Thanks for the info!! Rosati, great work.. I'll be checking those photos out more closely when I get home..

 

That is very nice work Rosati... I've ordered a couple replacement wheel arches from raybucks, when they arrive I'll have at it...

 

I welded it in last night and it all looks pretty good. I am not happy with the quality of the patch pannel since it is not an exact match to the existing but will a little filler it out to come out nice.

I cut from the center of the concave body line on the top and from part way on the front of the wheel well on the front and through the gas tank door on the back.

If I were to do it again I would not cut part way through the weelwell, I would cut out the entire arch since that is the area where the patch is not an exact match.

 

Jpb,

My metal parts should arrive today and I will take a look at them and see if they match up.... Hopefully they will be close. I am going to try and keep the patch small... The wheel arch I ordered does not go all the way to the gas tank openings... But I figure I will cut a part out of the new panel and try and get it in... I'll have to take some snap shots as I go along..

Did you take any pictures of your repair, you could post?????

Thanks,
..FalconYT

 

FalconYT,
Save any unused sections of the repair panels. I just used the leftovers from a lower quarter section to rebuild door bottoms.

 

Do I have to sand off the coating that is on these wheel arches??? It's a black coating, before welding???

I'll definately save the scrap metal

 

Yup. After cleaning 1/2" or so at the edges on both inside and outside, I would recommend spraying all the bare metal with a weld thru primer on both sides of the panel before welding. You should be able to find the weld through primer at any auto paint or welding supply shop.

 

I looking at Eastwood right now and, should I go with a self etching primer or just get a regular sandable primer... or can I just sand the self etching... I am somewhat confused on what to use...

Prep metal, weld through primer on edges, weld Metal, grind down welds, light filler and then sand, then primer (etching or other)

Thanks for all the help everyone!

 

Sorry, I don't have any knowledge regarding etching primers. When I did my work, I used a weld thru primer, welded, ground and smoothed everthing out (note, the word smooth is used loosely, I'm terrible at bondo) and shot it with a two part primer. I used that type of primer from the recommendation of the auto paint store guys. I told them I was going to be working on the truck over a year or two (or 3) and they said that I should use a two part primer because it would seal better. Regular primers are porous and the panels would start rusting after about 4 months.

 

I ordered a can of etching primer, we'll see how that works and I also ordered the zinc weld through coating for tha back of the panels.... I've watched one of the instructional videos how how to use the mig welder and running beads, spot welding and different welds... Pretty cool, it helped a lot... The 2nd one has to do with autobody and welding...

Going to get the garage cleaned out and when the rest of the stuff comes in, here goes nothing..

 

OK, last bit of advice (if your garage is attached to the house). At my last house, the only place I had to work on cars was an attached two-car garage with a door from the garage to the kitchen. The first time I sprayed a car in the garage, I heard about it from the wife for weeks. Even though during the paint process, I didn’t open the door. Even though I waited until the paint had dried and opened the overhead door to air out the garage, the odor managed to get into the house. Granted, the wife was pregnant at the time and was very, very sensitive. So the next time I chose to paint in the garage, I taped all the seams to the door, including the bottom. I also taped a plastic sheet over the access to the garage attic. Before I started painting, I draped cheap drop clothes along all the walls and the overhead door. The idea was that any paint that was airborne will not get to any permanent surface and thus can be tossed away afterward. I didn’t remove the tape on the door until the garage had aired out for a few days. Although there still was a hint of paint fumes in the house, most likely brought in on me, the wife and newborn were much happier.

 

Thanks Weymouth, yup mines attached and the wife doesn't like fumes, been there and done that one already.. I'll be taping things up for sure... Thanks for all the help and I'll be back with the results as soon as I get started on it..

..FalconYT

 

I picked up an auto darkening welding window for my mask. It says's it's a number 10,.. The guy at the welding place says it will be fine for what I am doing...

How do these number ratings work???? I see there are adjustable ones out there from #9 to say #14.... Is that just lighter to darker????

..FalconYT

 

Depending on what I'm welding, I adjust the mask accordingly. Typically, it's set on 10, but if I've got my face right up close to the weld or if I'm doing aluminum, I'll turn it up to 11 or 12. You should be fine with a 10 shade. When I was hedging on whether to buy a auto darkening helmet with a fixed #10 shade or one with an adjustable one, the salesman told me that if I went with a fixed #10 shade and found on occasion that it wasn't dark enough, I could wear a pair of sunglassed underneath the helmet. I chose the adjustable one, not only to be able to adjust the shade value, but also adjust the reaction time for the mask to darken.

 

Thanks Weymouth, The number 10 actually okay. I bought the replacement shade for my regular helmet.... Not the whole helmet, if I get into it more I may replace the helmet..

I got the welder and actually tried it for the first time on some scrap metal and yup, it's gonna take practice... But I think I can manage the spot welds okay. I just have to get the heat and wire speed set for my metal thickness on those replacement arches...

I'll be snapping some pictures for sure..