Spot Welding Panels on Your Car

okay so I did get a little a little bit uh  gleeful I guess maybe a little too fast and hadn't noticed that these two spot welds and  one further down the radiator core support had actually hung on and were not loose like  I thought they were and when I was trying to move the panel in and out to get it out of the  way these uh these actually stuck so I've got to go in now with a hammer and Dolly and clean  all of my mess Stakes mess Stakes up uh should be okay and fairly easy to do but it's not

a lot  of fun because now I have additional work to do here that if I had been real careful and kept  a mind on what I was doing instead of trying to get done wouldn't have these so there you go  something I'll show you when I screw up and I screwed up here all right moving on I'm going  to now go and get some uh hammer and Dolly and I'll take and fix this up right now what I  about to show you I don't even know if I'm doing this right this is just what I do [Music]  sometimes everything is a to

ol including the [Music] user I'm striking  left-handed and I'm not left-handed [Music] so like I said normally this would not have any of  these uh holes showing I just wouldn't do that all right now this next thing is just to clean up  all the holes uh to get some of this stray metal off of here then I'll have to start working the  panel uh the other panels on the on the piece all right this is the inner Fender apron that we got  from the guys at National Parks Depot I'm going to talk about th

is for just a second because I think  this this is pretty important please understand that right now in the market there are only two  U inter Fender aprons for 6768 Mustang this being the import the other one is the is a piece that  comes from inside the United States and at this stage in the game because of the age of the um  stamping dies for the one from the United States this is actually the preferred piece according to  what I read in the national parks Depot catalog we ordered this one th

is one is not what I would  like to see but it is the only thing available out there in the market um I would love to see  somebody come back in at this stage and actually redo this part in a more modern uh 3D scanned  example from an original because it's just not quite what I want to run but it's what's available  and that's kind of what you end up having to do sometimes in these instances and it's $42 it's  not real expensive iive so you are going to have to do some mucking around in order to

make this  thing run in here the way you want it to run in here um that being said I'm going to show you some  of the things I'm going to do to this to make it work better in here there's some stuff going on  right here uh on the back side of this that you can't see right now that I'm going to have to work  in order to get this to fit and I'm going to go through the whole process of measuring and setting  to put this in here um just so you can guys can see how all that works because you do have

some  stable points on the Mustang that you can do this with so let's get rolling on that all right so  what I've got is a setup where I've put this new battery apron in and I want to get a measure and  I want to be a consistent measure across the front your radiator core support should be perfectly  perpendicular to the body so I'm going to go up here and set a measure and go down to the hole  in the radiator core support you don't want to measure to the apron you want to measure to the  radia

tor core support we are at 39 in on this side actually we're a little bit between 39 and  39 and 116th over here and with the setup I'm running right now we are at on the outside edge  again just a little bit over 39 and 1116 on this side now with Ford you could have as much as an  eighth of an inch of difference on any of these measurements you could do that U the combined  I've heard sometimes is as much as a half an inch because of all the body slop and what they  did putting these cars toget

her there's enough slop in all of the system to be able to take that  up all right so I'm not going to do anything with welding this up until I get a decent fit that's  just the way you have to do with one of these panels that's been around for a minute and not a  new piece out there in the market I have a hard interference right about here between this upper  piece of metal and the base original metal on the shock Tower so I'm going to have to go in and  investigate this in just a second to see

what we've got going on and what I'm going to have to  do to get this panel here to fit more flush cuz right now it may look like it on camera but it is  it is gapping pretty hard probably about an eighth of an inch of a gap on that top Edge because of  what's going on out here with the underlying metal so that's where we're headed all right so here's  where the fit and Fiddle starts coming into play now you'll notice that there is a tightness right  here I can get my fingernail way up undernea

th this but it's also a little tight out here on this  outside edge it's loose back here at this Junction here this is never going to be super tight though  because your your inner sheet metal for the shock Tower is basically on top of this piece here  so what I'm going to have to do is I'm going to have to take this section out here and probably  tweak it down a little bit and I'm going to have to take this corner here and Pull It in a little  bit probably using my smaller vice grips like some

of these up here on top to be able to get that to  roll in the way I need it we're getting this to fit um and it's going to work out okay but for  right now you can see we've got tons of space right here all the way down here I can almost  get a full finger in between the metal it's how this kind of stuff works it's usually a little  more fit and Fiddle than you like to think even on the assembly line I have to believe there  was probably a little bit of fit and Fiddle so now I'm going to get in

there and get busy on  that and uh work through this and see what we got yeah you see how that relaxed out so what I'm going to probably do  is undo all of this stuff here and move this panel out and then start working this  underneath to get it to where I need it to be by the way if you're going to be doing  some of this stuff do yourself a favor and get yourself a bunch of locking pliers  especially these Long Reach pliers like this one here this kind is really good you  can get these at Harb

or Freight uh pretty inexpensively they're not going to be doing  a lot of you know hardcore mean work so to speak so you can get the cheap ones from  uh Harbor Freight and they work out fine set all my locking pliers down  here for now and I'm going to pull the for support or the battery tray area out and here's where I'm going to be  working next now this car did take a strike I think at some point in his life  on the front so some of this could be a problem from that this doesn't look like  t

hat's the case though so what I want to do for first is I'm going to take this  section out here and do a mild bend down on it and I'm going to grab another pair of  locking pliers and kind of put these over here bend that down just a little bit now I try to get that on that angle a little bit and I think possibly roll that edge a  little bit as well again fit and [Music] Fiddle that's fitting a little bit better at  the back we're still tight right in that corner this is now loose and I can bri

ng  that in whenever I'm doing my final fit up I'm going to reduce this down just a little bit more going do a push pull pliers here let's drop that edge a little [Music] bit I don't know if you can see this but the  rear edge of this panel is actually rolled up this way a little bit it's going to make  it kind of interesting to try to get those two to fit I'm going to probably take the under  panel here and roll this whole panel down some just so I can get that back Edge to sit nice  and that's

the problem with using like three different brands of locking players I can never  remember which way they [Music] go all right now this is going to be a little different from what  I've been doing I'm going take my two a couple Flats I have to probably Hammer work that  I'm going for a basic fit right [Music] [Music] now [Music] [Music] n [Music] that's about as good as we're going to get now I've got to go in now  I'm going to go ahead and work these edges flat because this curve  right here

is actually crowning out on the original panel this was actually a  curve cut across here and not a curve like that [Applause] all right I think that's kind  of where I want it to be I'm now going to do another clamp up see what we [Music] got and what I'm doing is I'm making sure  this hole is centered side to side I'm not as worried about it front to back because  we have a little bit of a misfit but I have seen that happen on original panels  where they're going to be like that just a tad als

o want to make sure I'm  covering up my holes down here on the bottom which I am again this is just a test fit this  isn't for final because I am going to have to change some of this stuff now  that is fitting a lot better than it was we going to have to use some of the  uh Long Reach pliers to get this to lay in better up here in the top part of the panel  but if you can see that it's actually looking pretty darn good up top little bit floppy  in the front corner again this is where the Long Re

ach locking pliers really come into  play now I'm going to do a measure front to rear remember we're trying to maintain  that 39 and 1/16 from that back hole spot on Sensational okay so that's  pretty much right about where I want to be now I'm going to start going in and trying  to figure out how to lock this thing into position for my spot welding when I'm spot  welding on these things I want to make sure that the metal is tight top and bottom  I'm going to now go through and Mark my holes on

this panel with the EDP on it so  that I can just go in and clean up those spots use my ratty paint pen and be careful not to fill in the OR  Mark the holes this this panel doesn't have the holes in it for the uh inside plate  here for the bump plate so you have to be real careful when you're doing this and think  about what you're doing when you're marking it up you don't want to you don't want to fill  up one of your holes that you need for that plate yeah see these are really close to the  pa

nel now this is looking pretty good little bit off on this one in the bottom if I can  get to it with this one down here I'm going to have to do something a little different  down the bottom and I need to set those I'm going to go ahead and Mark these up yeah see  there's not even enough metal there on the on the plate itself I may have to move this  over just a hair in order to get good fill here cuz we're kind kind of off  on the edge just a little [Music] bit pull this in not great but okay a

ctually that's  pretty good I'll buy that for a dollar [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] what I'm doing now is I'm  going through and I'm checking all of my spot weld points to see if they're flat enough this panel has seen a hit in the [Music] past and we'll have another test fit [Music] now this hole always gets set up first that is roughly where it was at before you  can see the line in the new sheet metal there just going to set that there I don't  know if that's the

right spot or not when you're going over lips these  type of locking pliers right here are really good because they can round  that lip and actually lay the metal in position actually liking the way that's fitting all right so you might you might wonder  why I have x's on these three holes when I've got my helmet on and I'm welding sometimes it's really  hard for me to be able to see even with good light which are which these X's let me know when I'm in  here welding that those are not spot wel

d points those are actually where the holes need to go for  the bump stop apron right here this is looking pretty good position-wise I'm pretty happy with it  I'm going to try getting these to set up and line up this is where one more of these  would be good and I do not have that cuz I will need the Long Reach to go for the lower apron all right so little sidebar for you that's  what this little thing down in the bottom that say sidebar is all about I'm going to talk to  you a little bit about

refinishing these panels and what Ford did and what a lot of people do  and then what I'm thinking about doing or what I might would do I'm going to do this the way  everybody says to do it to go in and paint the original sheet metal after I've ground everything  down and pulled the old panel off put in some p15 and then go and redrill all my holes so that  there's no paint inside where I'm going to put the rosettes that's what I'm going to do but  I've had a thought and I want to know what you

guys think I want you to leave some comments in  the section below if you've made it this far and answer my question about what I'm thinking about  doing in the future when Ford originally did these things they did not put anything on there the cars  were completely assembled in bare metal and then they sorted primer on it and they were done they  didn't even dip these cars like they're doing now these cars were all just sprayed by a bunch of  guys in a room these cars are like they are and have

been like they are since 1967 and there's  not a ton of rust between the panels that are put together for some reason don't know why so  Ford didn't think it was that big a deal to have every panel painted makes me wonder if we're just  basically spending good money after bad to to put paint down you body guys that are out there let me  know what you think about that one thought that I had is that after the fact I would like to go in  possibly if I can get uh some oil in between the two pieces

of sheet metal like say a Gibbs oil  uh and spray those sandwiched pieces of metal together with Gibbs oil Gibbs oil is pretty good  because Gibs oil doesn't have a problem with uh with paint itself you can paint over it uh you'll  want to obviously clean it up with a pre cleaner but you don't have to worry about it fishey the  paint because there's oil residue within the metal those areas underneath there then would have oil  on them theoretically and you should be good to go for it not rusting

for the next 50 years never  mind what the stuff that Ford did is going to do to you in the next 50 years but your one panel it  should be fine so there's my controversial sidebar right there tell me what you think in the comments  below about what I was just talking about Ford's original idea don't worry about it everybody's  idea now worry about it and put some paint in there my idea do it like Ford did it but put some  Gibbs oil in between let me know what you think all right final measure w

e've got everything  clamped in measure right before you go to weld it's a lot easier to measure than it is to cut  welds out 39 and16 I'll take that for a dollar cuz that's exactly the measure we want now I'm going  to get in here here and I am going to finish up my clamping now desperate times call for desperate  measures you can do what I've done here with these C clamps I don't recommend it um but it is a it is  a way to solve your problem to get flat metal in here so you got a good weld Poi

nt everything  else is staying put so far I'm going to have to go in here and reamp these areas in because  like right now this one has pulled away from the wall and I'm going to want to  remeasure again to make sure we're good still hand me the tape measure Jackson stepping in yeah see when I did that it moved out to 39 9  and a qu so I'm going to go the other way with it it needs to come out some and down this is why  I don't like using those kind of clamps right there now what's happening now

is it's  starting to expose holes on the bottom when I'm moving it out to the 39  I may be out a little bit too much here okay going the wrong way okay we're now correct we're 39 and 1116  we're good and tied to the wall a little worried about some of my spots down here  on the fire on the wall because some of these aren't even mating up so I'm going  to have to probably rework that possibly I may be able to get that bottom section  to push in some here in a second but we are now where we need

to be what happens  whenever you start clamping all this stuff together there's still 39 and 1 16 at the top and I might be able to get that bottom  to pull in but probably not enough I'm go ahead and reamp this now the bad thing about using these  type of clamps is that they can leave indentions on the sheet metal so you want  to keep in mind of that when you're doing this uh I'm going to see if I can push that bottom  in a little bit it's going to be a tough sell though n it's not going anywhe

re and we are out a pretty good bit this hole also bothers  me a little bit I think this is for disc brake applications but if they left  these out why did they put that one in all right so what I'm going to do is I'm going  to put some tack welds down first if I need to I can go in and grind these out I'm going to put  one down here in this corner because this hole over here is now exposed and I don't have a way  to do that that was just me guessing and that's what happens when you guess a lot

of times you  run into this kind of issue um anyhow I'm going to put a tack weld in that corner I'm going to put  a tack weld right here on this piece part of the panel and I'm going to put another tack weld  up on top of the panel up here and I'm going to try and Tack underneath here uh it's going  to be really hard for me to see what I'm doing with that but I'm going to give it my best shot so  anyway first one I'm going to do is this one right here sizzling paint okay now what that's going to

do theoretically  is give me the ability to go in and pull some of these clamps out and move them around to get  to where I need to be we do this last one on the top this is going to need to stay in  place because I've got more welds to do in here but this I can then move over  to that spot in order to keep it clamped tight this one I can remove I couldn't see it but I don't think it moved going lay a tack I'm actually going  to do a hard weld into this one now we're pretty much committed I don

't think we  need to go anywhere else with any of this this [Music] now basically I'm just moving down the panel here [Music] [Music] that's awesome my shield didn't darken not  sure why it's not doing what I want it to do [Music] yeah [Music] [Music] probably not going to be able  to see a lot of my weld on this but let's face it that's not much to look at  [Music] anyway again with it not [Music] doing still my [Music] Demi [Music] all right my helmet is malfunctioning  so I'm going to stop ri

ght here you guys have been shown everything you need to see in order  to put a battery tray apron in one of these cars I I'm going to talk about something that's kind  of cool though NPD is now stocking kits to give you the battery tray hold down bolt kit and the  actual bolts that hold the battery in place for the group 24f batteries kind of neat you can buy  just a kit now I don't have to try to scramble to get everything pulled together so it's a good  thing to check into with them on whatev

er you're working on if you're doing a battery tray apron  see if they have the kit for your car rock that thing into place and then you don't have to worry  about ordering like five six seven different parts in order to get what you need and that's really it  that's all we've got going on with this this week we've got the battery tray apron in so we can  X that one thing off the list on our list over there on the table and continue moving forward  next up is going to going to be putting in the

new booster assembly in here to get rid of the one  that's running into the uh chock Tower in this car and we're going to get rid of all that stuff and  make that a nicer looking situation do me a favor be kind to each other love on each other treat  each other nice you guys have a great week and we'll see you next time on autor Resto mod cam is  not here because his truck is broke he is very sad because it has rained he is not happy I didn't  want a big red grumpy human being here uh when he wa

nts to be somewhere else so he has to stick  out today he is out today there you go so see you