Thread: 55 Wagon Progress

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Great repair, that looks untouched! I purchased a new welder last spring and it's driving me nuts. It has way too much splatter and I can't get it to quit. I've tried everything except running into it. So I routinely switch back to my old welder which is a Miller 180. New welder is a nutech 260.

Thanks for these welding posts. They will be a great help to me when I get back to the 34 fenders.

Jack.

Some more cleanup work on the roof weld, didn't get much for in process pictures, but then this part gets pretty boring anyhow...








Inside...





I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out this time. Still has some metal bumping needed to address some highs and lows, which we'll work on next time in the shop, as well as welding in the last pieces of the lift gate..

That looks amazing! I guarantee if I were doing this repair it wouldn't be getting boring. You guys would be like, wow, uh, ok.

But think of the entertainment value!

Today my nephew Chris worked inside the wagon to clean up some of the welds...





Before closing up the lift gate, we have a couple more items to cross off the list. A rubber bumper gets installed at the bottom in case the gates are closed in the wrong order, you won't scar up the paint on the top of the tailgate...

The old sample only had one good hole location for us to use...














Next, the floating nut plate was plug welded to the bottom....





With that done, we could prep for closing up the bottom. In order to use the spot welder along the bottom seam, we needed to clean off some epoxy primer where the spot welds would be located. Used and even spacing of 2" and marked both flanges...








In order to remove as little epoxy primer as possible, we decided to use the modified plug weld drill bit (the flattened one) over all the errant marks a roloc sander would make. In order that the flat drill bit didn't walk all over the place, another specialized tool was made....














Here's another close up of the modified bit...





.....and the "prepped" flanges...








Ends tacked in place, and spot welded the bottom flanges together...

I really enjoy seeing the development of the "special tools", and that you take time to rationalize the need for them. Thanks for posting.

You'll notice I used that high quality pair of pliers, too!

A bit more welding today.......








Cleaned up....








Other side.....














Only thing left on this piece is the plug welds in the window opening. Need to put the rubber on the window glass and fit it to the opening to see if this part needs shifting prior to welding...





This might even work....

I have an old pair like those, now I know what to use them for, thanks

your idea was better than mine I used vise grips to hold a nut in place to drill thru

Great work. I like to see others using a cut off wheel to grind welds down. That's how I was taught. I thought it was so dumb at first but then realized why my boss had me doing this.

Not much progress to show, but I did test fit the rear window, and finished the plug welds.

Cleaning the epoxy out of the holes...











Welds cleaned up.....

Beautiful work as always. Its always a pleasure looking at your work buddy.

As mentioned before, I love the welding posts. Every time I try something I've seen here or elsewhere and it works it gives me more confidence in my own skills.

Jack.

Thanks for the comments guys.

My nephew Chris stopped by to help this morning so we decided to work on the roof a bit. Added a guide coat and skimmed across it with the vixen file to show the high spots...








To help keep inside and outside guys on the same page, some reference marks were added from the door opening back, on inside and outside of the roof.





Worked the highs and lows, and thought we'd compare it to the other side. Making a profile template to match the good side...








Shown at about 6, 12, and 18". We're getting close..

In the latest issue of Rod & Custom, June2014, there is an article starting on page 66 of the repair of the door reveal on a 32 Pickup door. It had been hit by a fork truck and the repair had left much to be desired and since no one makes repo panels they decided to cut up another door for the patch panel. I have a sneaky hunch that you could have made one. Shame on Rod & Custom.