Thread: Stich welding?
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Old 06-27-2008, 01:00 PM   #48
GSXRJJordan
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^^^ Not complete.

Home Depot rents the welder and mask for $40/day, or $25/4hrs. It took me two full days. The wire was about $10.

Stitch weld every seam you see, from strut tower to strut tower - everything after that is marginally effective, if you've got strut tower bars installed.

Start in the passenger compartment with everything taken out. Like I said earlier, you'll need a wire wheel or lots of sandpaper ('coarse' wire wheel on a corded drill works WAY better than anything else) to get the "glue" shit and paint off of the surfaces. Then I wiped it down with acetone/denatured alcohol.

When I did the welding, I was worried about heat warping the metal (its very thin). I did single, pea-sized beads about an inch apart, and only 6 inches at a time or so. This worked out well because I'd wire wheel a section, clean it up, weld it, and repeat, making sure that I was never welding in one area too much. I saw no signs of warping on any of the panel ends, which would curve/warp first (before the panel itself).

Afterwards, I cleaned the area with acetone again, then sprayed it with automotive primer to seal it.

In the engine bay: Firewall seams, strut tower->fender tops, strut tower->inner fender bottoms-> frame rails. Basically, anywhere you see a seam, grind the glue off and weld it.

In the passenger compartment: Footwells -> firewall (you can do the whole seam if the dash is out), "seat hump" up and over the tranny tunnel, from side to side, front and back, door seams (all the way around), rear seat side area seams.

In the trunk: Strut towers all around, and the seams on the top near the trunk lid.
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