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Mon Mar 24, 2003 9:41 am

First off, I know nothing about welding and rust repair. I traded some parts for a clean roof. My roof is mostly good except for some crusty spots in the front corners where water leaks in. How hard is it to cut and paste these parts in? I would have someone do it for me, I just don't know how involved it would be.

Who could do this in the PHX area?

Mon Mar 24, 2003 7:53 pm

Using an angle ginder, reciprocating saw, dremel, etc.. all rust needs to be removed. Than small pieces (like a puzzle piece) needs to be fabricated using the same tools until the piece you made fits the hold you made. The best way is to butt seam everything. Takes a bit longer but the finished product is worth it big time. That means that all the edges butt together as opposed to lapping over (lap seams). Then using magnets, needlenose, or whatever, get those pieces exactly where they need to be then "tack" weld them in and adjust as you continue to tack weld all around. Use a mig welder, wire feed, with .023 wire, solid not flux core (this means with 75/25 Co2/argon gas set up) at lowest setting to keep from warping metal. Then go around piremeter tacking spot welds on the seam so that you don't build up too much heat in one given area. Continue until it is solid. Grid down with angle grinder and "self sharpening" flap disk at 40 grit or so. Go slowly with finess. Get as flat as you can and shine light from other side if possible to see the pin holes. Put a zap on each pin hole and grind again. You should be ready for a thin skim coat of quality water proof filler (like USG's "all metal")and feather edge and your sealer/high build primer. There, good for another 35 years.

Note: use original german donor metal when making your puzzle pieces. Wolfsburg west type panel metal will melt much faster than the surrounding original substrate making your welds sloppy, less reliable and with more warpage.

Hope that helped. Someone might as well learn from my 200 hours of that shit.

Doug

Mon Mar 24, 2003 8:02 pm

Correction:

"Than small pieces (like a puzzle piece) needs to be fabricated using the same tools until the piece you made fits the hold you made"

Should read:

Then small pieces (like a puzzle piece) need to be fabricated using the same tools until the piece you made fits the hole you made

Mon Mar 24, 2003 10:42 pm

"Cut and paste"??? Sounds like you've been on the computer too long. Are we talking about the "paste" that we used to use back in elementary school on art projects? That stuff sure did taste great! I think that welding might net you some higher quality and longer lasting results.

Tue Mar 25, 2003 3:08 pm

School paste is hard to grind too. It tends to fling all over the garage.

Tue Mar 25, 2003 3:11 pm

...but smells minty!