Welder World Blog

Posts Tagged ‘fender’

A common problem with the Ford Escort, was damaged fenders. These were welded onto the body with mostly spot welds. The quickest way to remove and fit a new fender is as follows; Remove the front bumper and grille, remove the headlamp assembly from the side requiring the fender to be replaced, remove the indicator assembly from the same side. With an air chisel and a spot weld point, cut through the spot welds along the top seam of the fender and the inner front panel. Cut through the spot welds at the door post and the one at the bottom on the rocker panel. Cut through the mig welds on the front panel, either with an air chisel or 4″ grinder. Cut through the welds around the headlamp panel. The damaged panel should then come away easily.
Having ascertained that the new panel is the correct one for that particular vehicle (that may sound silly, but sometimes you can fit the wrong panel to the wrong car and not notice til it’s too late. I once saw somebody fit a two door door to a four door car, and not notice until he actually fitted the door and tried to close it. The hinges and everything except the window glass was the same.) It was quite amusing to see his face when he tried to close the door and it was like a foot too long.
You need to have prepared your new panel by sanding off the factory primer from the places which need to be welded. Also, (not in the case of our Escort here, but just so you know), bolted panels need to have their unreachable parts sprayed by the paintshop before fitting.
Anyway, offer up the new panel, and clamp it into position, you need to check the gaps between the door and the hood, when doing this, as they need to be both parallel and the right size. Also make sure that the panel is at the right level, i.e. not standing proud of the door or the hood or rocker panel. Once you are 110% sure that everything is in the correct place, you can start with the welding process. If you cleaned up your inner panels first, you should have no problem with the spot welder in that position. If you don’t have a spot welding machine, you can easily do this with gas, by brazing the joints, this only needs to be spot brazed at a similar frequency to the original spot welds. Once the panel is fully welded in all the right places, it’s then ready for repainting, which is a whole new story in itself. Maybe we’ll cover that in a future article.

A CIC Powerbox running a 110 volt AC MIG Welder! The video is long, jump to 3 min 3 sec to see best operation.

More 110 Mig Welder Articles

HOW TO PLASTIC WELD A MOTORCYCLE REAR FENDER

  Using a mini-weld model 6 airless plastic welder

Cost to replace fender-$75.14 + S/H $8.94= $84.09

Cost of repair fiber-flex= $4.00 Steel mesh .50 cents

TOTAL COST OF REPAIR $4.50

So with using a plastic welder. I was able to save $79.59

1) Work Area

Have a clean and organized work area. Well ventilated area. Remember the plastic welder is HOT. Can burn you and start a fire. Just use common sense and you’ll be fine. Set up plastic welder. (Set welder to preheat, how your doing the next step)

2) Parts that need welded

Check the parts to be welded. Identify what kind of plastic your working with. In this case it is fiber-flex plastic welding rod. I used fiber flex because it is easier to use.  I had to cover a large area. Get out the welding rods you’ll be using. Plus if you’re going to use wire mesh for added strength get that out also. We will be using wire mesh for this project. Make sure that the part is clean. ( soap and water should work) Set up part to be welded on work bench. Know how your going to weld it. Now set the plastic welder to heat setting your going to use to weld the plastic fender.

3) Plastic weld part

Lay out part to be welded. I made a V-groove in the crack and filled it with Fiber-Flex rod. Then for added support. I welded the wire mesh in. Now for the big hole. I welded the wire mesh in. I put aluminum tape on the back to help hold the mesh in place. Using the Fiber-Flex  rod begin to fill in the large void. This is time consuming. So take your time. If plastic gets too hot to work with cool it off with water, not too much because your still welding. Do the same thing to the other large hole. And for added support do the same thing to the other side of fender. Now we are done with the welding.

4) To finish the part

let plastic cool down. You can help it cool down with water. Use a spray bottle and lightly spray the welded plastic down to cool. Begin to sand the weld down. I use  60 grit sand paper then go to 180 grit sand paper. If painting part use paint made for plastic. If you would like to see pictures of this operation. Please go to kandjwarehouse.com

THANK YOU

 KANDJWAREHOUSE