Technical Welding panels destroying flexibility ?

Putting the model A with SB Chev together,doing all the patch panels ; welding many of the sections together such as firewall, side cowl panels,sections of the roof etc . Now wondering if I, m not going overboard with the welding. One of the club members stopped by, said I was welding too many of the panels together,that the car was meant to flex and this might result in panels and seams cracking in time. I thought that welding panels together made the car stiffer and stronger Could this be a issue? where does one draw the line in welding panels together ? Gene

 

Are you **** welding the panels together or overlapping them? Should be **** welding and hammer welding them with a full weld. You weld a short section, then move to a different area and weld a section and work your way around attempting to keep the panel as cool as possible.

 

Shouldn't be a issue, definitely **** weld them though. Check out some threads on here done by Flop and the stuff he fixes, tons of welding. And a lot of other people that save some really rough stuff. Some good learning on here.

 

The more solid you can make the body the better. My model A's both have boxed frames and some of the seams welded, but I still get plenty of squeeks and rattles. I wish I'd done more bracing and welding.

 

You'd want a flexible body if it were on a flex able frame.

A solid or stiff body will stiffen the frame with Sheetmetal shapes

 

It sounds to me like the OP is saying that he is welding the body sections together not just the patch panels. If that is the case I think you'd start seeing stress cracks in the body panels in short order.
Norm

 

i do think there is a problem on a model a. It's just a metal box basicly

 

Could be, I just re-read the OP, and now I'm not sure. I got hung-up on "patch panels", but it does also read like he may be talking other seams that are normally "spot" welded.

 

A Model A frame has a lot of flex if it isn't boxed, if it flexes and the body doesn't it will stress crack. Not unusual to find stress cracks in Model A bodies. Welding seams that are spot welded won't really change the strength of the body.

 

There's a relationship between flexibility and strength.

Way back when my welding teacher taught us about a bulldozer blade that was incorrectly welded solid and kept breaking. So they repair welded it solid again but with multi-p*** bigger fillets and it broke even quicker.

 

The key to keeping your firm body from flexing will be to put it on a firmer frame. If the sheetmetal body has the rigidity and the frame flexes, your sheetmetal (or more likely the welds you did) will eventually crack. Right at the corners of the doors first, then places like the corners of the decklid.