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Mark's 1.0L

I've been told elsewhere Frank that even the lower flange would need to be seam welded, even though it was spot welded in the factory [/confused]
 
only if they,ve changed regulations mark ?
it was always that you could spotweld where the factory had spotwelded, but if you "produced" a join that was,nt there before (ie cut the panel) then it had to be seamwelded :)
 
As frank says, spot weld the lower flange is fine :) but if your MOT place says otherwise you might want to go with their view to save hassle, welding that flange is horrible though becusee its impossible to get clean metal.
What machine are you using to do the welding?
Sure you'll do a grand job :)
 
It's a Clarke Turbo Weld 155T, probably a bit OTT for body work, but It's what was available - borrowed.

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This is what I've done with it so far. It's not pretty, in fact it's a bit sh*t. I caught the edge of the outer bodywork with the flap wheel twice so that's now all out of shape, Rather than properly fit a patch to the hole and but weld, I might just overlap a patch over the top, It's not like the car is concourse. I might have to re-evaluate my opinion of side skirts!

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Is that argoshield light gas? Great stuff!!
My tip would be more amps (maybe 100) and weld in little overlapping 1second bursts. Keeps the welds flat and you wont blow holes.
 
Yeah it is. The control is turned down as low as it would go - otherwise I didn't stand a chance! It was going a bit better by the end of the session, but I'm forgetting everything I've been taught and not cutting back enough to get to 100% clean metal, and trying to fill gaps with weld.
 
Just try turning the amps up and doing very short bursts (like conjoined tack welds), I think once you get that you will be doing welds that dont require much flatting back at all (save a lot of time!!)

this was mine (with a pretty crappy welder and CO2
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Yeah, I think I might leave that (butt) for when I have something a bit more special. I'm just going to get this one back on the road.
 
I feel that overlapping welds look a lot better/neater, but my boss has always told me that it doesn't get enough heat as to line welding does. But then you blow holes. So I'm still stumped. Lol. Looks neat so far mark. :) using cardboard as a template to measure your metal sheet?
 
Setting 1 to max for 3 sides of the main patch, but turned down to min on the flange, again a bit of both on the smaller patch. I can't remember what actual current level the settings on the machine are. Top tip there Noddie cheers.
 
Cheers James, big fan of yours too.

Dave, did you typo gap? I'll have a measure at some point, meant to in the week but didn't get a minute.
 
Looks to be 15-20mm fairly consistently all round, a shade less at the rear than the front, but there's not a lot in it.
 
I've been having a bit of an experiment with some wheel centres this week. They are 3mm think high impact polystyrene sheet, laser cut in a lattice pattern. This was then stood inside a wheel off the car, with a weight in the middle, and then heated with a hot air gun to soften the plastic and achieve the dish.

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and with trim rings,


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It needs some perfecting, particuarly around the valve hole, but I think it might be do able to achieve a bit of a change of look without having to buy new wheels. It obviously doesn't stand up to close scrutiny, buy I think looks alright from standing a little way from the car.
 
I've been having a bit of an experiment with some wheel centres this week. They are 3mm think high impact polystyrene sheet, laser cut in a lattice pattern. This was then stood inside a wheel off the car, with a weight in the middle, and then heated with a hot air gun to soften the plastic and achieve the dish.
1471387_10152021216295921_866120422_n.jpg


It needs some perfecting, particuarly around the valve hole, but I think it might be do able to achieve a bit of a change of look without having to buy new wheels. It obviously doesn't stand up to close scrutiny, buy I think looks alright from standing a little way from the car.

They look amazing dude!!
 
More experiments:...

BBS E30ish. MDF this time for a cleaner cut. They need a good thick coat of gold paint. This centre sits on the next shoulder down on the wheel, so i think they are a bit less useable with the trim rings. With a fivers worth of socket head bolts for round the outside, and a second set of wheel nuts to hold them on I think they'll look ok.

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More experiments:...

BBS E30ish. MDF this time for a cleaner cut. They need a good thick coat of gold paint. This centre sits on the next shoulder down on the wheel, so i think they are a bit less useable with the trim rings. With a fivers worth of socket head bolts for round the outside, and a second set of wheel nuts to hold them on I think they'll look ok.

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Looks sweet but do you think that's a good material in the wet and cold, even when treated, also don't forget shock? Or is this just a prototype? But like I sad sweet!!!!
 
The centres got a blast of gold today - it's not actually much different to the raw mdf! Which works best, black lips, with the gold centre, or with the trim ring, that doesn't quite get to the centre?

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Finding some deep Ford trim rings would be idea, but I drew a blank the last time I was looking, which is why I bought the shallower Midget ones.
 
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