Now the real test..go stand on your new panel and see if it hold. If yes, then slightly bounce and see if it still holds...

 

Trust me.I pounded on that mother....its not going anywhere.
lol...I hope it is in the right place...

 

Good, now come do my cowl for me...

 

No problem, if your within a few hours of me..I am there...but after I get mine done...lol
one thing I know for sure...I am so happy I bought a air chisel...I think I will sleep with it tonight.

 

Alrighty then..the first of 2 dances are complete.
I have replaced my passenger side floor pan.
My first time welding, so I dont think its all too bad...at least I am happy
I had hoped to finish both sides, but I spent alot of time making sure everything was just right, I measured twice and cut once, I worked very carefully, and I think it shows in my finished results.
Here is a pic of the floor pan, completed.
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...95_22_full.jpg
I had a rocky start, the steel in the car was of a different gauge than the practice pieces, so this it what my welds looked like to begin with.
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...95_21_full.jpg
As the day progressed I started getting the hang of it.
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...95_20_full.jpg
The last picture is to show penatration, in my scouring of th internet for welding info I was led to believe that penatration is a pretty good indication of the weld quality.
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...95_23_full.jpg

So....How did I do?

 

This may be a dumb question. So you do short beads every 3-4 inches to avoid the metal getting too hot. Do you then go back and run beads between the cooled down welds? Every inch of the seam gets welded just not all at one time?

 

Yepper, that's exactly how you do it.

 

Well...To beginwith I just srtung together spots, like this:
Center top, center bottom, then side to side, then corners, then back to the top and put a spot between 2 spots. I contunued like this until the gaps were only 2-3 inches apart, then I took a break.
I was then able to run a bead from spot to spot.
In some areas, where I knew there were a few layers of steel to weld to, I just continued the bead along.
Everytime I stopped, I pounded the weld and surrounding area with a hammer, and that layed the metal back down.

 

That's how you do it. I have a chipping hammer with a coil spring for a handle so it doesn't get hot. The crust has to come off.

 

I guess if you have a lot of welding to do, it may be worth buying a MIG welder. Any brand recommendations and minimum amps?