Welding up holes in a firewall!

Its a old trick ....A buddie of mine came by my shop and asked how i welded up the holes in the firewall and made the back of the hole look smooth....



You take a piece of copper and hold it behind the hole you are filling..(using welding gloves of coarse) and plug weld the hole..The weld wont stick to the brass and your inside of the firewall wont look like frankenstein...

 

copper works too...

 

Now show me the easiest way to cut little 18ga discs for the larger holes and we'll be best friends.

 

kool but old news.
thanx for the post .
L-A-Z-E-R

 

Use punchouts from steel elec. boxes.....

 

The punchout is a great idea.

 

Now that is a good idea.

 

Unless your Tig-ing...

 

I used a magnet stuck on back side and stuck slug on magnet. tack it then remove magnet, worked good. I just welded up about 40 small holes in my firewall.

 

um. . .











































. . . or:

 

As a kid, when filling trim holes in my '63 Nova SS, I didn't know this trick but what I did worked pretty well. I would pull a roofing nail through the hole, point out, and hold it with pliers while I tacked it in place. I'd do several, then come back and put in more to avoid warpage. When done, I'd just cut off the nail and grind it smooth. Worked great, and it left a finished nail head on the inside of the panel, rather than another weld to grind.

 

Cut thin pieces from solid round stock.

 

I use a set of Rota-broach's in a drill press, for cutting my own slugs. No center hole,and you can fill a 3/4" hole. I use a slug 1/8th" smaller than the hole,which leaves a 1/16th" gap all around. A ceramic magnet holds the slug while I weld.

 

Love your sig!

 

I think its bob drake? sells a big box of all the sizes of steel disks. saves hours

 

Hey,

Cut and fender washers work very well, and are pre cut without sharp edges. Sand the zinc coating off by a few passes across a sheet of 80 grit production paper layed on top of the bench. If you smack them with a hammer and dolly, once you have them in place, they usually don't require clamping in place, prior to welding.

" The ice cream truck in his neighborhood plays Helter-Skelter ''

 

I'd give that a try.

 

I've drilled many holes used for patching all types of things with a holes saw and never snagged thin sheet metal. Use some oil and clamp what you're drilling down good to a piece of wood.

I guess the key is to go through enough so that you can knock it out with a hammer, don't try to go all the way through.

I'm not saying it's gonna work for you, but it works for me.

 

Time is money:

http://store.bobdrake.com/drakediscs.html

 

I meant copper not brass..Long day.....and i know its old news but some people might not have heard of it or any other of the ideas it brought up...

 

Lathe. Turn to OD you need and then part off the thickness you want.

 

ah-ha! yeah i was right, we use these things up like crazy in our shop...you figure the whole box is like 50 bucks or so, and at 75 dollars an hour... serious time and money saver.

On a sidenote, i have some theories on these...i think Bob Drake buys these as the blanks that are punched out of washers before they get galvanized, talk about turning a serious profit. Any other speculation?

 

Bingo!

 

Whatever This is the HAMB, ANYTHING you or I could dream up has already been covered in depth!

Case in point

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=466224&highlight=drake+disks

 

Wow. Leave it to you to bring up the odvious. Does everyone have to do a search before posting anything anymore? What about all the builds on 32's? Do a search first right? C'mon man. I am not tryin to bust your balls, but lay off a bit huh? Please?

On another note, why not just grab a pair of tin snips, cut out what is needed, and weld it? Doesn't take that long.

 

I use a copper plate on a handle or I use plugs with a magnet to hold the plugs in place .
I saw where someone asked about making small 18ga plugs , well Eastwood sells a kit with a bunch of common size metal plugs just for that . I have owned mine for about 1+ years now .The plugs are good for the larger holes and holes where you can't access the back with a piece of copper .
Anyway another old post done again !

Retro Jim

 

Notice the friendly smilie?

In case you are new to the net that means I had no malice towards the OP. < that one is sarcasm.

Just pointing out a fact that whatever any of us come up with has already been covered.

 

actually, all I had the first time was red x's. So my fault as well. Please accept my apology.

 

Whatever the real story is, he's making money with them, and I'm making money with them. It's all good in my book.

 

Regardless they are a cool product!