A local truck enthusiast has a Cantrell bodied 1947 Dodge woody, believed to be one of five from that coach builder. The rear inner fenders were attached using nails into the wooden floor and the oak surrounding the wheel opening. Needless to say, wood, moisture, and metal do not make for a permanent situation. Here you can see the bottom 1-1/2" or so is lost where it was attached to the wood floor, with just slightly less metal lost to rust around the wheel opening perimeter. In removing the spot welds to get a more accurate pattern on the vertical piece, we noticed that the "surround" with the 1/4" fold was quick to return to flat. This led me to believe that this was not rolled or otherwise in order to maintain that form, so we will keep it flat and roll it around the vertical section. relying on the spot welds to hold the form. My spotwelder did not have tongs that would accommodate the 1/4" flange, so we opted for the Cass Nawrocki TIG method of spot welding. Here is the purpose built clamping fixture, with a sleeve to locate the welding cup. This video shows the method to our madness on a sample test piece. We did have to forego the 1/4" TIG cup as allowed the heat too close to the edge of the fold, causing burnback. Some 3L cups were sourced, another insert made for the locating sleeve, and we were in business. https://youtube.com/shorts/4EvzfJqRJd8?si=BZi9v1mwtzxW_dH2 These spot welds were done at 65 amps and about 6 seconds. We started at one end, clamped, spot welded, and pulled in the "wrap" and clamped for the next. Lather, rinse, repeat. A bead was added to the vertical pieces prior to welding together, and much like the originals imperfections, we matched the non-perpendicular attributes. :lol: All ready for the owner to paint and nail in place.
The Jalopy Journal
