[TA_C10]

Weather has been bad lately, finally got a good day to put some work into the C10...


I am learning how to weld as I go, this is really my first time using a MIG/Gas setup and doing body panels on a vehicle. So I know my learning curve is going to be slow. But man I didn't realize how hard I was going to have to work today.... I figured I would do the drivers side kick panel / footwell piece today and have some time to clean the garage afterwards... Boy was I wrong... This thing kicked my aZZ...

It was all inexperience. Basically I did a pretty good job of cutting my replacement panel just right to fit. Got all the e-coat sanded so I thought. Forgot the back side where the it meets the pillar. Between that and the weld through primer I had to redo the welds on this panel so many times I lost count.

I finished up the floor first filling in all the bad spots, ground them down, kept that up till I was happy. Then I hit it with some weld through primer I picked up from Napa. I don't know if it was too thick or if this stuff isn't any good, but I could not get penetration to save my life.

Bot the e-coat and weld through primer had to be removed before I could get penetration. I thought this stuff was weld able????












I started using these clamps, they are pretty easy to use and work well to hold two piece together for a but weld. Harbor Freight.














BOING!!!! Here was the first side of the panel I wasn't getting penetration. Had to take the weld through primer off the back side. But this really ended up being the fact I was inexperienced and the original metal was much thicker than the new piece. I didn't have the welder up high enough to penetrate.







Finally got it done, I think it took me around 4-5 hours to do this panel. I am such a noob it hurt lol....

It was because of the tight spots(couldn't get tools to fit to grind very easily and took twice a long as it should) and no penetration. Worst side was the back side of the kick panel right in the middle, I forgot to remove the e-coat and I already had two side of the panel burned in. So I kept grinding my welds out over and over and turning up the welder till it got to 9 on the dial... 10 is the highest it goes.... Lesson learned. Remove the e-coat!









You can see here on the back side, I ended up having to remove the e-coat best I could on the side of the panel and ran a bunch of beads down the side to get the best penetration. I could not for the life of me get the e-coat sanded off behind the holes I drilled for a spot weld so I just cranked up the juice on the welder and let her sit and burn filling up the hole. After maybe 3-4 time of doing this I think I got good penetration but I was not going to trust it so I went down the side too