5 GT Turbo 11 years later silver bullet comes home

[Turbell]

Glue it!
Glue it!
Glue it!

 

[Duncan Grier]

Couple of hours and most of the time fine tuning, cleaning, hydro80 and then final prep



With final measurements bead of tiger seal and clamped into place before a few tack welds to check position





Screen in amd clearance the same all the way round and sitting level



Will spot and plug weld when in next but happy all true

 

[Duncan Grier]

Another power hour update, not sure it if annoys you all or my wife more with such small bursts of slow progress

Most of the plug welds done and started spot welds only cable not long enough and no time to put wheels back on.... decent extension cable be useful addition so will grab one this week



With cradle going nowhere the urge was too much and started to dissect the roof. Positive the rot/rust goes no further

 

[Turbell]

I think it'll all be dandy joining it there with care, I had Campus out for a jolly today, did a few jobs on it, pressed on the roof skin where you're doing the join and double curvature gives a fair amount of stiffness, so I think if you allow plenty of cooling and take your time , you'll piss it.

 

[Duncan Grier]

Thanks @Turbell feeling far more confident and plan to get the line right but weld it there rather than the other option I was leaning towards. It only moved about a mm once cut and retained a fair bit of strength

However you have jinx me with saying 'you'll piss it'

 

[Turbell]

Nah, I've every confidence in you, you can clearly wave a mig torch around, I'd keep my mouth shut if you were either blowing holes or splattering pigeon shit around. I'm not much cop at butt welding thin stuff, deffo patience and lots of set up needed.

 

[Duncan Grier]

Another step closer, few minor trims but its almost time to:
Glue it
Glue it
Glue it

 

[Norwich Nick]

Yup, I think your gut is leading you in the right direction. Looking good.

Slow and steady when you start gluing

 

[Turbell]

I'll hide behind sofa 'til your done.....

 

[DaveL485]

Make that skin gap as close as possible, gonna be hard not to blow holes in it.

 

[Duncan Grier]

The gap is the gap now, my preferred method over butted up

Lets see

 

[Turbell]

Think Duncan is trying to avoid join puckering up/down, it'll shrink and pull in as it's welded, if he's comfortable bridging that gap tacking along it, he should avoid lots of distortion?
I say this in capacity of a hobbyist, not a panel beater, not an expert.
At the end of the day , we do what we feel will work, whether it's correct, it's best practice or anything like what a pro would do , I dunno?

It's playtime.

 

[Duncan Grier]

Exactly my approach @Turbell

 

[Steve Swan]

When watching the welders at work they always started with a gap which was mainly dependant on the size of rod being used. There was a formula for all of this, but on site they used to knock the flux of a handfull of rods and bend then into a U shape and use them as distance pieces to set a job up and tack it. It was amazing to see welds that looked machine made, but were done completely free-hand, just don't ask them to weld anything less than an eighth thick ..
That said the theory must hold true and the best result would come from starting with a tiny gap, about the thickness of the mig wire you will use. The Manager of the Welding company once showed me a butt weld on 1mm sheet. He just clipped the edge of 1 piece in the brake to put a mil/ mil and a half turn on it. Then he put that as the rear piece and butted the other bit up to it. Then with the oxy Acetylene welded it together using the upstand as the filler rod. It was perfect when done. No dissimilar metals issues as you've used the parent metal as a filler.
Good luck with it. Get it tacked up, but move around, so you don't get hotspots and very short runs only, it's heartbreaking to stop with the welder singing away, but trying to do too much at once always ends badly....

 

[paulseabrook]

Good luck! I'll be welding my whole roof skin on soon and I'm twitching a bit, not gonna lie!

 

[Duncan Grier]

Had an hour just and after it not liking the on first one just went freehand slowly one at a time. Far from out the woods but first dots of glue all ok

 

[Duncan Grier]

So good couple hours just of the slowest welding process known to man (and women)

Single tack, blast of air, check flat, repeat, get to end check, quick flap wheel welds down, keep cool, check flat, and repeat......and repeat.....and repeat lol

,

 

[Duncan Grier]

Kept going resisting super strong urges to do a couple of tacks or short run and not skip the cool and have a feel (oooh err matron) steps

Very minimal touch bit of hammer on maybe 3 or 4 tacks and ended up with this......

 

[Duncan Grier]

Few pin holes and little dress of the welds once picked up some more sanding belts and less abrasive flap wheel....but nothing crazy or take any metal not needed as a very thin skim of filler be right

 

[Duncan Grier]

@Turbell you can come out from behind the sofa now