Projects '36DD - (My Double Duty 3-window build.)

Awsome work Bear.Love this little coupe.Good luck with your shoulder,looks like your back on track...

 

WOW!! Great work

 

Coming out beautifully. Your work is spectacular.

 

Thanks for all the encouragement,guys!.

Got the front pans tacked on, so now the floor is effectively one piece.



I've decided to fully weld the seams on the underside so there won't be any laps exposed to the elements.
If nothing else, it's gonna' give me heaps of tigging practice before I start on the important stuff on the body.

This is how the suspension arms tuck up into the raised section of floor.



Suspension is in the 'bottomed out' position, and everything has got a good half inch clearance to the floorpan.

.....Now it's back to weld, weld, weld.......

Bear

 

I can't compliment you enough on your skills of fabricating, engineering and eye for design. Best Regards and good luck with all your endeavors, KB aka telekenfun.

 

Thanks, telekenfun!

Finally got done welding up all the seams - I figure there's around 30 feet of tigging in there. (Enough to empty a good sized bottle of argon)

Once I got started welding, I seriously began to question whether this was the right move.

But, after sanding it up tonight I can see a distinct improvement in my welds between the start and the finish, so I guess that makes it all seem worthwhile.

Bear

 

That's why our hobby is called "a labor of love"!

The process was a Bear, I'm sure, but those floors are a thing of beauty; and all that welding "practice" paid off too!

Congrats!

 

A whole bottle ? Reckon you need to back off your pressure. that's shits too costly

 

Nice to see such good looking progress!

 

That all depends on the size of the bottle and how much you got..

 

Hey Bear, I'm offering some comments that may help you avoid some of the grief I'm now enduring. I have had to completely dismantle my body and frame in order to paint the frame. Painful after the whole construction process. My next task is to paint the underside of my new floorpan. I just wish I had the ability to turn it upside down as yours sits right now. Mine is all welded in and requires me to paint overhead. Yesterday I received 2 lbs of micro-spheres for about $10/lbs from "Wicks Aircraft". These are the ceramic bubbles used in "Lizard Skin" heat and sound control coating. I'll be mixing them into a quart of "Por 15" to make my own for about $50. This will give me an additional layer of H/S control as well as a durable rock and rust proof undercoat. All the new ultra high priced cars are applying H/S coatings on the underside for increased heat and noise control so why shouldn't we if it can easily be done. I'll do the inside as well when the body is back on the frame. I'm hoping to save on the amount of "Dynamat" $tuff I'll need to use this way. In your case think about coating your underside while it is upside down, it will be a hell of alot easier now. Best Regards and Good Luck with all your endeavors. KB aka telekenfun.

 

telekenfun.
NZ is upside down from you, so it should be easy for him to apply it.

 

Hey Telekenfun, thanks for the suggestion.

I will be putting some kind of H/S coating on the underside, just not too sure about welding the floor in after it's been coated. Will probably get the floor installed first (need it in place so I can finish off making the tunnel and front toeboards) then eventually lay the body on its side on a mattress or something similar to prep and coat the underside.

Cheers, Bear

 

You may well be right about backing off the pressure. I'm still very new to this tig welding deal, so I'm pretty much guessing with my gas settings. Currently have the flow gauge doodad set around 12-13 (pounds I guess?). Is this too much?

And you're right about the cost, that shit is expensive!

Bear

 

Should read as litres/minute. Mines at 5 so you might be twice at what i'm running. Even then it still chews through it pretty quickly.

 

On my 36 5 window build I've gone though 8 150 size bottles of Argon. I don't know where they went but they are gone! So is $78/ bottle!
That was what I used primarily working the 19 gauge body metal, chopping, sectioning, floors, dash, hood and hood sides. I don't have a flow meter but probably should get one. I experimented with all different pressures. On this old metal there is invariably rust lurking down in the pores and on the back side of where a weld needs to be made. If the area isn't purged of oxygen adequately it has a tendency to flair-up/blow-thru before you can even get a puddle started. I found that by increasing flow closer to 20 lb. helped get some gas on the backside of the weld gap for better purging and also helped reduce the width of the heat effected area. But it really uses the gas. If you have a modern tig with all the hip features I found that reducing the pre and post gas flow lowered gas usage considerably, especially when just tacking things in place. You don't need several seconds of flow before and after the arc. I found 35 amps was all the heat I ever needed on this old tin.
Best regards and good luck with all your endeavors, KB aka telekenfun.

 

Looks like I might need to do a bit more experimentation with my gas flow settings then...

I trial fitted the floor inside the body, just to make sure it was gonna' fit. No plans of actually welding it in there as yet, I'll probably do some repairs to the rocker areas while they are accessible, maybe replace the tailpan as well while I can get my hand up behind there from underneath.







Looks like it'll fit pretty good. Just need to notch the rear section around the wheel well suages (which was in the plan anyways). Found that the body is out of square by about a half inch corner to corner, so I will bolt the floor down to the frame, then sit the body on and square it to the floor when the time comes.

Until then, I'm gonna' get back onto finishing up the frame, so I'll get started with making up the left hand header and then try to get all the exhaust squared away.

Bear

 

Looking good as allways Bear.
I´ve set my regulator on 4-5 litres/ minute so I guess you can back on yours. When welding thicker metalls you might need to go up to 6-8.

 

Thanks for the advice Kenneth,
I'm thinking you've probably got a whole bunch more experience with a tig than I'll ever have.

Bear

 

Here is some more input Bear. (loving your build by the way )
We usually run between 9-12 litres a minute depending on what we are welding.
My welder (a boiler maker by trade) started off at around 6 l/m but found he was getting porosity. I suggested increasing it to around 10 l/m where I usually weld, no more problems! (well, limited anyway)
We do run a gas lens that evens out the gas flow (it's a bit larger than a normal cup/lens & has mesh on it) we have found we have had less problems since that change too!

 

When I started tig welding I run mine up there too around 9-10 litres and it worked great on thicker materials but when welding body panels I often got a small crater at the end of the weld. Tryed a lot of things such more gas flow and screwed post flow back and forth nothing maked it better until I backed on the pressure.Got the feeling that when I shut off the welder the gas blowed in the puddle and caused the crater before it had cooled down.I use the same sort off gas lens with mesh in it. This is my experience and how I´m doing it but I´ll not saying this is the right way.Practice is the only thing and test for your self and you find a way that´s convenient for you and I´ll bet you will catch up in a hurry.

Once you get used to tigwelding you will throw out your mig.

 

I agree, different things work for different people.
I will never throw my MIG out though, just as I will never throw my TIG or OXY!!
Each welding process has it's uses
It's rare we use MIG for panels, though we use it a lot for structural areas where we also use a different steel like zinc (harder steel, harder weld)
Chassis work is also mainly MIG, though we do use TIG for brackets etc.
OXY is our main preferred welding process for panels though, it is a much softer weld for planishing & the softer steel we use (cold rolled)

As far as the crater that develops, that is mainly practice.
Craters also form with MIG & OXY, mainly because of how you finish.
The easiest way I have found is to not only add a bit of extra filler rod real quick at the end, but also to roll your torch out. A crater usually means a hole, so yes, best avoided.
As mentioned, personally I have a qualified Boiler Maker working for me & I also have completed most of my engineering fabrication qualifications, but it's amazing "how different" we weld!!
The end result is what I look for, often we help each other out to get that!!

My 2 bob's worth!!(if it helps any )

 

Looking good Bear. Floor fit looks awesome. Great choice on dash also. The 40 fits surprisingly well with very little mod.

 

awesome work! love the craftsmanship going into this! cant wait to see you turn that 40 dash into a rhd version! keep up the good work! im subscribed!

 

Thanks (belatedly) for all the input on welding techniques, guys. I really respect your opinions, and will hopefully put your suggestions to good use soon.

Shoulder's still giving me grief, the recovery isn't as quick as I would have liked/ expected, so I have been lacking a bit of enthusiasm lately.

Happy to report that I did get a rush of energy recently and fabbed up the pieces for the other side header (something I had been putting off for a while).











Once I had everything fitting nice, and made sure that both sides were symmetrical from above ( the view ya' might get when the hood's off in 'Hot Rod mode', I scribed and cut the holes in the collector section, ready to start welding it all together.



Going camping with the family this weekend, so hopefully that will help re-charge the batteries, and I'll come back ready to do some serious hot rodding!

Bear

 

Glad to see her moving again. Your headers are coming out super nice.

 

Hey Bear , hope the shoulders getting better !! Grille got home in one piece but they wouldn't let me carry it on the plane as hand luggage !!Ha Ha. It sure was good to meet and hopefully we will catch up in the future one day, good to see the progress so far on the coupe and looking forward to progress when your back up and running !! Greg

 

You sir are a phenomenal fabricator! Is the house next door to yours for sale? I need a neighbor like you for a change.

Incredible work.

 

Updates?

Sent via carrier pidgeon & smoke signals with the HAMB App

 

Love this build gota get back on my roadster.