Welding advice needed: bulkhead repair to new inner wing

[1966 122s]

I'm making my first expedition in to welding with the help of my brother in law. He has welded before but heavy stuff and never car bodies.

We have a new inner wing in place and now need to do a bulkhead repair as per attached photos.

Could anyone give advice including

1. What guage steel to use to the bulkhead repair ?

2. Is MIG welding a reasonable way to do this ?

3. What sort of settings to use on welder ?

4. Would removing the bonnet hinge and placing the repair section under the hinge plate sound like a good idea ?

5. We managed to get the inner wing repair panel in place without removing the outer wing. We then welded visible area at each end of the new inner wing. Is this OK or do we need to take wing off to weld ends more extensively ?

6. How do we decide how far to grind bulkhead back ? iei the fine line between what is rust and what is capable of taking weld ?


Thanks again,

Graham

[Colonel Froth]

Originally Posted by 1966 122s

5. We managed to get the inner wing repair panel in place without removing the outer wing. We then welded visible area at each end of the new inner wing.

Did you cut the old inner wing out first, was it just a flat section you replaced? Removing the outer wing isn't that difficult, is there a reason you can't?

[1966 122s]

Thanks,

We bought a new pre-fabricated inner wing repair section and have it tacked in place . The new inner wing repair section is from Brookhouse and includes the upper box section continuous to the flat sheet downwards. It then has a 1cm overlap at its lower edge bent at 90 degrees to go under the existing wheel scallop of the existing and solid lower inner wing. Hence we have the upper box section in place but only welded from inside the engine bay. Looks strong and good. Position of box section is excellent and position of veertical sheet downwards could do with a bit of persuading inwards at lower end.

The old inner wing was so rotten that we could rip and grind it out without removing the outer wing. I left the outer wing in place as I read it would be needed for aligning the inner wing. The inner wing is now tacked in good alignment so we could take the outer wing off, but unless we need weld done that we can’t get at from the top , I am not sure if there is any need to take the outer wing off and don’t want to start any new problems?

The bulkhead being rotten as it met the inner wing was an unexpected surprise ! I’m also worried that if I undo the bonnet hinge from the bulkhead I may have more unexpected surprises. To be honest the bulkhead looks completely solid around the hinge plate so I guess I have little to worry about there.

Hope that describes it ! What do you think ?

Graham

[Derek UK]

Without answering each question, I'd say you've boxed yourself into a corner, literally in this case. I think most people would have removed the wing, and then removed the rusty vertical section. The bulkhead could have then been repaired while you have full access to the area. When that's done, assuming there are no repairs to be done on the large panel that runs forward from the A post you can tackle the inner wing vertical panel. Bonnet hinge adjustment that side needs to be correct to allow the bonnet to be used to line up the vertical panel so that when the wing is mounted you get correct alignment with the bonnet.
Have a browse through here.
http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=56021
There are other threads here with pics.

Note: The 2 posts above came in while I was writing this.

[940_Turbo]

Take the wing off, it is the only proper way to fit the wing mount. You've got to repair the top of the A post and the footwell closing panel before fitting the mount.

If you first fit a wing mount and then patch round it to repair the A post it'll leak. Once the wing is off it becomes fairly obvious how it goes together.

[940_Turbo]

And a finished inner wing.

[Colonel Froth]

I got the same panels from Brookhouse. The front and rear edges of the box section fit where they were supposed to with zero effort. When I tacked the panel in and offered up the outer wing it fitted perfectly first time. It's going to seem like a bunch of steps backwards but I'd get some 1mm cutting discs. If you hooked that 1cm overlap under the existing panel you could cut on the body-side of the weld, clean the weld off the new panel, and you'd still have enough overlap left to go again.

[1966 122s]

Thanks everyone,

Not what I wanted to hear but definately what I need to hear ! thanks for the clear ecplanations.

I'll get the old wing off and start reassessing the footwell closing panel etc. Thanks again.



Could anyone comment on the general automative welding concepts (and apologies agian for being so basic but I'm keen to learn and do what I can rather than get others to do the work).

1. What guage steel to use to the bulkhead repair ?

2. Is MIG welding a reasonable way to do this ?

3. What sort of settings to use on welder ?

4. Would removing the bonnet hinge and placing the repair section under the hinge plate sound like a good idea ?


Thanks again

Graham

[Colonel Froth]

That new inner wing is 1mm. From reading around welding forums I remember people using 0.6-0.8mm. It's probably going to be easier for you to weld slightly thicker stuff. Mig's fine. Dial your welder's settings in by practising with off-cuts and testing the welds with a BFH. When you talk about the repair section, do you mean the inner wing panel mentioned previously? If so, you don't need to actually put it behind the hinge panel, it'll make sense once you've got the outer wing off.

[1966 122s]

Thanks again,

The BFH is one of my favoured tools !

When a asked about whether to put the repair panel under the hinge... I mean the new repair section which I plan to make out of sheet steel to repair the missing edge of the bulkhead. i.e. Would the experienced out there unbolt the bonnet hinge from the bulkhead and make a repair which goes under te hinge plate or just weld the repair sheet to the bulkhead near to the hinge plate ?