Bob Drake now sells polished stainless steel 1940 Ford Car bumpers...comes without bolt holes. Stainless studs are welded on the back side leaving the face smooth, for a clean look. I have a need for these for a car I'm building. I was wondering if welding two additional studs on the back of the ss bumper would cause discoloration or distortion on the front side?The bumpers are $475.00 each so I don't want to make a costly error. I'm guessing tig is the best welding method. A local welding shop would weld the two threaded studs on the backside.
Yes, will cause some discoloring fo face . If you don't warp it real bad ,stainless will polish back to a state that you won't notice from a few feet away. Jim
When using a tig process on ss, you will always experience "blue colors", this is normal, just have a guy that does polishing buff it to its natural ss gloss!----Don
Rusty, There is a little setup/positioning to do before welding the ss studs on the back side. I have to fabricate the brackets from mild steel. I'm utilizing 5 mph impact shock absorber system that involves some geometry first. I had planned on tac welding the studs with my mig, and then taking the bumper to a local welding shop for tig welding.
Yup 308l will work. What is bracket thickness and what is bumper thickness. Brackets should also be stainless. T
I can spend another $275.00 for the ss bumper brackets but don't see the importance. The bumper and brackets are both .205" stock hard rolled milled edge.
Your familiar with the stud gun they use in panel shops to pull out dents,yeah,well they use a larger one inthe structural steel industry,give them a try ! Gaz!
FYI.....it's best to weld the stud to a 2"X2" steel plate then weld that plate to the bumper, that way when tightening the nut the pressure is on the plate and less likely to pull the stud away or bend the bumper.......jm 2cents.
I'd go with a 309 tig rod for welding stainless to mild steel, it'll hold up a little better than the 308. when you weld it have an air hose handy, after you make a weld hit it with the air to cool it down a bit, this will keep it from potentially warping due to slower cool down. -make sure to have good penetration otherwise you may develop some cracks in the weld. if you have a fine stainless brush handy you can brush the welds while their still fresh and that'll clean up the bluing. there's a paste you can get at the welding store, i think its called blue away that if brushed on with the stainless brush will help clean up the bluing easier. have fun!
If you choose to weld the studs directly to the bumper, do this: cut a short section of weld wire or a piece of small diameter aluminum wire. place this between the stud and bumper before you tack into positon, leaving a small gap. when the finish weld is done, the shrinkage of the weld will crush the wire, but not distort the bumper face as if the stud was placed directly on the back side.
309 is a very good choice also. By reading his post about welding there is not enough welding experience there for him to do it himself as he wouldn't be asking the question.Just take it to a shop that has an accomplished tig guy on the bench and you are done.Its not rocket science. T
Thanks for all the advice and suggestions.When it comes to TIG I am clueless. I spoke with the owner of the local established welding shop and he said he can weld the studs on. 309 tig rod is what I'll request he weld with. Here is the look I'm after. The 1940 Ford car bumper in stainless without bolt holes comes closest in style and dimensions (same width of 65-1/2" and almost same curvature).
I have foung that you can clean up some pretty bad areas of stainless by sanding and buffing. I have a 71 chevy convertable that had staples holding on the fabric where it rested in the windshield stainless, cutting deep groves into it through vibration. I sanded the SS using a DA, set to spin, starting with 60 grit. I carefully proceded to 180, then 360 then 600 then 1200 and finished it off with 3000. A little buffing with a cotton wheel and there is no trace of the marks. I have also welded SS and sanded as stated above with the same good results. You could even drill a hole through your bumper and plug weld it, and have no marks left except a possible different color if the materials and filler are not the same alloy. You can even hammer and dolly out dents in SS mouldings, followed by sanding and buffing. Always sand at right angles when going to a finner grit and then buffing. Buffing in the same direction as the scratches will not remove them! Been there, done that.
Thanks for the information Roger. Sanding at right angles makes a lot of sense. Appreciate the input.
here's mine......original henry PU bumper with bolt holes welded closed and bolts welded inside front & rear.
As was mentioned, welding is likely to cause some color differences in the metal that will be noticeable even after the area is metal finished. How noticeable depends on the materials, rod used, and the weld itself. Depending on the materials and the weld, it is possible for the welded area to loose it's stainless property and have a tendency to rust.
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