Am I on the right track by using my Mig and just dropping spot welds far apart from each other, and working very slowly to prevent warpage? I just planned to blast the whole hood including the seam and fill the whole seam in with spot welds.
that's the way i've done it. i'll weld it outside in the sun.so the heat and cool down isn't that different.
Hey, Grind off all of the paint in the area of the seam using a new 36 grit disc first. Use of small welding rod, the o.d. of the seam gap ,will make the job of filling the gap go faster. Cover the low crowned flat areas of the hood panel with wet shop towels prior to any weld- ing. Make your first tacks at least two feet apart to begin with. Swankey Devils C.C.
I'm almost done with mine... I tacked a couple of braces underneath for good measure(might have been overkill) and just slowly, carefully stitched the two pieces together. Far as I can tell there isn't any warpage and I've been checking it with a contour gauge. -ns
Actually it's not a bad idea to weld some of the flange on the underside as well. At the very lest, it'll keep the lower part of the seam from wanting to spread causing your body work to crack if for some strange reason the hood twist's. By fully welding the top, and also getting some good weld's on the seam on the under side, it'll basically make the flange one solid piece top to bottom. Tony
Make sure whoever blasts the whole hood, if you really want to do that, knows what they're doing. I've seen many body panels like that ruined from blasting.
I was going to do the blasting myself. My plan with pretty much all the sheetmetal on the car is to strip the exterior panels with the stripping/cleaning pads I got from Eastwood, and then use the sandblaster on the back side and tight spots of the panels. I figured I would drop the pressure down and go easy on anything that might warp. I wish there was one of those soda balsting or dip strip joints close to me but I don't think there are. Thanks for all the info from everybody!! I really appreciate the help.
I like the idea of welding the underside together in a few spots also. I'd punch several holes through both parts of that inside seam and then weld the holes up. you going to peak it? use a piece of solid rod that fits your idea of a peak and weld that in, slow and steady. I think if I were going to do it I'd do it over like a couple of days. don't forget you can also warp it during the grinding process. when I grind welds I use the edge of a thick (1/16?) cut-off wheel. this way you grind only the weld and are not thinning the sheetmetal while trying to grind down the weld, and the heat is kept to a minimum.. even so move around and keep touching it with your hand.. don't let it get too hot to touch I like that thing down the middle of the hood and am going to keep it on my car.
If you are thinking that you are welding slow enough you are still going to fast. Slow down tacks very far apart to avoid warping.
The Jalopy Journal
