First time welding....opinions
 

My first time making patches, trimming repo floor pans and welding. I had to hand form the patch above the floor section, and wheel well patches. I did have a few blow outs that needed filling.......lots of grinding!

I am having a hard time with the pictures. Not sure if flash is causing this but I am unable to see what I'm looking at. Doug

You did a good job. A little grinding, thin coat of bondo, and then primer and you are where a lot of body shops would be.

Hey Mrrat1
Looks good. Weld looks to be on top of the metal,which is fine. but if you leave a bit of a gap you can then fill the gap with weld and it will be smoother, less grinding. I see ur from NJ, i used to live in Jackson, home of Six Flags. Now live in NC.

Good job, good luck and keep welding.

Ed

OK Thanks....don't see much patch work posted and the customs shops on TV just about make the welds disappear. Getting better with the welds as I go along.....Thanks Again!

Looks pretty good, I found a lot of welding tips on Youtube. That said you're doing well. Body panels are easy to blow through.

They look good to me. I see we are in the same neck of the woods, do you drive a Red convertible Firebird by chance? I've seen one cruise by my house several times. My wife even noticed it!
Kevin

Remember ... just a touch will do, on typical body metal ... maybe 1/2 second per spot. Just a few spots to hold the patch ... then a little dolly/hammer work, a few more spots, a bit more dolly/hammer work, then when the patch is in there where you want it, how you want it, finish the beads.

And ... always better to go too large with the patch than too small. Good, clean, unrusted metal to weld the patch to. Every minute you spend cleaning the metal is 10 minutes you won't have to spend fixing messed up welds. Once the hole in the body is cut ... try to get a little wire brush in behind the metal and clean that up too. Lots of contamination can get through from the back to the front and make your life miserable.

Don't be afraid to grind the heck out of it and look for bad areas that need to be hit with the welder again. Typically your patches will be more than strong enough, but not necessarily sealed up well enough. And of course take a lot of time doing any area that can show warping.

I've certainly seen worse than you have there.

Hi Kevin, I live off Atsion Rd & drive a silver & blue Silverado SS......I rent a shop in Tabernacle.

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement fellas.....

What welder, wire type, wire size etc?

lincoln 155 220 volts & .025 wire. Set on A for heat (lowest) and 2.5-3 wire speed.

Thanks for the advice Dataway......I have ground too much off and rewelded in many places.

Small world, I live on Tuckerton rd. What gauge steel are you using for fabricating your patch panels?
Kevin

bought repo floor sections, trimmed down to eliminate the rusted out areas and used what I had left over for patches.

Rear seat foot well partially welded in. I finished up the welds, ground them down and had a few places that needed to be rewelded. It's all done & will post a few pics when I take them. I have moved on to the tail panel & trunk pan. Have to do a little patching on the end of the frame rail & bumper bracket mounting braces on the pass side. Pretty happy with the progress on my welding skills.

One tip that has nothing to do with the actual welds...Keep a squirt bottle of water or a fire extinguisher around. You'll be shocked the first time you set something on fire and don't realize it until you smell or feel heat.
When you have the welding helmet on you can get in a zone and not even realize you set some shop rag or magazine or something on fire.
Also, it can be enlightening (no pun intended) in the dark to shine a strong light behind your welds. You may see pinholes that you didn't know about.
Looks good!

Thanks for the tips Greg..I do have a fire extinguisher handy and will get a water bottle. Have used the light under the panel trick...Thanks Again!!

Rear foot well finished. I removed the upper bumper brace to do the trunk floor and opened the next can of worms.....have to replace a 5-6" section of the frame behind leaf spring mount.

Looks pretty good to me. Especially for a newbie. If you have any questions YouTube is a gold mine for instructional videos.