Lead loading v "pongo"

thx, think I will,

btw, I think your bonding idea is good

my mate owns a fleet of buses, he uses some very expensive bonding agent to make repairs to damaged bus panels, its the stuff they use in the factory

one issue to consider is it cant be easily separated

I did not bond the panel/wing Nick I made a tight fit panel to wing then plug
welded.
Peter B

Not sure why one would need access to that area behind the mud guard but I suppose it would be better if the thing could be removed in a pinch. Maybe use Sikaflex, same stuff that’s used to bond E-type bonnet flanges.

I considered that too, Peter, except using spot welds. It would certainly be the more rigid approach.

I was thinking Nick, could be dangerous, but all that panel fitting while the body is suspended from a jig. These cars are extra floppy, aren’t you concerned that there could be a problem when bolting the body back to the chassis which could cause a torsional twist issue thus causing panel deformation? I did all my panel fitting while the body structure was bolted solidly to the frame for exactly this reason, all exterior body finishing work as well. Maybe I’m wrong but I can imagine possible problems with gaps, body twisting and so forth that shimming can’t fix in an acceptable way, Seems unnecessarily risky in my opinion.

It’s a valid concern, Monte. I did all the major panel work, including fitting the bonnet, bootlid and doors, with the body mounted to the frame. Before lifting the body off the cockpit was securely braced with 1 1/2” angle iron. With the body on the rotisserie there was zero change in door and bootlid gaps but possibly a very slight increase in the bonnet gap at the nose of the bonnet from the weight of the front end bearing down. Possibly. As is the gap is pretty uniform. Final fettling of the bonnet fit is the last task before primer. I will do the paint prep and shoot/flatten/compound the finish colour, BRG, with the body on the rotisserie. I may have to increase the four sill shims by a 1/16” or so to accommodate any minor deflection of the front clip but otherwise have no concerns.

This was liftoff. I removed all the hinged panels except one door, then put them back on once on the rotisserie in order to finesse the metalwork. I found with the body mounted to the chassis, especially with the drive train in place, that access to the panels for final fettling, in particular working the big front quarter panels flat, was poor, and my abilities to contort my body into pretzel shapes are now much diminished. The only way to pull it off was the rotisserie. The way to go, in my estimation.

A plug weld is a “spot weild” Nick, but I concede that I would have prefered to spot.
I managed to spot new floor sections to the body underframe on a MK1 by lifting the body on i jig with a forklift, but posiitioning the XK body would be problematic, the advantage of a hand held
unit of course. My floor standing unit is 25 kva, Max setting iwill still not fuse two sheets of alu,
you have to use the two pieces of steel sandwiching the alu method
Peter B.

My hand held unit won’t spot aluminum either, but I’m not familiar with that method.

google & youtube are informative on that topic

After 15 minutes Googling “two pieces of steel sandwiching aluminum method” I gave up …

1 minute, does this help;


BTW nice to see it spelt correctly :slight_smile:

Try this youtube video. Metal Shaping with Lazze: Spot Weld Aluminum with a 220V Welder

??

@nick, thats the one I saw

I am thinking next time only remote forced air like the pros is the go

I found that 2 pac urethane mist is very bad for the eyes, especially next morning,
presumably curing on contact with moisture into tiny hard needles

having said that, my mate who is a pro painter 40+ yrs very rarely uses it

One of the Americanisms that has crept into the Canadian vernacular. First time I heard the “aluminium” pronunciation was an Irish uncle who was in the scrap metal business. I was a teenager and for me it was always just aluminum. I thought he was putting on airs.

But thank you for the link.

Thanks twice.

It’s what I use for painting. For stripping paint too. Only way to go.

Tony , my comment “breathing probs” is/was just a bit “tongue in cheek”.
The rare occasions that I use 2 pack primer, I pick a fine day and spray outside.
not the done thing for everyday pro use I grant.
For inside finish with cellulose I wear a face mask.
The good doctor informed me, at a recent medical, that my respiratory system is
that of a heathy man in his 20s/30s, so all is good SO FAR ! I am , after all, only 73
Peter B

Got around to watching it. Great tip. My spot welder is exactly the same Miller model used in Lazze’s video. Wish I knew about that trick years ago.

Glad to hear it. I am considering purchasing a spot welder. Are you satisfied with the one you have or would you upgrade if buying again?

Satisfied with the one I have. Wasn’t cheap, but that was a quarter century ago when the Miller MSW42T spot welders were USA made. Not sure about now. It’s a bit heavy to use - about 40# - but it does the job. There’s an inexpensive Taiwan knockoff available from Harbor Freight but I don’t know if it works as well.

Got the model number wrong. The MSW42T has a separate timer module. Mine doesn’t. It’s an MSW-42, superseded with the same specs by the LMSW-52

https://weldingsupply.com/cgi-bin/spider.pl?900377||1|748|||924.57

cost is a little eye watering at $925, and the tongs are extra. The Harbor Freight 220v unit is only $160 and comes with tongs as standard, although with a shallow throw of 6".

The tongs I have for mine

are 12" and 16", so the reach is appreciably greater, which might indicate the unit has more ooomph than the Harbor Freight item. That fifth tong I fabbed from 5/8" copper rod stock for the sole purpose of spot welding the E-type’s outer sills in the door opening