Thread: 55 Wagon Progress

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That looks amazing! I just got a new welder so now I have to practice to see what heat and wire speed to weld what. Anyhow, you do great work! Keep at it!

Thanks! I'd say your welder setup is key to getting the good results, good luck with it!

Moving on to the right side.....





Trimming the excess for the radius piece to fit in....








Trimmed to fit....





Welded in place...





Welds dressed





Yeah, I like this look much better!

Wish I had learned to weld like this...!

Beautiful work once again, Robert!!! What are you using to "dress" the welds in the small area?

Where I normally use a cutoff wheel to knock down the proud of the weld, this corner is much too tight for that, so the majority of the weld is removed with a carbide burr in the die grinder, then switched to a 3/4" dia sanding drum on the die grinder.

I was wondering if you used a carbide bit to finish those hard to get welds. Definitely top notch work!

Thanks! Not too much shop time this weekend (hey, it is Mother's day), but I did manage to test fit the tailgate to see how well it matched the new radiuses added to the opening.








There are a couple areas the gaps will need tweaking, but the "new" corners should help add to the other subtle changes.

Been a busy couple weeks working on honey do's, painted the inside of the garage so I could hang a canoe for storage, so I could paint the inside of the car trailer that it used to be stored in, so we could sell the car trailer. Late today, found a bit of time for the wagon, working on some of the plug welds for the rear valance....





The ones at the bottom attach to two braces underneath, and fitted the tailgate to pull in the valance to match the bottom of the tailgate...

Great work Robert, its' those little pieces that drive you nuts but they make all the difference in the world.

Worked today to finish up the weld seam on the passenger quarter panel. First, I wanted a profile template to check the crown of the panel. As the rear half of the driver's quarter was NOS, this would make a good template....














Adding an alignment mark to the quarter....











Using the profile template against the welded seam of the passenger side, we can see the low area along the center. This is a typical problem with using "half quarters", welding through the center of panel tends to flatten out this low crown area. A full quarter with the welded seam up top where there is a bit more crown tends to not have as much of a "flattening" effect.








Finishing the welds and checking with the profile template.....








Still shows some more crown needed through the middle of the panel, will do some more planishing tomorrow...

Next on the list for the wagon, the upper gate. It has a similar stance as the lower gate when closed, and as such, water lays along the inner window frame at the bottom.








Ice pick test....





The lower bend is fairly flat, going to a tipped flange in the form of an arc, the inside has some compound curves going to the window opening flange...














I'll get this bottom cut out next week and attempt to form it in one piece, flange to flange, for a easier job of replacing..

Very nice work, and cool little template you made up to check your quarter curvature!

Excellent metal work, Robert!

Thanks guys!

Took the upper gate off tonight...





My tool of choice for removing spot welds is a 3" x 1/16 cutoff wheel. I also use the premium wheels made for stainless steel. It's worth the extra money when you don't have a brown cloud in the shop, like the el cheapo wheels leave, nothing but resin wearing away.

The upper layer of metal will start to turn blue when it gets thin and hot, letting you know you're getting close to the next layer. When you have a blue circle with shiny metal in the center, you are now in the second layer, grind around the blue a bit more and pry the layers apart..





With all the spot welds removed, here's what we find inside...











Note the deep pits. The big problem with just welding a hole closed is you don't know where the next pit is lurking, ready to break through your new paint.





Funny, with all the rust and scale inside, then you find this area of bare steel nice and shiney..





The inside will get media blasted to insure there is no more lurking issues and then epoxy primered before re-assembly.


Here's a better look at the shape we'll need...

Spot welds can sure be a PITA if you're trying to save the outer piece. Nice work! I like the cut off wheel approach too.