New floors, plug weld or stitch weld?
#1
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New floors, plug weld or stitch weld?
Novice question, thought I knew what I was doing, but during my welding course last week an instructor and I were talking cars and he said he did floor pans once in some 40s car and he managed to shrink the car enough he couldn't shut the doors, because he stitch welded the floor in, he said to plug weld it.
I was planning on getting everything all trimmed up with a 1" overlap for a lap weld, screwing the pan in to place every few inches and then slowly stitch weld at random places, keeping everything as cool as possible until I was finished with a nice solid weld all the way around... This should be fine, no?
I was planning on getting everything all trimmed up with a 1" overlap for a lap weld, screwing the pan in to place every few inches and then slowly stitch weld at random places, keeping everything as cool as possible until I was finished with a nice solid weld all the way around... This should be fine, no?
#3
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Re: New floors, plug weld or stitch weld?
Novice question, thought I knew what I was doing, but during my welding course last week an instructor and I were talking cars and he said he did floor pans once in some 40s car and he managed to shrink the car enough he couldn't shut the doors, because he stitch welded the floor in, he said to plug weld it.
I was planning on getting everything all trimmed up with a 1" overlap for a lap weld, screwing the pan in to place every few inches and then slowly stitch weld at random places, keeping everything as cool as possible until I was finished with a nice solid weld all the way around... This should be fine, no?
I was planning on getting everything all trimmed up with a 1" overlap for a lap weld, screwing the pan in to place every few inches and then slowly stitch weld at random places, keeping everything as cool as possible until I was finished with a nice solid weld all the way around... This should be fine, no?
#4
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Re: New floors, plug weld or stitch weld?
These are full floor pans. I'm basically doing the entire horizontal area of the floors from the seam on the firewall to where the bracket is for the rear seat cushion bolt. I do have subframe connectors and the rockers are still in place. I wouldn't think there would be THAT much distortion if I make sure to go at a really slow pace with long intervals between welds... I just don't feel like it will be as strong just plug welding it in to place every inch or so.
#5
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Re: New floors, plug weld or stitch weld?
These are full floor pans. I'm basically doing the entire horizontal area of the floors from the seam on the firewall to where the bracket is for the rear seat cushion bolt. I do have subframe connectors and the rockers are still in place. I wouldn't think there would be THAT much distortion if I make sure to go at a really slow pace with long intervals between welds... I just don't feel like it will be as strong just plug welding it in to place every inch or so.
#7
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Re: New floors, plug weld or stitch weld?
The idea for the bracing is to keep the body from twisting while setting the new floor in place. To keep the whole floor from heat warping the slow stitching method should work.
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#8
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Re: New floors, plug weld or stitch weld?
Welding the entire perimeter of a replacement pan would be extreme overkill. Aside from potential for warping, it'd be a waste of time and raw materials (mig wire and gas).
Once the seam sealer is cleaned off the joints, you can generally see daylight between the stock pans and inner rockers. Even the structural parts of the car are spot welded.
Once the seam sealer is cleaned off the joints, you can generally see daylight between the stock pans and inner rockers. Even the structural parts of the car are spot welded.
#9
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Re: New floors, plug weld or stitch weld?
Alright, plug welds every inch or so are the way I'll go.
The tunnel is still in place, I left it in place to make the job a bit easier.
I have some aerospace 2-part "seam sealer" that we use along edges of panels that need to be sealed that I'll be using... Stuff that is expired by a month or two, still good but it no longer is acceptable on aircraft.
Once it's welded in place I will epoxy prime the joint, lay the seam sealer in place, smooth it out and then spray my topcoat on. We paint over our seam sealer stuff all the time.
The tunnel is still in place, I left it in place to make the job a bit easier.
I have some aerospace 2-part "seam sealer" that we use along edges of panels that need to be sealed that I'll be using... Stuff that is expired by a month or two, still good but it no longer is acceptable on aircraft.
Once it's welded in place I will epoxy prime the joint, lay the seam sealer in place, smooth it out and then spray my topcoat on. We paint over our seam sealer stuff all the time.
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