I started out the job by drilling out the factory spot welds on my spare parts. This allowed me to use a cold chisel and some elbow great to pop off my much needed replacement part. After the wing (or ear) was removed I popped it in the blast cabinet and media blasted it. I wire brushed and ground out the area on the car that needed attention and used a flanger/punch to put holes in. I was all ready for some spot welding. After trimming up the piece and fitting it nicely I tacked it into place with a mig welder. In the images below you can see me dry fitting it with a clamp and then the final weld. I'm no welding expert. It's not pretty, but it's going to be covered with a rocker. The whole under side of the rocker will be sanded/wire brushed, cleaned up, and finally prepped with various rust proof paints and primers.
If you are a frequent reader, then you know I received two pieces of a Fiat in the mail a while back (check out the blog post "Chopped Parts Have Arrived"). These two pieces where the winged mounts that hold on the rocker panelsn (click the image on the left for a larger view). My car had lost both of its wings due to car cancer (RUST). Luckily the surrounding area was solid and just need to be cleaned up, media blasted and/or rust treated. I started out the job by drilling out the factory spot welds on my spare parts. This allowed me to use a cold chisel and some elbow great to pop off my much needed replacement part. After the wing (or ear) was removed I popped it in the blast cabinet and media blasted it. I wire brushed and ground out the area on the car that needed attention and used a flanger/punch to put holes in. I was all ready for some spot welding. After trimming up the piece and fitting it nicely I tacked it into place with a mig welder. In the images below you can see me dry fitting it with a clamp and then the final weld. I'm no welding expert. It's not pretty, but it's going to be covered with a rocker. The whole under side of the rocker will be sanded/wire brushed, cleaned up, and finally prepped with various rust proof paints and primers.
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I'm not sure if I've mentioned it in previous posts, but the rocker panels on Fiat Spiders bolt on. In order for these parts to bolt on they need to have a threaded hole just in front of the door as well as a flange with a hole ready to accept a stud. On my car, both flanges had been rotted away. Today I received a package from a member of the www.fiatspider.com forum. The box contained TWO flanges, one for the left and one for the right. I'm very excited. I will be cutting out portions of my car and welding these into place. They will need to be blasted, cleaned up and cut to a proper shape. When I do the job I will be sure to take many "in-progress" images. |