Once the patch piece has been tacked into place, the battle with heat warping the metal begins. The tin on these fenders is only 22-gauge and that is some pretty thin stuff. If too much heat builds up in the surrounding metal, it will warp. The best method I found for stitch welding is taking your time! I tack welded the panel in two places then blasted the welds with compressed air. Only when the metal was cool to the touch did I use the welder again. Weld, blast with air, let cool, repeat. After the rubbing, a Sharpie marker is used to trace the outline. Now I can handle the metal without fear of rubbing away the crayon wax. Of course, the pattern is a little bit big; the rubbing that was made traces the contour of the outside of the hole, the patch panel needs to fit just inside the hole.After the rubbing, a Sharpie marker is used to trace the outline. Now I can handle the met Since I needed two panels for both fenders, the patch piece (once it was shaped and trimmed) was traced onto another piece of metal for the other side.Since I needed two panels for both fenders, the patch piece (once it was shaped and trimme About an hour later (yes it is time consuming), the patch piece is fully stitched in and ready to be ground and smoothed. When it comes to grinding, heat build up is a big concern.About an hour later (yes it is time consuming), the patch piece is fully stitched in and r The driver's side panel: The same methods were used to weld in the new piece of metal, but we used different grinders and that made all the difference with heat build up.The driver's side panel: The same methods were used to weld in the new piece of metal, but When the welds were ground down on the passenger-side fender, I made the mistake of using my electric grinder with an 80-grit flapper disc. Yes, it worked, but the heat build was so intense the panel warped. I spent another hour with the hammer and dolly straightening it back out and it is still not perfect. After all that careful welding and cooling, the grinding undid all my work. Avoid using a flapper disk and grinding wheel, they will build up too much heat for this thin-gauge metal. The electric grinder is better suited to grinding welds on frames and other heavy gauge metal. « | 1 | 2 | 3 | » | View Full Article By Mike Harrington Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!
