Welding Body Seam Shut Tig/Mig

O

Outlaw

I posted this on a previous post, but never got any responses. This is a process listed on the Eastwood site under "Tips". This involves an original body seam where the seam has been factory spot welded in the flange of a seam. The two pieces of sheet metal being joined are flanged 90 degrees to the two pieces of sheet metal being joined, spot welded, then seam sealed.

In the article, it recommends wire brushing out the seam sealer and getting to bare metal. Then a tig filling rod the diameter equal to just under the depth of the seam is laid in the seam. With a mig welder set "hotter" than the thickness of the sheet metal being joined, you spot the rod in the seam. Then you come back over the seam and fill in with weld. The idea is to melt the tig rod into the seam with the mig filler wire, closing the seam. I have never came across this idea or heard of anyone using it. Not sure what the reason for using Tig filler rod with Mig wire would benefit. Just looking for opinions.
 
eastwood is the last place i would get info from . the filler rod is to keep you from blowing a hole in the void. personally i will not weld the seam on early trucks.
 
Shine, I hear you on Eastwood. When I googled "welding body seams shut" it was one of the hits. I dropped Eastwood from my sources several years ago. So back to the body seam question, is the reason you would not weld one of those seams shut because the seam has the potential of cracking due to flexing? Whenever I see a 56 f-100 with the body seam welded shut, I always look for a crack or flaw where the seam used to be. It seems like a real good place for a failure to come back and haunt you.
 
Eastwood typically only recommends a process if they have a tool or kit to pimp out. In most of the cases, it is a half assed repair they are promoting.

To my way of thinking, adding all that steel in there may pose the same "ghost line" issues as a flanged repair. You have a line of steel that is 4X or better in thickness over the sheet metal, expansion rates will be affected. For removing the pinch weld seams, I prefer to remove the flanges and butt weld the panels together, as seen in following post, with more lead seam removal options in that same thread
 
I have one butt weld at the bottom of the panel. Removing the flanges on the upper seam would result in two more butt weld seems, or 24 feet of butt weld. I would have to add an extra strip of sheetmetal to connect removed flanges. Not sure my heart or patience could survive that. I ageee on thickness of repair, regardless of filler material, ghost lines are a big risk.
 
i can not say what a weld would do. just never did that. i have leaded a few. but lead is softer and does not ghost back as bad. guess that's why it was so widely used. i will admit i have put lead on pretty heavy in the past. i was actually pretty good at it in my youth . but most everyone was.
 
When it comes to ghosting, is shinny black worse than other colors?
 
I feel so, but mostly because black shows more for one.. and two, it draws in a lot more heat.
 
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