Welding doors shut

[TheRealSpinner]

Anybody had any experience with this? Shaving the handles will probably be part of the job, I assume. I was asked to weld the doors of an old Integra (second gen. I think) and was wondering what I should be careful of. Do I just get a length of sheet metal that fills the gap and have at it?

My DYN200dx should do the job fine. I was planning on using ER70s-2 but what thickness, less than 1/16? How about tungsten thickness? I would be using 1.5% gold.

Thanks for the help.

[dyn88]

My first question would be why. If he wanted it lighter then you could remove all but the skin, by moving i rearward and using a singe strip at the front to get the desired gap.

[arcdawg]

tigging them shut will take forever.........use a mig machine and jump all around to avoid warpage.........dont use water to cool the welds though....

dawg

[Bowtieman31]

Tigging is not the way to go on this project. Too time consuming and too expensive!
MIG welding those doors shut is the easiest, fastest, and most economical way to do this.
The size of the gap between the door and jamb will dictate how much, and what kind of filler pieces you will need.
Just remember to weld both, the exterior and the interior seams up, or your welds will crack due to body flex and stress.
For the interior welding it is best to use peices that overlap the seam on both sides. Once the interior is replaced you wont be able to see the seam and it will give you a much stronger joint.
I would do the interior first, so the door is fixed in the opening, and then weld up the exterior.
Take your time welding the exterior with spot welds spaced evenly around the perimeter, then place spot welds in between them and continue this process until the seam is filled all the way around. This will prevent warping the body panels. And it will be easier to finish for paint. :D

[millermania]

Would using JB Weld be acceptable? It is much faster and you can smooth it out like bondo and reduce the amount of grinding you'd have to do.

[dyn88]

I was thinking JB weld also. lol. Do you even own a mig?

[fun4now]

JB weld :eek:
thats no stinking fun :p
again what are you welding it shut for?? if its for racing safty isues you might check with the track as they could have a pre-detemind methed that is the only one they will accept. if he is doing it just for the cool factor i would go with MIG, with the amount of time involved with a TIG doing it you could buy a HH140 and do it for less $$$ even including the $$ of the HH140.

as for how to do it; Bowtieman31 has got that coverd.;)

[arcdawg]

Would using JB Weld be acceptable? It is much faster and you can smooth it out like bondo and reduce the amount of grinding you'd have to do.


nah you dont want to go that way what so ever....its a pita to grind and it WILL crack.....not to metion if it will be affected by auto paint......

if you dont have a mig and are only doing this job rent one (w/ bottle)


I did however thought that welding the inside was a good idea as long as you dont warp the doors due to too much heat/weld

dawg

[TheRealSpinner]

Yes, I do own a MIG, and I never thought of welding it that way, I have always been under the impression that TIG was the way to do it in order to minimize warping, I'm glad I asked.

My friend wants it done for the cool factor, I think. He uses the car for both transportation the track (not competitive use, just open track days). He has already cut out everything but the skin on the door, and stripped the interior. He might have even scraped out the factory sound deadening pads. After the doors, he wants a roll cage, but I was planning on doing it in the oppsite order.

I doubt that he has checked to see if he would still be allowed on the track, or if they have any regulations. I will suggest that he does before I do any welding.

As far as MIG goes, would .025" solid wire be the right choice? I've got a Hobart Handler 135, not a lot of control over the heat (only 1, 2, 3, or 4), but I have had enough experience with it that I don't think I would have any problems.

That's a good idea to use a strip on the inside. Do you think that if I just welded a strip to the back and didn't bother trying to "fill" the gap so that where the gap was is just an depletion that would be filled with bondo?

[fun4now]

i gota agree it would be a lot easyer to do a role cage if ya could open the door, just the fact you could move around a bit better.;)

if you mean weld the inside of the door and fill the outside i would think the bondo would likly crack prity quick from the vibration.
as for the .025 wire it would work but ya might look into the coored .020 thats out now still requires gas but is suposed to be real nice on the thin stuff, might be a bit easyer but i havent seen the $$$ on it so .025 might be best depending on the $$ you want him to spend;)