Some Seam Weld Photos
03-13-2013, 06:06 PM
#61
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I found that WD40 does pretty well on cleaning up the sealant left behind from removing the rubber seals. It takes a little elbow grease, but it seemed to work quicker than other solutions I tried.
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03-13-2013, 06:16 PM
#62
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Clean up of paint, seam sealer, and adhesive has been the biggest hurdle in any welding I have done on the body. It is like 3:1 in time investment over welding. Maybe more.
I have had good luck with a wire wheel on a drill. A 90* angle die grinder with a scotch bright pad works pretty good in some areas too. I used various size wood chisles for the globs of seam sealer or undercoating in many spots.
I have had good luck with a wire wheel on a drill. A 90* angle die grinder with a scotch bright pad works pretty good in some areas too. I used various size wood chisles for the globs of seam sealer or undercoating in many spots.
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03-12-2014, 08:09 PM
#65
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Mig.
It's as easy as laying down caulk.
I couldn't imagine tig welding all the seams, could take weeks, or even months.
Stick welding would be to messy.
It's as easy as laying down caulk.
I couldn't imagine tig welding all the seams, could take weeks, or even months.
Stick welding would be to messy.
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03-13-2014, 09:55 AM
#66
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I could TIG it just as fast as a mig. No need for filler material, just melt down the hip to the point they bond. Being that your welding mild steel, you don't need to wait for a purge or postflow.
Being that the parts your welding here are all protruding with factory tack welds your not compromising anything with autogenously welding TIG.
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03-13-2014, 10:08 AM
#67
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I will probably be tig welding my seams sometime in the near future. I will let you know how it goes, I really expect that I will spend more money on prep time, then the actual welding.
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03-13-2014, 10:31 AM
#68
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LOL.
I could TIG it just as fast as a mig. No need for filler material, just melt down the hip to the point they bond. Being that your welding mild steel, you don't need to wait for a purge or postflow.
Being that the parts your welding here are all protruding with factory tack welds your not compromising anything with autogenously welding TIG.
I could TIG it just as fast as a mig. No need for filler material, just melt down the hip to the point they bond. Being that your welding mild steel, you don't need to wait for a purge or postflow.
Being that the parts your welding here are all protruding with factory tack welds your not compromising anything with autogenously welding TIG.
I know for a fact mig welding would be faster though. You can simply move the gun faster, it's easier to manuver and you don't have to stick your head right down next to it and worry about dipping the tip.
But like i said, post prep and not having to grind out welds to make things look decent is key.
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03-13-2014, 10:35 AM
#69
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The plus side of tig welding everything is not having to do all the post work. So that right there alone makes it worth it to use the tig process. A lot of times where i work i'll tig parts together even if there is 100 of them because that's 100 parts i don't have to grind down had i used the mig.
I know for a fact mig welding would be faster though. You can simply move the gun faster, it's easier to manuver and you don't have to stick your head right down next to it and worry about dipping the tip.
Pre prep always takes longest and costs the most.
But like i said, post prep and not having to grind out welds to make things look decent is key.
I know for a fact mig welding would be faster though. You can simply move the gun faster, it's easier to manuver and you don't have to stick your head right down next to it and worry about dipping the tip.
Pre prep always takes longest and costs the most.
But like i said, post prep and not having to grind out welds to make things look decent is key.
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03-13-2014, 12:18 PM
#70
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Tig FTW. This is from the local Miata forum: NorCal Rotary and Roadsters • View topic - WTB: seam welding the door openings
Twibs is on here somewhere I believe? He may be willing to chime in if he sees this.
Twibs is on here somewhere I believe? He may be willing to chime in if he sees this.
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03-14-2014, 01:21 AM
#73
Soo iv mig'd and tig'd miatas. And by far its much nicer to tig the door seams. Its the little things that add up that make it worth while. no possible spatter hitting the windshield or windows causing burn sports on the glass, no spatter hitting anything (carpet, dash, etc) cause there is virtually none. The door seals continue to fit as they should without a heaping mess of hot glue gun style weld behind them.
On the door seams not much filler is needed only on a few sections where there is a large gap.
For the rest of the car its MUCH MUCH faster to mig weld. I have tig'd behind the fender area which wasn't to bad but the worst was behind the dash. ill probably never do that again.
On my personal car, i originally mig'd it then i got my tig so i ground off all the old welds and re did them. Much cleaner but a bunch of work.
On the door seams not much filler is needed only on a few sections where there is a large gap.
For the rest of the car its MUCH MUCH faster to mig weld. I have tig'd behind the fender area which wasn't to bad but the worst was behind the dash. ill probably never do that again.
On my personal car, i originally mig'd it then i got my tig so i ground off all the old welds and re did them. Much cleaner but a bunch of work.
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03-14-2014, 01:34 AM
#75
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I have a cone shaped wire wheel and a standard wire wheel in my DeWalt drill. They made all the difference. It really is a colossal mess, just be ready to wire wheel and vacuum once you're done. And make sure you're ready to do all of it at once, if you go back to do more, you'll recreate the mess within minutes.
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03-15-2014, 07:55 AM
#79
I have a cone shaped wire wheel and a standard wire wheel in my DeWalt drill. They made all the difference. It really is a colossal mess, just be ready to wire wheel and vacuum once you're done. And make sure you're ready to do all of it at once, if you go back to do more, you'll recreate the mess within minutes.
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08-10-2015, 09:18 AM
#80
I recognize those photos! My old silver car!
Does anyone have advice on how to clean between the layers? I can clean the outside well enough with flapper disks, I'm sick of making booger welds from contamination and want to try and make these welds as pretty as I can with my mig.
Anyone remember what voltage and wire feed settings they used?
Does anyone have advice on how to clean between the layers? I can clean the outside well enough with flapper disks, I'm sick of making booger welds from contamination and want to try and make these welds as pretty as I can with my mig.
Anyone remember what voltage and wire feed settings they used?
Here are some rocker cross section photos I came across. The one with extra sheet metal is from an NB, the basic one is an NA. Hmm I didn't know this! It seems like there are some extra zones that could benefit from seam welding on an NB, the outboard layers to one another. I wonder if the NA cars varied over the years. I think that Miatas got more unibody gussets over the years. FWIW my 97 has reinforcement at the rocker behind the seat and at the corners of the foot wells under the dash at the tranny tunnel and at the outboard kick panel.
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