SuperBeetles.Com

Rust Repairs and Welding
By Brian Mason

All of us that own a classic car have run into the four letter word, I'm talking about R-U-S-T. The thing is rust kills and it will kill your car if left alone. The first thing you have to do is stop the rust. If its not bad the repair is simple, wire brush the area, coat with Por-15 and then paint. If you have bad rust that affects the structure of the metal the repair requires some skill with fabrication and welding. First you’ll have to cut the rusted metal out then weld in replacement metal .

Check to see how bad the damage is. Clean the area real good, then take a screwdriver and poke around. If the metal feels soft or even worse the screwdriver goes through, you’ve got a big problem.

If the rust is bad cut it out. Keep cutting until you reach good solid metal. Cutting can be done with an array of tools but if you can afford it a Plasma Cutter works best. But, if you’re like most of us and can’t drop $600+ on one then you’ll have to make do with what you have. I use tin snips, a cutting torch, saw, and a favorite of mine, the Air Hammer. Don’t be shy about cutting, go "Sawsall Samurai" because you’ll need good clean metal to weld to.

Next you'll need the replacement metal. You can buy whole panels or fabricate your own. I used 55 gallon drums to fashion my own panels. A couple of the tools I use are hammers for shaping and a torch to heat and make the metal more workable. (I don’t recommend using a gasoline torch unless it’s in working order and you know how to use one). Work the metal until it’s in the right size and shape.

Now weld in the replacement metal, clean up and paint to protect from more rust.

WELDING SHEET METAL

One thing to note is that cars are made of sheet metal That's right, thin metal that is kinda hard to weld without making more holes in it. The best welder to use is a Mig Welder or the Rolls Royce of welders the Tig Welder. Most of us can only afford a Stick or a Wire Feed welder so I will concentrate on Stick welding. First get a good welding book and scrap meta. Practice until you get the basics of welding, whether you use a Tig, Mig, Stick, Wire or a plain old Torch. Now a lot of people, even pro welders will tell you that you can’t weld sheet metal with a stick welder, that's wrong. I used a stick welder to do all my welding so I’ll tell you some of my tricks First turn the welder all the way down, mine went down to 40 amps. It also helps to use the smallest rods you can find. I used mostly 1/16 rods but you can also use 1/8 rods. Choosing the right rods is also important. The best for this job are 6011s or 7014s, but the 6011s are the easiest to use, so start with those. Now the trick is to buy a good welder, not the Wal-Mart $99 special. Try and get one with a good duty cycle of at least 50%. Weld about an inch, then move to the other side, this allows the metal to cool and resist warping. Use a filler rod as shown in the picture and heat the filler rod, NOT the sheet metal. This keeps you from burning holes in the metal.

If you have any questions on welding, basic welding skills, or with any other type of welding machine please feel free to email me. I hope this helps!