WillRadford

OK, so Im new to the welding world. I bought a flux core welder and Im trying to weld some new body pieces into where I had some serious rust issues on my 4runner. I had been told that the core flux wasnt the best for this project, but I didn't have the money for the full MIG setup right now. Sometime in the future I'll get the regulator add-on kit for my welder and some bottles of gas so I'll be able to MIG. Anyways, I found a good doner body at a salvage yard so I bought the rear quarter panel. I cut out the section that was rusty on my runner, and I cut out the same section from the new quarter panel. Then I put the new piece in and started welding it. I butted the pieces against each other. My problem is that it seemed impossible to get the pieces butted against each other perfectly so I have some slight gaps. nothing bigger than about 1/16", but Im having problems with the welding heat blowing a hole in the seem where the pieces aren't butted up against each other perfectly. I have the amperage turned to the lowest setting.

So, what can I do to weld this thing up with the slight gaps that I have? I was thinking about laying some wire in the larger areas to fill the gap. Im not too worried about the quality of this project since the areas Im welding are at the bottom of the body and Im going to just paint a 4" tall strip of Herculiner over it afterwards. I just need to make sure I get it all welded up tight so I don't get future rusting.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Here is a picture of where I am at now.

AxleIke

welding body is tough. On regular mig, I've been told that High amps, low wire speed is where its at. Also, its a little late now, but what most recomend is a fold and overlap method.

There is a tool for this, but you can do it by hand, it just takes patience. Essentially, you make a bend in one of the sheets, so it makes a small zig zag. Then, when you lay the other sheet on top, they sit flush, make sense?

On the upper sheet, you drill holes about every inch or so, and just spot weld the whole thing on. You will want to hit the area with a good seam sealer.

The guys who are good can do it to where they need no bondo to cover but if it were me, i'd use a thin coat of fiberglass filler to cover the gap.

However, from where you are now, try high amps, slow wire speed, and do single spot welds, one at a time. Do one, then move to the opposite side of the cut, and do another. The idea is to give each weld a lot of time to cool, so you don't warp anything.

TORTIS

iTrader: (1)

what is happening is the crud on the backside of the panels is blowing holes. you may have to tack tack tack tack till you get it filled up, then grind the weld down and run a fast bead over the joint. if it is not to late, clean the back side of all paint and crud then wipe down with acetone and put the wipe rag and acetone across the shop. i tig welded mine, and had these problems till i cleaned the back side. what size wire are you running?

WillRadford

I'll have to get back to you on the size. Its whatever standard size came with the welder, like .030 or .035. Good call on the fiberglass filler. Im pretty sure thats what I'll be doing after I get as much weld on that seem as possible. I am doing the spot weld technique. My plan is to spot weld about every inch and just keep working my way around.

tc

Clean clean clean

You actually WANT some gap (about the same as the thickness of the metal)

Do NOT work your way around - go across, kinda like tightening the lugnuts to keep the heat dispersed.

I'm not real experience with fluxcore, but I disagree with Isaac - I think high amps is going to be worse. You may have too big a machine, and need to hold the gun farther away from the surface to limit the penetration (gun will make a pop-pop-pop noise)

AxleIke

I'm only going off of what I've been told. I'll be doing body work later this year, hopefully, so I'll be sure to try both methods.

FWIW, TC knows his stuff. I'd listen to him before I listened to myself. Seriously.

tc

No I don't, I just stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night LOL

Albert.G

stich it together, slow, dont rush, and have it very clean, did you paint the backside with primer..

WillRadford

both sides of the metal is clean. no rust or paint. I'll do some more work on it tonight and we'll see how it goes.

toyotarunner92

i have been welding for quite sometime now. you need to make sure the area on both front and back side is clean. after that, you make sure there is a gap about half the thinkness of the metal, so not very much. WHEN YOU ARE WELDING, go in a c pattern like (c(c(c(c( you cant explain it very well on here, but you just dont want to go over the weld you just made, that weakens it. i hope this help if you need anything else let me know.

Etype R

I do not recommend learning to weld on sheet metal.... Practice with some thicker steel first.

4Rocker

I have replaced both of the entire quarter panels on my 4Runner in the past with a flux welder, as well as making a new floorpan from scratch to remove a rusty spot. Practice a little on some scrap metal of the same thickness you will be welding on the truck to get your welder set correctly. Once that is done, you will want to do a series of small tack welds on the actual patch panel and truck a few inches apart and allow them to cool a little. By spreading the tacks out, it will prevent the metal from getting too hot and warping. As the spot welds cool, place another tack between two of the spots until eventually you have the whole thing welded. Then grind down the boogers and use some light body filler. If you try to stich with a continuous bead you will burn through sheet metal that thin.

82yota

You can't by any chance get to the back side of that to hold a piece of brass on the backside could you? The brass would really help with taking heat away and would not bond to the steel. Have done this before quite a few times when filling holes in plates. If not then just like you have it keep the heat right down and spread your tacks out.

WillRadford

Ya, a friend was telling me about the brass trick. Bad thing is that I can't get to the back side. I have been doing the tack method, starting on the four corners then making a tack every inch and working my way around until the whole thing is complete. I did finish last night. It doesn't look pretty, but its done. After I grind off the excess I'll have a better idea of how complete I got the welds. Some of my boogers are pretty big since I had to build up the weld in a few places in order to fill in some holes I blew in the metel. But, it was a good learning experience. I think on my next rust spot I repair I will try the fold-over method. Any idea on the cost of that tool you use to make the bends on the one piece of sheet metal?

TORTIS

iTrader: (1)

when you grind it down, stop when you start to see the lines of the metal you joined. you can weld back over it real fast and fuse it back together. then grind it flat, but remember, you stand a chance of the junk on the back side blowing holes in your weld. if you get it to hot. strike your arc and runnnnnnnnnnnn.

WillRadford

[IMG]<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Radfords/4runnerBodyWork/photo#5178458332159060722"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/Radfords/R92UapyAqvI/AAAAAAAAAB0/dPhQTbJYdlw/s144/DSC01164.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/Radfords/4runnerBodyWork">4runner body ...</a></td></tr></table>[/IMG]

tc

Try again Will ...

SEAIRESCUE

1-bare metal ground is an absolute, close to the weld as possible.
2-lowest setting on machine
3-weld area clean...wipe with lacquer thinner or equal
4-I use no eye shield. I set 1/8 inch of wire out of tip and use second hand to steady the tip. With gloves on, second hand holds tip just off the metal seam but not on the seam. I close eyes, look away and pull the trigger. As soon as I get an arc, I immediately make a very small swing in tip across the seam to the other panel. More than a second will burn through. Keep adjusting welder until you get it. Expect some to burn through. Nature of the beast.

Hope this helps.

WillRadford

OK, that last post of mine didn't work. I was trying to insert a picture from my picassa web album. Anyways, I got the welding done on the three rust spots. It was a total pain in the butt, but it looks good now. I'll attach some pics of the final product. The welds were not the prettiest, but after I threw on the Herculiner, you can't even tell. So anyways, Im a big fan of the Herculiner now. It went on really easy, and I think it looks really good.

tc

That's a good way to end up blind. Use a shield - at least a 10 shade.

You DO know an arc is brighter and hotter than the SUN right?