Chassis welding

Going to put a new R/H rear of tank outrigger on, does anyone know if any wiring runs along the R/H section of the chassis? Being the tube its quite small so I think I should be able to keep heat dissipation to a minimum, even if it means welding it in several passes.

I also noticed the chassis is not that thick and was wondering what electrode size and current any of you had found to be the most effective. Is the steel quite thin, how likely am I to blow through the metal?

Thanks

YES YES YES

I did mine last week and melted a wire

Personaly if i had to do again i would unplug at the read of the chassis and pull the loom out WITH a peice of rope attached to make it easer to pull back when your done.

Regarding electrodes i think Mr Arther negus can help loool


Can you not get a mig welder to do it with ??

Drag the loom out of the chassis and put it somewhere else, the inside of a L/R chassis is a horrible place with lots of sharp edges to blow fuses on.

I take it the loom in there runs all the tail light electrics, do they all have conectors, what outrigger were you welding bellautos?

Regarding the mig welder, I suppose I could rent one, I have a stick welder so naturaly I am just wanting to use that, is there a lot of bad feeling towards stick welding this chassis piece?

Disco

Yes it runs the rear lights ,
and yes i was also welding the rear tank tube/outrigger back on the chassis just the same as you .

The rear lights are pluged in so its no hastle realy to remove the wires.

regarding the arc welder some people strugle with these some manage ok ,, i think it realy depends on how good you can use it and what the chassis is like for rust.
Give it a whirle it may go all ok .

Right I will pull the lights out, cheers for this information... it may have saved me a lot of bother! Where will I pull them from though, at what point do they go into the chassis?

Regarding the stick welder I can use it fairly well, however I may have sourced a gassless MIG, so I would rather have a nice low current, and just make a few passes rather than risk any holes. Don't even think I will risk "trying" the stick welder. I have never MIGed, I hear its easier than stick, should I pick it up quickly enough?

Will let you know how its goes and if I get a MIG sorted out.

Mig is easy! I bought a nice MIG welder a few weeks back to join back up the rear body x member on a 110CSW, next the rear xmember. I havent done any significant welding for 20years and just practiced for a while on spare material playing with the wire speed and current. Different thicknesses too. Material must be squeaky clean though.

The LR chassis is 2.0mm thick so try practicing on similar and you can get your speed right to get the penetration right first and look at both sides. Try the same type of joints that you will need in the same positions etc. You can practice upsidedown before too. Might help.

The best thing for my welding was a electronic welding mask. I got a Parweld helmet for £65. Wow ! you can hold the torch with both hands, you can see what you are doing really clearly, before I got that I got so frustrated lying under a vehicle, put the torch in the right place, shut visor and weld off the joint...the visibility of a fixed mask is not adjustable, with backlight from around your head it was hard to see enough. Unfortunately with gasless you will see much less because of the smoke / shield.

Try mig-welding.co.uk a really helpful site. Some comments on gasless too.

I was putting great fat smooth slugs of weld down within 10 minutes and butt joints in 2.4 and 1.5mm material were reasonably easy and looked great (on a bench) The MOT man said the xmember looked like a proper job and I didnt even hide it with underseal like in the dim and distant past. AndyC

I now have a gasless MIG welder which I have a loan of for a week or so.

I have been laying some welds, I can deffinatly lay a neater weld with the stick welder, however I was welding some old steel from an old tumble dryer, and managed to create a good weld and strong, similar; infact thinner metal than I will find on the chassis.

I will get the part ordered up tomorrow, and get it done next week, I take it the best way to do it would be to cut the old one off, then fasten the new one into position on the tank/seatbelt anchor, get it as level as I can, and weld it up. Will the tank sag a lot when I take the ourigger off, should I jack it up so it cannot fall any?

Also, the last one I had done for me my friend had to slice the old one down the middle, then batter it in to the old hole, is this the way you guys do it?

http://www.esabna.com/EUWeb/MIG_handbook/592mig11_7.htm
have a nosey at this site it should help you with yer mig

The tank will drop down, the front is rubber mounted on one bolt.

GRUNT said:

The tank will drop down, the front is rubber mounted on one bolt.

Click to expand...

I will get a scissor jack under it and have the fuel low when I do it next week.

Cheers for all the advise and help. If I make a mess of it now I have no excusses!

Job went pretty much to plan, the welds are strong, I jacked the car up a bit on the outrigger to listen for any welds giving - not very neat unfortunatly, think I will either grind them and tidy them, or just fill them out with more weld or pack them up with body filler so the MOT man thinks they look good.

Cheers for all the help...

crips!! he knows the secrets of good welding already.