Weld Seams?

[JimKueneman]

On the Dodge A100 there are a number of seams where the body panels are spot welded internal leaving a line on the outside. I have been thinking about welding these all and smoothing the body out. The main reason is I’m nervous that without splitting and blasting all these body lines, or dipping the body that there is a risk of rust stains or bubbles from moisture intrusion from the rear. What do you think?

 

[zachm]

On the Dodge A100 there are a number of seams where the body panels are spot welded internal leaving a line on the outside. I have been thinking about welding these all and smoothing the body out. The main reason is I’m nervous that without splitting and blasting all these body lines, or dipping the body that there is a risk of rust stains or bubbles from moisture intrusion from the rear. What do you think?
View attachment 24611ive worked on a car that were dipped and had to fix iy 10years later that thing was blowing up in every seam on the truck. it was a bronco. i feel like there is no way to get corrosion protection back into those seams.. unless you dip the whole car in an e coat bath. thers a company that does it i think it is about 20k. i feel like the only "correct way would be to pull it apart blast seams epoxy and put back together but thats pretty labor intensive.

 

[RenewAP]

Dip the whole thing in POR15, I've seen nothing but positive comments on the forum !!!

 

[Chris_Hamilton]

Jim, I think that if it's dipped correctly then there would be no issues. If you went that route and could find a place that does electrolytic rust removal dipping, the base is just water. So it would not contaminate. The other dipping processes are pretty good as well and they rinse it enough that seepage really shouldn't be an issue.

If you blast it thoroughly and then epoxy any rust trapped in between the seams will be trapped by the epoxy and should not be a real issue. Most cars that get blasted will have rust between the spot welded panels and never be an issue. Using epoxy makes it even less of one.

Re-reading your question I see you are concerned about the seams like on the rear of the bodyside? I think if blasted or dipped correctly then epoxied it would not be an issue. Especially if you could seam seal it from the backside. Cosmetically it would look a lot nicer without that seam there though.

 

[MP&C]

Have you taken delivery on "truck projects I'm not working on", number 2? I would drag my feet and see if that other truck is a better use of your time. Since you have a choice....

 

[JimKueneman]

Have you taken delivery on "truck projects I'm not working on", number 2? I would drag my feet and see if that other truck is a better use of your time. Since you have a choice....

I’m selling one, keeping the other. The other is in better shape.

 

[Big Dave]

Jim, I think that if it's dipped correctly then there would be no issues. If you went that route and could find a place that does electrolytic rust removal dipping, the base is just water. So it would not contaminate. The other dipping processes are pretty good as well and they rinse it enough that seepage really shouldn't be an issue.

If you blast it thoroughly and then epoxy any rust trapped in between the seams will be trapped by the epoxy and should not be a real issue. Most cars that get blasted will have rust between the spot welded panels and never be an issue. Using epoxy makes it even less of one.

Re-reading your question I see you are concerned about the seams like on the rear of the bodyside? I think if blasted or dipped correctly then epoxied it would not be an issue. Especially if you could seam seal it from the backside. Cosmetically it would look a lot nicer without that seam there though.

Isn’t electrolytic rust removal “line of sight”? If so, it may not be worth your while in hard to get to areas.

 

[JimKueneman]

I should clarify this. There is nothing special on one vs the other in this regard. The damage was done by the foam on this one. This is a general question for that type of construction for an Az type car. A rust belt vehicle I don’t see how you not dip it.

 

[Chris_Hamilton]

Isn’t electrolytic rust removal “line of sight”? If so, it may not be worth your while in hard to get to areas.

I'm far, far, from an expert, but from what I was told it reaches everywhere. Multiple anodes maybe? IDK. There are not many places though in the US that do it.

 

[Lizer]

I'm far, far, from an expert, but from what I was told it reaches everywhere. Multiple anodes maybe? IDK. There are not many places though in the US that do it.

Electrolysis is line of sight.

 

[Chris_Hamilton]

Electrolysis is line of sight.

I realize that. I think that multiple anodes are used to overcome that. Ive seen one that was done with the process and it was really clean. Not a trace of rust in the seams from what i could see. Like I said I'm no expert and it seems that other processes like chemical dipping are far more common. I think the amount of time that the body has to sit in the tank is one of the biggest drawbacks.

 

[chevman]

I think you are right Lizer when doing it at home, but the commercial strippers do something different and I couldn't say what that is.
I've had a lot of stuff cleaned at American Metal Cleaning in Toledo and it will clean inside of the doors, but it depends on how bad the rust is in the hard to get at areas. If the rust isn't too bad it will pull it out of the seams. Nomad tailgates only have this small hole to get inside.

 

[Lizer]

I realize that. I think that multiple anodes are used to overcome that. Ive seen one that was done with the process and it was really clean. Not a trace of rust in the seams from what i could see. Like I said I'm no expert and it seems that other processes like chemical dipping are far more common. I think the amount of time that the body has to sit in the tank is one of the biggest drawbacks.

Yeah, but it really will only reach everywhere if you have multiple anodes. I have a little electrolysis tank at home constructed of a 5 gallon bucket for small parts and I have 5 anodes wired together all around the bucket so there's always a direct line of sight with an anode. I do zinc plating at home too and it's similar. Plating ashtrays are difficult because the inside of the ashtray doesn't plate very well.

 

[chevman]

I had a whole body done and it was soo worth it. It depends on the operator though. AMC does excellent work, with no damage.

 

[JimKueneman]

There is a place in Phoenix but it’s about $7000. I don’t restore cars worth more than 20–30 so that hard to justify.