did you check the 3 dark spots at the bottom??????????? i striped the paint and had spots like that on the bed side of my truck the metal felt strong but in 2 years they turned into holes.

Thanks for the kind words guy's. Yes the three dark spots received a small coupon to make repairs. I leave no stone unturned when it comes to doing this type of work. It was really strange as those dark spots which are rust pits formed right at the end of the rocker molding holding junk in there. The repairs made like this will out last the car, that's why I do them in the first place. Besides paint costs are so crazy that I don't want any comebacks from blistering.

To answer your questions concerning the hammer welding technique. First of all you are not going to do high end metal work using the mig welding process, well I shouldn't put it quite like that. Yes it the cats pajamas for certain aspects of the trade but the only thing I use mine for is floor pans where I need a lot of filler metal coming off as fast as possible so that I can make good time stitching up the seam. And yes I can do some pretty amazing things with my mig but I have many years of experience however the weld joint becomes unworkable because it it so hard. If you try working the panel afterward it will almost always crack out right where the edge of the weld meets the base metal. Now I do prefer my acetylene torch or my tig welder. That is where the small welds come from. I set the joints up pretty tight and just fuse them together. Then you can file them down instead of using coarse grinding discs. The welds using tig or gas are malleable so that you can work the panel afterward. Hammer welding is a very good way to control your distortion as you are welding up the joint. It is welding, stop and hammer the weld as it cools down and then welding some more. After lots of practice you will get the hang of it and figure out what to do. I guess the biggest thing with all of it is practice. Hopefully this will get you going.


And yes I am still making aluminum bumpers for everything Mopar! Thanks. JC.

great work!


Dave

Nice stuff. I have some rust free road runner fenders that have the inner bracing and miscellaneous flanges cut off the headlight bucket are, being an ex race car. They need surgery and I have a good set of donor fenders for the pieces. I have yet to find the surgeon to do the work. Wish you were close to Mass......

Wow, that's fantastic work.

I've had some metal unbent and cleaned up by Joey, pictures don't even come close to doing justice.
It's more art then it is labor.

Very nice work. Agree with you on the MIG weld, very tough to work.
What rod do you use with the Acetylene?
Mark

I forgot to post some of the backside showing 100% weld penetration with absolutely no grinding needed. And Mark I think that I use something like an ER70S-2 copper coated filler wire in a .030 dia. It is de oxidized rod and I have never used anything else. JC.

holy smoke,beautyfull work,i want to learn more,those backside welds in the picture above,are those made with gas or with tig,no protecting gas on the backside?

Thanks guy. Yes those are backside shots of the weld and they are tig welded even though the gas welds are identical. No I don't use anything on the backside, they just come out that way. I have heard of guys using backside gas but this works for me. Maybe some applications will require extra gas. I even gas weld my aluminum sheet as well instead of tig for the same reasons. Nice pliable weld joints. JC.

Hey QC thanks for the few welding tips can't wait to try them!!