Gene,
Your post didn't generate as much traffic as I had thought or hoped it
would. Let me share some observations that I've made over the years.
Generally I don't have time to contribute much - probably because I get
rather long-winded as you'll see below.
>In the past, I've replaced floor pans, longitudinal sections, wheel
>wells, and done other out-of-sight auto body welding using gas welding
>with an OO or OOO welding tip. I'm now attempting to replace some
>exterior body panels, like rocker panels, bottom of doors, etc. where
>the final product will be very visible. Everyone tells me I must use
>a mig welder to avoid heat distortion and that even a OOO gas welding
>tip would produce distortion on something like a door panel.
>I would like to get more opinions from this list. Anyone attempted
>gas welding like this? Has anyone used the anti-heat compound that
>Eastwood sells that you use to surround the weld area and prevent the
>heat from spreading?
It's true that gas welding a body panel will cause distortion probably
even on the most highly crowned panels. Gas welding creates quite a lot of
heat. However, the good professionals who do restorations that result in
cars that look better than they ever did new (and that's a whole different
discussion!) use gas. How do they do it without trashing their cars? They
hammerweld the weld joint. I've got a video tape entitled "Patch Panel
Installation" by Car Guy Videotapes(R) in which the Car Guy (I can't
remember his name and I dare not watch the tape right now or the kids will
riot!) installs a '55 Chevy door patch panel by hammerwelding. Basically he
starts with the original door and makes a couple of guide templates of its
shape, one in 3-D to get the panel contour and the other capturing the door
edge shape. He then examines the patch panel and fixes it explaining that a
lot of patch panels don't match the original shape very well. (Comforting
thought, that!) He then installs the new patch panel. Yes, I'm skipping a
HUGE amount of work and detail - I don't think everyone would appreciate a
book sized description, nor would Car Guy Videotapes, they'd like everyone
interested to buy a copy of the tape. If you are really serious about doing
body panel work and would like to try this technique (as I'd like to one
day) I'd suggest that you get a copy of this tape. It used to be sold by
Eastwood but the address on the tape is: Car Guy Videotapes, Box 335,
Ramona, CA 92065. I just did a quick search of the web and couldn't find
any references to this Car Guy (but plenty of others).
The hammerwelding technique basically consists of getting the joint
prepped to a "perfect" butt joint, tacking the joint together at the ends
and in the middle and then welding a short (1" long) section, heating that
section red hot and using a hammer and dolly to metalwork it to a flat
smooth surface while also trying to maintain the correct original panel
shape. He built heat dams on either side of the weld with wet towels that
he frequently re-wet. As you might deduce from this description, you need
to have clear access to the back side of the panel and you need a lot of
clamps to hold the panels together while you are metalworking welded
sections. In fact, on the video, the guy starts his patch panel
installation by taking the completely stripped door and cutting out part of
the inside door bracing (bracing the door with some angle iron so it won't
fall apart) to get the access he needs to hammerweld the joint. He welded
this inner door section back in when he was done.
The upshot of this is when he was done, you couldn't easily tell he had
installed a patch panel and he needed very little if any filler because the
hammerwelding yields a panel that in cross section is the original thickness
even at the weld joint. In fact, at the beginning of the video he shows a
panel he has hammerwelded and measures the panel thickness to show that the
panel indeed has uniform thickness.
>If I do go with an arc welder or mig welder, what
>manufacturers/models does the list recommend? This would be for a
>non-professional, and will probably be used for only 1 car
>restoration, so price is a factor as well as ease of use, and ability
>to weld auto body sheet metal with little distortion.
Like you, I didn't save the results of previous discussions about welder
recommendations. But what I've heard about using MIG or TIG for body panel
repair is that yes, it causes less distortion but the process hardens the
welded section immediately around the joint so much that it is basically
unfinishable by standard body working techniques (again, this is from what
I've heard!).
>Finally, again, Eastwood has a small Lincoln stick welder (AC-100)
>that, with the purchase of the optional "stitch welder" they claim
>sheet metal as thin as 22 gauge can be welded. Has anyone used one of
>these with success? What is a "stitch welder"
My late brother bought one of these and I wasn't very impressed.
Because of a number of reasons we didn't get much time to try it out so my
exposure is limited. With respect to the large collection of tools he left
behind, well unfortunately his widow understands the value of tools and
appreciates them even if she doesn't use them. I've tried to convince her
to leave them to me in her will though I hope it's a long time before I "get
lucky". (My brother was only 47 when he died - heart defect that I don't
share).
>As always, thanks for any advice
>Gene
Gene, it's a pleasure to share this knowledge that I've been working for
20 years to learn!
Mark
1965 Ford Falcon - "Georgie", daily driver
1956 Daimler Regency '104' - undergoing a painfully slow restoration
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