im new to the forum but ive been a stalker for a while. ive got a 54 f100 and i have been messing with it a bit and stuff. im wanting it to be a driver and not a show truck bc i dont wanna put all that effort and not get to enjoy it. one of the things i have been considering is welding up the seams, like on the back of the cab above the window. has anyone on here done that and if so, can you post some pics or point me to a thread about it? thanks for any help!

 

Hello, I am not a body man, but that seam is a pretty solid join I would think. Why not just lead the seam, it will work fine and be a lot simpler. Customisers have leaded seams for years. It is durable, not like fibreglass or bog.

 

Mine was welded by the PO. It came out really nice. I'll try and get some pics later today, weather permitting. If you go to my garage, there is one pic that kinda shows it. The one of it on the trailer. You might be able see it well enough.

 

Depends on how muck experience you have welding sheet metal. There is a significant risk of warping the daylights out of it if done incorrectly and with the flange type seam there is no way to repair it. Seam sealer makes a lot more sense.

 

Why?? What would be gained?? Clean it well and use seam sealer, JMHO.

 

aus, what is bog?

i would appreciate that so much, i want the smoothness of that. i dont really like the "break" of the seam in the lines of the truck cab. thank you


im not wanting to seal it, i am wanting to weld it up, smooth it out and be rid of the seam. to me, its not something i want to keep and it is purely cosmetic. i guess you can call me a darksider. lol but thats what i want!

 

Clean the seam well, a wire brush wheel on a drill motor works well. Once you have clean, bare metal showing on both sides of the seam (and into the seam itself) then you are ready to weld. I use a MIG with gas shielding. I lay out a number of tack welds about every 2 inches or so, let the metal cool and then repeat until the seam is all closed. There is a lot of metal where the seam comes together so not too much chance for warpage unless you really put a lot of heat into the weld...it can be done if you try to weld the whole seam at once though. I have seen these seams welded at only a few places along the length of the seam and then filled with panel adhesive to complete the fill...this seems to work just as long as you leave enough room above the fill to cover the seam with body filler to sand flash prior to priming and paint.

 

Dav54effie, bog is simply your everyday plastic body filler that you would be familiar with.



This Holden has had the seams between the rear guards and the body shell filled. Lead wiping has been used to do this for decades and gives a far stronger and durable result than fibreglass or body filler. It is pretty straightforward to do, and can be taken out readily if the guard needs to be taken off for repair.

I appreciate that you are not likely to take the top of your cab off for repair. It just seems to me that with a seam as solid as that one on your cab, the lead is easier to do than welding and is not likely to fail due to flexing.

 

I welded mine. I like the look.

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+1 on that. Lead filler will take less than half the time and is easily reversible if needed.
Plus, no matter how slow you weld the seam, the weld metal WILL distort (Shrink) causing a depression right at the edge of the heat affected zone. You have to get the metal hot enough to melt in order for the deposited metal to penetrate. When it cools, it shrinks. It's just the nature of welding steel. This shrinkage requires grinding, then body filler. Or just excessive grinding, (Cheating LOL) which would weaken the joint at the edge of the weld, (Knife Edge, thin spots, etc.) not to mention if you slip up with the grinder you're back to body filler again to feather out low spots you made with the grinder.
The other option is a massive amount of time with a hammer and dolly peening out the weld zone/parent metal boundry. Expert level metal finishing for those allergic to lead and plastic.

The PO that did mine used the Mig weld, grind the weld more or less flush with the parent metal, then fill with plastic method. Like I said, it came out very nice, but if it was me, I'd have gone the lead route. And I'm a 30+ year veteran welder. I weld sheetmetal everyday for a living.

And you just never know when some dummy is going to drop something heavy on your roof and oil can it.

 

Thanks,71mach351! Now I don't have to go out in the cold and wind to take pics of mine!

Very nice job too.

 

thats exactly what i am wanting to do! i really like the way that looks, sooth and clean. you just did spot welds all along it?

 

I welded the entire seam, took a grinder to it , then body filler. Lots of block sanding and epoxy primer. I also did the cowl seams and welded in the vent screws on the passenger side. It gives that area a nice smooth look.

 

Ok. I messed with it a little last night and it turned out not to bad. The reason I'm not doing lead is bc I don't have all the supplies for that and I have a welding machine and I have done a few patches on the truck already so I've got a little practice. But what I did to it last night would take just a little bit of filler to smooth out.

 

Just a question about the lead but I thought these new paint and primers wouldn't adhere well to it?Even the old cars it seemed like that was the first place to go.