My personal preference is to butt weld, but I butt weld everything, in my mind you have one less place for rust to find a place to form up again. As for strength, I haven't had any problems with any of my butt welded parts rip apart and I had a Chevy pickup that I had done some rust repair to the wheelhouse (new ones installed) and lower rear bedside get rear-ended hard and the bed buckled like it had never been cut on. So I don't think there are any issues with strength if you finish your welds completely. As for the finishing both sides, yes I would prefer to grind everything down due to the fact that you are ensuring you have a complete thorough weld and not to mention it looks so much nicer.
Josh Campbell 66 SS 396 (Black on the rotisserie, 1st car never part with it) 66 SS 396 (Red got it on a trade I only wanted the steering wheel) 87 Monte Carlo SS Sadly sold it guy offered me more than I thought it was worth 71 Malibu FOR SALE NEED MORE SPACE IN THE SHOP!!!!! You should never have a battle of wits with morons ... they'll just drag you down to their level & beat you with experience. --- On Tue, 9/29/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [Chevelle-list] Sheetmetal Replacement To: "Chevelle Mailing List" <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2009, 5:14 PM I'm looking to settle a dispute between two friends of mine... When replacing sheetmetal floor pans (or other panels) one friend says it's best to butt-weld the panels together and grind each side clean. The other says all edges should be flanged with a crimper and welded on one side, seam sealed on the other side. Personally I have done both but never bothered to clean up the welds. The second argues that the floor is not as strong when butt-welded. What is your preferred method? --Don : G r a n i t e . C i t y . P e r f o r m a n c e : custom engineered competition components http://www.granitecityperformance.com/
