Nana Spec 69' 510

[Draker]

Not too bad, but room for improvement. I've had success with small gauge wire and also I found when spot welding like this: I spread spot welds out across the patch, wait for it to cool. Then I weld right on the edge of a weld and the panel at a 45 degree. then keep spreading it across the panel. Doing helps me not blow through the panel. Also having an air nozzle close by to help cool the panel down is helpful.

[slowlearner]

I'll try that next. I'm going to do some more practice first. I've been at the welding shop this morning. Bought a new mask as we discovered the old one I had was truly knackered. Hopefully that should help. The old one was free and owed me nothing anyway so I'm not sad.

 

 

[Draker]

50 minutes ago, slowlearner said:

I'll try that next. I'm going to do some more practice first. I've been at the welding shop this morning. Bought a new mask as we discovered the old one I had was truly knackered. Hopefully that should help. The old one was free and owed me nothing anyway so I'm not sad.

 

 

 Oh yeah a good mask makes a big difference. I was using a harbor freight (Chinese) auto darkening mask for years. It was difficult to see and yet my eyes would be fatigued after each use no matter the setting. I paid up for a nice one and could see much better and no issues with my eyes.

 

turns out if you can see what your doing, it makes welding easier. Who would have thought?

 

good luck and keep posting your progress. 

[vanmansam]

Another plug for my favorite body work youtube channel.  This video is great and well worth the time, should help you get the welder set up.  and as others have said do a small tack, move somewhere else, wait, come back.  Stitching panels together takes time. 

[Draker]

This is a good video about butt welding in patch panels. specifically pay attention around the 9:00 mark. Great tip there!

 

 

[slowlearner]

On 7/8/2020 at 12:59 PM, Draker said:

This is a good video about butt welding in patch panels. specifically pay attention around the 9:00 mark. Great tip there!

 

 

 

Yeah, thanks for that. I've actually tried this. The issue is that the metal is too thin relative to the cutting disk. So on heavier gauge steel it works well. On the thin stuff our dattos are made of, it leaves too big a gap... and you know how that ends. 😞 

Edited July 9, 2020 by slowlearner

[slowlearner]

Just back from a week of holidays in the country. Still got a week of leave left to get the car ready for rego. Started on some more welding practice this morning. It's finally looking decent. Just need to get a new air gun for my compressor so I can practice cooling the panel down between spots.

[Draker]

That’s looking a lot better!! Good work.

[slowlearner]

8 hours ago, slowlearner said:

Just back from a week of holidays in the country. Still got a week of leave left to get the car ready for rego. Started on some more welding practice this morning. It's finally looking decent. Just need to get a new air gun for my compressor so I can practice cooling the panel down between spots.

 

Thanks, it's almost as good on the back too. I'm going to cut across the whole panel and weld it back together using compressed air to cool the welds down. Then I'll have a go at the real panel.

 

In other news, I was having a look at the heater fan wiring tonight. Fiddling with the switches and the like too. I haven't been able to make it work since I got the car and I need it for rego. I was all set to pull the dash apart and when I turned the accessories on I could hear the fan running!

 

Fiddled with the switch a bit more and all the speed settings work now too. Pretty pleased with that. 😀

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by slowlearner

[slowlearner]

Pulled the failing alternator out. Hmm, not exactly a bolt in solution. I don't exactly know what to change over. Thoughts?

[slowlearner]

Ok, I'm an idiot coz...

 

B = battery

D = dashboard

😂

 

Now to translate 51yo wiring.

[slowlearner]

I've done plenty of practice today.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CC5E7ugn58U

 

I wanted to test what putting weld through primer on the back would do. The good news is it worked out ok.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CC5WAPrnrWP

 

Everything went well except for 2 things...

1. I ground the welds back a bit too far.

2. I din't put quite enough heat into the initial welds so they didn't penetrate as far as I would have liked.

 

I had another practice to deal with issue no.2. I basically just need to hold the gun on for a little longer. So with that done I'm ready to start cutting up a very expensive repair panel. This is the bit I'm not looking forward to. I'll spend a LOT of time measuring then cut. Speaking of which, I've decided I'm going to cut the original panel a bit higher. It'll give me better access to the back of the panel and I won't need to perfectly match a line on the bumper recess. So tomorrow is d-day for the panel.

Edited July 21, 2020 by slowlearner

[chukar]

Is it best to leave a small gap between the panels prior to welding?  That way when you grind it smooth there would be more of the weld puddle remaining.  In some of your photos it looks like there is a gap and others it looks like the panels are touching.  I'm a novice welder and haven't done any work on body panels so I'm following your process.  I know when I weld thicker material and plan on grinding it smooth material I will bevel the edges so more of the weld remains.  Keep up the good work.

[Lockleaf]

The same guy who did the butt welding video (fittzees fabrications) has another video on patching around complex corners and a video on setting up a welder for sheet metal from scratch.  Both might be worth a watch for some extra knowledge before the final attack.

[slowlearner]

18 hours ago, chukar said:

Is it best to leave a small gap between the panels prior to welding?  That way when you grind it smooth there would be more of the weld puddle remaining.  In some of your photos it looks like there is a gap and others it looks like the panels are touching.  I'm a novice welder and haven't done any work on body panels so I'm following your process.  I know when I weld thicker material and plan on grinding it smooth material I will bevel the edges so more of the weld remains.  Keep up the good work.

 

Like most joins, the closer the gap, the better. Touching is best if you can manage it.

[slowlearner]

@Lachlan came to hang and help today. We got a lot done and the car finally has a quarter again...

 

 

I spent a lot of time measuring and grinding today. I might have mentioned I was planning to cut higher but I changed my mind so that half the repair is hidden behind the bumper. 😉 Lachie got to watch me grind and measure, grind and measure over and over... Lucky guy. 😞

 

Before we tried welding it on the car, we did a test join on an offcut and boy I'm happy we did. The repair panel was like welding a coke can. However, all the practice paid off and I only had 2 blow throughs. Both are fixed and even the penetration I've got on the back is good. In fact, the best I've done so far. So I have a little more welding to do and I need to do a patch with the rear seam because the repair panel was a little too short would you believe. I guess that's the reality of repair panels. They're never quite 100%. So pretty happy with that. It's 7:30pm so I'll probably give it a rest til tomorrow. Don't want to tick off the neighbours. 

 

[slowlearner]

More done today. Panel is done and painted. The panel isn't perfect and neither is the colour, but for now it's done.

 

 

I'll probably repaint it when I can finally find the right paint code.

[Noll]

Looks really great! Nothing you couldn't smooth out with a bit more grinding/filler if you ever wanted to, and the visible part is behind the bumper anyway.

[slowlearner]

Alternator now working. Did some dodgy wiring. Lol. Before I put the exhaust back on I welded in a bung for the O2 sensor. Bumper is back on and I bled the back brakes. Took it for a drive up and down the street this morning. Starts ok. Drives ok, but it's bogging down off idle once it's warmed up. I'm about to buy some new plugs for it. I bet they're awful.

 

 

[slowlearner]

 

 

Just the accelerator pedal to put back in now. Then inspection time! 

[slowlearner]

You know what this means!

 

 

[slowlearner]

Of course I wasn't just going to drill self tappers into my floor again. So I made up a plate with m5 screws and painted it in situ to keep out the water.

 

 

[slowlearner]

I booked in my car for an inspection on Friday. The mechanic doing the inspection gave me a big spiel about how strict the inspections are these days. He saying, "It has to be 100% stock or it won't pass. They're really strict." When I told him it had an aftermarket exhaust I was told it needed to meet Australian Design Rules (ADRs) and needed an engineers certificate. Umm, yeahnah. Thing is the car is 1969 so it's pre-ADR (they came in in 1974). So here's hoping he's cool and sees it's straight and presentable. Otherwise it's gonna be a real pain. 😞 Not spending $800 bucks on an exhaust I'll take off straight away anyway.

[nad015]

FFS an engineers cert for an exhaust. 🙄

have you got a 5 speed with a custom gearbox mount? I’m guessing that will be a problem aswell!
 

[slowlearner]

21 hours ago, nad015 said:

FFS an engineers cert for an exhaust. 🙄

have you got a 5 speed with a custom gearbox mount? I’m guessing that will be a problem aswell!
 

 

Every part on the car is a Datsun factory part (with the exception of the steering wheel and gear knob). Least they all came out of the Datsun factory at some stage. If the guy goes all psycho on my, I'll just say, "don't worry mate" and go elsewhere. 

Edited July 28, 2020 by slowlearner