Welding 201

With another week off, I planed to do the unthinkable, weld on the body pieces. I am by far not a welder, but the work has to get done. The first piece that has to be welded on is the fender repair piece. I chose to start with the driver side. Why the driver side? I could philosophize some wonderful explanations, but to be honest the welder could only be so far away from it's outlet and where the car was, I couldn't get to the other side.

Prepared Welding Area

With a liberal coating of weld through primer on the location, I was prepared to place the piece and begin. I had test fit the piece here probably about a dozen times in preparation for this day.

Prepared Replacement

The replacement piece was prepped as follows. The holes to weld in were punched with this wonderful pneumatic punch, which made a perfect sized whole perfectly spaced to help prevent burning out the side. Once the wholes were punched, the entire areas that would be welded were wire-wheeled to remove the black paint and were brought to shiny metal. Once that was done, the areas were sprayed with weld-through primer. Weld through primer doesn't burn up in the heat and can be welded on. Great stuff, hopefully it will prevent the areas from rusting through at the welds.

Positioned and Welded

The piece was carefully positioned, with anchor bolts to make sure the top line would be welded nice and snug for the final line weld. Each weld was carefully done, making sure I got a good weld to the metal underneath. Once the welding was complete, the door was put back on to make sure it would fit nicely. Overall, I am quite pleased with the piece, though getting the bolts out of the holes and out of the car was a PITA.