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Wed Feb 18, 2004 6:29 am

The driver's foot area on my pan is the only bad spot I've found. A few dents and dings here and there but nothing that a hammer and dolly couldn't fix.

The floor by the driver's feet has quite a few pin holes and rust spots down in the troughs so I'm going to replace just that section of the floor. I'm trying my best to keep the German metal so I'd rather not replace the pan half. Should I lap weld the patch panel in or can I butt weld it. I'm concerned about safety and longevity but also esthetics. I don't want to look under the car and see the lap weld seem.

Wed Feb 18, 2004 10:18 am

Envious wrote: I don't want to look under the car and see the lap weld seem.
Unless you get a good donor section, the patch will look different anyway. So you'd cover that w/ some type of undercoating. Since you're doing that, why not lap weld? Sounds like you'd have good access to both sides, so protecting the welds shouldn't be a problelm.

But I'd say either method would be equally effective. Lap welding just means you can be less presice making the patch.

Wed Feb 18, 2004 10:33 am

The body is off the pan so access is not a problem. The chassis is going to be powdercoated when the metal finishing is done. I'm not going to undercoat it. The repair panel fits nicely and the ridges are very close to the original. Different, but only slightly.

Wed Feb 18, 2004 12:55 pm

i would say no to a lap weld. as clean and tight as you may get it, there will still be room where air and water will collect and rust. lap welds anywhere are a no-no imho.

get the replacement patches and cut to fit as tight as possible. cut it bigger than the hole you are patching and then slowly trim corners and angles until it can pop right in there. a good weld will be just as strong if not stronger than the metal itself. grind welds flush and apply small amounts of filler, sand to smooth and then powdercoat. it will be hard to see the difference once it is all said and done.

Wed Feb 18, 2004 1:04 pm

Mr Bungle. I've always heard that about lap welds and it makes sense. To be honest, I've only started welding in the past 6 months but I'm looking for perfect results. My only concern was the strength of a butt weld done by a hack like myself.