You can get an air panel flanger from Harbor Frieght for about 30 bucks. It flanges and punches the hole. You can also get vice grip style flangers.

 

Another thing about this project is that flux core burns hotter than mig wire at the same amperage, which is why mig is usually preferred. I would just tack weld the whole thing together alternating and taking my time like crazy to avoid warpage. It looks like it turned out pretty good.

 

use a auto darkening helment set the shade on 9 (shades are for comfort) . don't try to do it all in one pass.

 

Moved to The Fab Shop.

Fink

 

Yes I can see where your self shielded wire was causing most of your grief with this project .

With gas shielded wire .023 wire I have done my share of panel repair . Without near the grief you had .

Most often it was for inspection so I would just overlap the entire area being repaired by a inch or so . Weld enough to keep it secure grind and smooth with fiberglass

Doing a butt joint in sheet metal would be one of the hardest you could make.

 

Enjoy your melanoma and arc-eye.
Terrible terrible terrible idea..
Just use a mask and you can actually see the weld.

 

I had to weld a large section of the bed side onto my truck, and i found a solution better than welding. Its a two part epoxy (expensive, but cheaper than a welder) u put it where u want to join the two panels, clamp it and wait. No chance of warping, no grinding, no holes, less chance for rust. idk if warping is a major problem for welding that small space but i'd use a mig if at all possible. muuuccchh better.

 

bondo?
please tell me of this magical substance, as i have much in the ways of rust holes to fix.

 

I've used this stuff too. It works great. It's called panelbond. You can get it in a tube that works like a caulking gun would. It's like $25.00 a tube for the cheaper one. I used it on my 96 Honda Accord that I installed a widebody kit on. The only bad part is on the one I used anyway you only had about 3 mins of work time before it setup. You can get it at a local auto paint store. You'll have a hard time finding anywhere else. Heres a couple pics of my car I used it on.
Heres the fiberglass panels I used panelbond on.

First I put it in place with selftapping screws. Then when I used the panelbond I used some aluminum rivets in place of the screws and it was perfectly lined up.


A little further into the build.


Current condition vvvvvvv


Quick link to all my projects incluing my 88 Safari Van convertible http://www.flickr.com/photos/widebodyaccord/page7/

 

How well does it hold up?
I might be interested now.
Also, does it stick to painted surfaces?

 

I've had it on for about 2 years now and haven't had any problems with it coming undone. Its a permanent bond. I would ruff up the surface before using it. I grinded mine down to the metal just to me safe.

 

Interesting.
I might just use this and epoxy a panel behind the sheet-metal in my rust-hole, then fill the reast with bondo.
Not a bad idea. Especially since i'm an amateur body guy hehehe

 

I would suggest fiberglass, then bondo.

 

Fiberglass tiger-hair?
any reasoning behind that? the sheetmetal is only around 1/16th of an inch thick, and the area around it is pitted only a bit.

 

I didn't think about that. Bondo will work.

 

I would still do 'glass, sand it smooth, then skimcoat with bondo.

You really shouldn't be using bondo to fill, especially on something that might flex.

 

Also unless you seal the bondo from the air it soaks up moisture like crazy. Where the Fiberglass doesn`t

That is why I will use fiberglass for floor repairs over welding in a new floor..

I just use a very thin coat of body putty any place any more

 

So fiberglass ftw?
ill probably post up a help thread sometime this summer when i go to do this lol.
or ill end up cutting parts of another bed off and welding them in

 

http://www.toyotafiberglass.com



.

 

i dont wanna replace the whole bedside. at the moment i can fix the rust-hole, then paint along the body-line in bedliner and it would look fine...