Welding.

[Huskyxantia]

I was thrown in at the deep end at 18 I'd been driving for a while (17 road legal). On farms from the age of 6 . The deep end was doing my own welding, my first car suffered the tin worm death so wasn't worth saving mk5 Cortina.
The car after that was mk1 fiesta 998cc ! It failed mot on rot , so a friend of a friend had to weld both sides of the car floor full length just so the new sills had a new lip to weld to, looking back now ... Why did i bother any way it cost £150 all in it took the chap a weekend to do he did a brilliant job , car back on road and after 4 years and a respray cost 50£ rattle cans, I sold it on for 450£.. The next car mk 2 fiesta needed plates on boot floor and this is were I was thrown in at the deep end, a friend of the family was the local guy you went to regarding anything to do with cars ... I asked for help he showed me what to do with a welder and after me having a go and as he said first attempt was mot pass quality... Off i went back home took off the battery disconnected the alternator as shown, out with my welder I brought several months before i had the metal I cut out the rot cut templates and did the job , ....car passed mot the chap in the garage passed me some work on cars he didn't have time to do and I picked up a lot being thrown in the deep end.

My question is...
Anyone ever placed straight over the top of a bad area that needed welding and it came out ok ?

Anyone or have you always cut out the rot, templated the area then welded good metal in.

I've got 2 sills for my Picasso and the original ones are plate welded in the usual place and there in good condition everywhere else for its age 2003, Do i pop the new over the top and weld them up or cut them right out and replace fresh...
The weather will be my problem time of year and so on , But I've a full years mot so could wait till late next spring when it warms up again.

Or... By a younger Picasso 2.0l hdi cos the 1.6 is .. Naff... Or is it ??
Then keep the sills for the next Picasso.. ????

[KennyW]

When I have had any welding done, it was cut out rot, cut metal to size, tack on, check for fit and weld in thereafter smooth down seams paint over. Looks good and no sign of welding.

Kenny

[Peter.N.]

Even if you can't see the weld, leaving in the old metal makes a rust trap - or a grease trap to prevent further rusting. I'm not much good at welding thin metal, I have a stick and Mig welder and have about equal success or lack of it with both of them.

I can weld thicker metal quite neatly, used to do diesel conversions so had a lot of practise.

Peter

[doctle]

Rust is like a cancer and you'd really want to cut back to good metal before the repair. Thin metal will distort if its heated too much and its best to use the same gauge metal spot welded rather than seam welded. I had a repair done to a sill on my 207. No-one could even see the repair except my wallet which was over €300.00 lighter when it was repaired and painted.

[mickthemaverick]

I've always cut ALL the bad stuff out leaving clean edges all round to weld to. Making templates is easy enough and then cutting out the new plate with a thin AG disk is the way I go. I then "Tape" the patch/piece in place and head over to my mate's place where he replaces the tape with welding. Never had a problem yet!!

[Michel]

Picasso - they nearly all rot there, so if the one you replaced it with hasn’t had welding, it’ll need it at some point!

Cut out old metal, weld in new. You must cut out all of the old metal to prevent the corrosion simply creeping onto the new metal. It’s been a long while since I did any welding now, but that’s the way to do it.

[Huskyxantia]

Thanks everyone