Boot Floor & Welding

[Guest Phil Slater]

Hi folks

 

I've been thinking about the boot floor in my stainless 2B in order to have somewhere to fix my surge tank and pumps, and then I can finalise plans for the copper fuel pipe runs through the tunnel. Having decided I'm going to use some 1" angle for the floor to rest on fore and aft I thought about welding it in place rather than drilling more holes through my chassis tubes.

 

Now, given I've got a MIG with ArgonShield universal gas and mild, not stainless, wire, I test welded a piece on to some gash stainless tube I have from the bottom of the roll over bar. It welded surprisingly well, with good flow and penetration of both tube and angle. Obviously if the weld if left upainted will rust so, given that's easily sorted, it seems like a good option to me.

 

But a question to those with more experience in this area than me..........in your experience are there any major pitfalls welding the mild steel angle to stainless that I'm not aware of?

 

TIA

 

Phil Slater

[Guest Ant212]

Hi, Although this appears to be structually sound, it is not, if any stress is applied, it would rip apart. What you need, is dissimilar wire, this is a mixture of SS/Chrome/Steel, and, unless you know somebody in the game, would be prohibitively expensive. A cheaper alternative would be to use a normal arc welding set, and use a 309L electrode, which is a mixture of SS/Mild Steel. Both methods are quite common in industry, but not geared for the DYI enthusiast, hence the high cost of materials.

HTH.

 

Tony.

[Guest Battery Bill]

Ant 212

How much are the 309l electrodes then? The normal ones are dirt cheap so are the SS ones much more expensive then?

[Guest Ant212]

Hi, I'm not sure of the price, I'll check aound, and see what I can find. However, expect to pay a lot more for anything SS. As I said in my previous post, SS is not really for the DIY domain, and industry is expected to pay top bucks for everything.

 

Tony.

[Guest Ant212]

This will give you some indication, a lot cheaper than I thought. The price is in Euros, for a 1 Kg pack.

 

http://www.hennessywelding.ie/cgi-bin/prod...s.pl?spssd1.txt

 

 

Tony.

[Longboarder]

Just how much stress is the mounting for the boot floor going to have to take? I can understand this fuss if Phil was talking about welding some suspension mounts on for a wishboned rear end but a boot floor. Surely?

 

Nigel

[Guest Phil Slater]

That's kind of what I was thinking, Nigel. At the end of the day the boot isn't going to take even a large suitcase, so on the face of it it's not going to be too stressed.

 

Anyway tonight I clamped my test piece in the vice and gave it some serious welly with the "engineers friend" my big hammer, and I have to say, "d' weld dun good, 'arry".

 

Given what Tony has said I certainly wouldn't want to consider it for a major structural or suspension part of the car but.........I'm thinking it should be OK for the boot floor.

 

But back to you Tony, given I haven't got a standard Arc welder only my MIG, and that at this moment in time I'm being very fiscally responsible , i.e. having worked out my finances tonight,only three weeks before my holidays, and got a bit of a shock, (don't tell the wife) I'd be grateful for any further thoughts/comments in light of the above.

 

Phil

[Guest Ant212]

Hi, I think what you say is right, providing it is a none stress area, you will be OK. In welding circles, this would be a big No No. (incidentally, I'm not a welder, but a very good friend of mine is, and has given me the advice).

Alternatively, you could hire an arc welder for the day.

 

Tony.

[Guest daveg]

Phil

 

Halfords...have stainless steel wire. 0.8mm for £17...that shouldn't break the bank

 

But I agree things mount up, I am using aluminium rivets 'cos the stainless one's cost an absolute fortune

 

Dave

[Guest Guy]

I think that just cos you can weld it, doesn't mean you should. Rivets and screws are fine. Keep things simple if you can.

 

When they stopped riveting boats together and started welding them loads of them sank because a crack will pass straight through a weld because it is a continues piece of metal.

 

I've also used Aluminum rivets as they were free!.