I have some new sections to fit to my buggy (401 ) and not being very experienced I just dont know how to fix them . I have drilled out the spot welds got the bad bits off and am ready to attach new bits but am not sure which is the best way.Has anyone any ideas please ?? Thanks Arty P.

I have some new sections to fit to my buggy (401 ) and not being very experienced I just dont know how to fix them . I have drilled out the spot welds got the bad bits off and am ready to attach new bits but am not sure which is the best way.Has anyone any ideas please ?? Thanks Arty P.

All panels need to be welded, and welded properly. Aluminium pop-rivets are nowhere near strong enough to replace spot welds. I strongly recommend that you take the car to someone else who is qualified to do the work! If you have to ask this question, then you shouldn't be replacing structural parts of your car.

If you are determined to do it yourself, then you need to get yourself a welder and practice on some scrap sheet metal until you can confidently weld the steel with adequate penetration. You can test your practice welds by trying to break them or chisel them off with a hammer and cold chisel. If the weld is good, then you shouldn't be able to get the panels apart without cutting them.

depending on how neat you took out the old sections, you may be able to spot or tac the new sections in using the old spots, but vote is for weld

Weld wherever possible. There are only a few places where you can panel glue.

Art,
The panels have been there along time on your vehicle now so dont do anything but weld in the new panels.

Country Buggies do allow a little tolerance when welding in that the existing weld spots are not the smoothest or best you would ever see but in saying that I personaly would never try welding. Accountants should never weld and vice versa.

With your background and a bit of practice I am sure you will do a great job.

countrybuggybill

Hi Art
What panels have you got to fit? What sort of welding equipment have you got to choose from? We may be able to give you a tip two.
For instance (and I’m no expert) I found that as soon as you complete the “spot” weld, TIG or MIG, if you hit it with the air gun while it’s still red, it’ll shrink it nicely and almost eliminate the warping. Need to clamp as close as you can because the warpage pulls the panels apart before the weld even pools. It takes time, but an extra moment spent cleaning and clamping makes all the difference. I made a big clamp.
Good luck.
Tony

Thanks for the feed back everyone The trouble is the more I ask the more options I am given,Just for the record the pop rivert option was a bit tongue in cheek.I have been welding for about 60 years (yes I am an old bloke) and have oxy welded 1 mm aluminium but its the distortation that worries me and I have a few panels to repair its the flat corners that are the tricky ones especially when they are about 800 mm long . 2 Panel beater friends have suggested tack weld through the holes where I have drilled the spotwelds out, about every 150mm and glue the rest .That would mean applying the glue leaving a bit of a gap where I am going to weld ( apparently there are some pretty good glues in the motor trade nowdays) The type of welder I am going to use is Oxy and that could start another discussion but I have already butt welded some sections successfully so thats no problem.Any feedback will be appreciated.Also thanks Tony for the tip on the Air gun never thought of that and that bottom panel in your photos is one of my problems .I am posting 2 Pics of what I am talking about
Arty.

Nothing’s impossible Arty.

Good to see they're all the same, mine has the section in front of the bonnet rusted, as well as the firewall and heater channels

Next Question ? Does anyone know what sort of sheetmetal was used on the back of the seats I want to replace one ,It looks like sheet Zinc fairly light gauge 22 in the old scale I think thats about .08 in the modern scale it is very soft and malleable.

Hi Arty,
in commercialy available gauges of sheetmetal what you can get is 0.55 mm, 0.75, 0.95, 1.15, 1.55, 1.95 .....thicknes variation +/- 15%... pretty tight isn't it?

zinc seal is a bastard to weld, I'd recommend Cold rolled steel..

Trouble is they're curved in both directions, I expect they were stamped. Unless you have an English Wheel (and even if you do) they'll be a bugger to make. I'm glad I don't have to do one. What's the trick with that sort of thing John, is there one? What's your plan Arty?

If you have an English wheel , it is a big advantage....what I did is calculate the blank size and started tack weld into the frame on the top horizontal curve starting at the centre one tack each side...then tackweld vertical curves alternately on both sides, than finished with the bottom horizontal curve. I've used 0.9 mm CRS, which is easy to force to the shape of the frame.

I am temped to leave the original sheet there (which has a few dings) and spot weld a new sheet on the back I will try one soon as soon as I get it back from the sand blaster I still havent worked out what type of sheet was there in the first place yet but it is very soft and it is .95 thick I am going to use Zincanneale and thanks John on the gauge sizes ( Its like getting your head around MM when you were brought up with inches & feet) By the way I have already had a practice run with the spot welder and it seems to work.