the Hood will be a fine place to hone my panel splicing skills. There was a lot of mud covering some very poor metal work. Worst case i will pick up a new flat one cheap, Best case i will finally go slow enough welding, and with the right gap to come out just right and have a nice cowl hood
-- Edited by BLyke on Tuesday 20th of March 2018 07:42:47 PM
I've seen that hood for sale somewhere, maybe it was cl... Butt welding panels is painstaking and I try hard to fit mine for no gap. Welding shrinks metal and only makes a gap worse for warping.
That's what I shoot for. It's hard enough to control burn thru with a small/tight gap. Trying to fill a gap is only harder.
"perfect" isn't really achievable, but the closer you can get it, the better. Letting it cool between trigger pulls is important, or the panel will expand and bind at the seam and warp.
If you have a gap and you can get behind the area you are welding, hold or clamp a piece of copper behind the area to be welded. It works as a heat sink, less chance of blowing through. I use an old piece of copper tube, flatten or shape as needed, It work well if you can get the copper tight to the sheet metal.
Shoot. Didn't see this until now. I have been super busy finishing a room in my basement AND working on the Chevelle as I will be driving her this summer! Post and pics to come. Thanks for thinking of me!!!