down so the other lays on top of it neatly:
__________
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^^
carets denote weld line.
Try to arrange it so the overlap falls just below the holes for the
chrome trim. Then tack weld the panel going back and forth until there's
a tack every couple of inches. Finally, weld an inch or so at a time,
cooling the panel with a damp rag between welds, until you have a
continuous seam. Grind it flush, again keeping the panel cool. If you
are careful, there should not be much distortion, and what there is will
be masked by the chrome trim. Overlapping panels in this way makes the
exact cut lines less important, and lessens the chance of blowing holes.
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
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