Spider rocker panels

[Mark Denovich <mark@domain.elided>]

Bruce,

	I spent the last few months rewelding large portions of my rusty Milano 
Verde.  For the most part, no patch panels were availible...  I 
fabricated everything I needed from a 4'x8' sheet of 22ga sheet metal. 
Working with patch panels is a hell of a lot easier.

Here's what I learned:

Equipment:  You want a MIG welder.  It's like a glue gun for metal, and 
once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy.  A Hobart Hanlder 135, 
Lincoln SP125+, Miller 135xp, are all good machines ($400-500 
www.brwelder.com ) and you want to use .024" wire with 75%Ar/25%CO2 gas. 
   Straight CO2 is marginally cheaper, but too hot.  I've refilled my 
tank 3 times (about $12 a refill, $80 to purchase initially) in the 
course of using about 15lbs of MIG wire (about 80 hours of repair time)

A set of aviation (tin) snips.   If you have an air compressor, air 
powered shears are really nice.   Also handy is the Fein Multimaster 
tool ($200) with the high-speed steel metal cutting blade.   It works 
like the saws they use to remove casts, and zips safely right through 
sheetmetal.  Get one if you are a dedicated tool junkie 
http://www.feinus.com/multimaster/newimages/newmultimaster.htm

An assortment of hammers.

An angle grinder... these are essential for dressing up welds, etc. 
Another angle grinder with a braided stainless steel wire wheel on it. 
  An awesome tool for removing rust, seam sealer, rust proofing, and 
assorted crud.   I have a good angle grinder and a cheapo ($16) one from 
www.northerntool.com and they both do a good job.  You want two, one for 
the wheel and one for the grinding disk... it takes too long to swtich 
back/forth.

An auto-darkening welding helmet.   You can't believe how cool these are 
until you use one.   Essential when welding out of position where it's 
hard to get enough light to see, etc.  It makes welding soooo much 
easier, don't even bother welding without buying one.   I got the 
cheapest one from NorthernTool ($86) and love it.   I bought one for my 
uncle too since he lent me his MIG welder to get me started (I now have 
my own.)

Misc:  Welding gloves, saftey glasses, ear muffs (grinders are LOUD) 
some vice grips, assorted clamps etc...

Technique:  This is harder to convey but here goes...    I had zero 
problems with distortion and I did lots of long seam welded butt joints. 
   The key here is: a) using a MIG welder, which doesn't put much heat 
in the surronding metal (like Oxy/Act welding does).  b) connecting the 
dots.   Tack in the corners with small 1/8" long tack welds.   Continue 
dividing up the seam, and laying more 1/8" long welds.  Continue this 
technique until the entire seam is welded.   By doing this no one part 
gets too hot, and by tacking all around, you prevent the patch from 
going anywhere.  Now go back with your angle grinder and make everything 
flush.   Once you get the hang of it, it's almost hard to see where the 
patch was made.

The hardest part for me was cutting out the patch correctly.   Sometimes 
the gap was a bit big...  But using the MIG you can fill in these gaps 
pretty easily.    Even easier if you can get a copper backing plate (I 
used a piece of flattened copper tubing) behind the gap.   Then just 
shoot some metal into the gap, grind it flush and voila, no gap.

After my repairs were done I painted everything with PO5-15, slathered 
on some seam sealer, and then coated it with something like WaxOyl (I 
mixed 1lb melted wax with 1qt 50w oil and about 1/2gal of kerosene.) In 
interior spaces I sprayed in 3M's rocker panel rust guard.

Setup:   Most of my welding was with the car on jackstands.   The Milano 
is certainly a lot stiffer than a spider, and doesn't rely as heavily on 
the rocker panels for support.    Also since I was only replacing the 
rusted areas, not cutting out the whole panel, I didn't have any 
problems with the chassis sagging.   But do be carefull if you are 
removing whole panels.

Safety:  Always wear gloves while welding or grinding (welding gives off 
lots of UV).   Always wear a long sleeve shirt, preferably a 
non-flammable one, long pants and boots are a real good idea too.  I had 
some nylon/polyester Carhart mechanics pants catch on fire from an 
errant glob of weld...   Choose your materials wisely.

Oh yeah... It takes a good deal of free time.   I spent at least 80 
hours re-welding all four jackpoints, rear wheel arches, floor pans, and 
rear corners.   The farther I went the faster I got.

Good luck.

	--Mark
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