Automotive Welding

admin

I have a car that I will be welding repair sections of frame on.  I will be using a mig welder, will it be safe to do with with all the motor and interior wire harness's inside the car, will they get fryed?  I dropped the gas tank out to be on the safe side.  But I would just like to know if I can do this without ruining my wires.   Thanks in advane guys.
Reply:unhook the battery to keep the elctronics safe. as far as the wiring, just don't weld near the wires and they should be ok. the heat will travel down the frame a little ways so keep this in mind. when welding the frame, be sure to preheat and post cool. we use leather wrap and let the frame sit overnite wrapped up all nice and tight."Retreat hell, were just fighting in the other direction"Miller Trailblazer 302, Extreme 12 VS, Dimension 400, Spectrum 375, HF 251D-1, Milermatic 251 w/ spoolgun  Hypertherm 1000Lincoln sp 1702000 F-450 to haul it
Reply:Do yourself a favor and either remove the fuel lines running along the frame or blow them out with compressed air. I was cutting out some bad metal underneath a car years ago and had removed the gas tank. I accidentally melted a hole in one of the plastic fuel return lines which ignited and set my shirt and the ground around me on fire from the little bit of gas that was still in the line. Luckily, I didn't get burned but it sure scared the **** out of me.Sure, I can fix it... I got a welder!!!
Reply:Thanks for the advice guys, good call on getting the fuel out of the lines themself, also what do you mean by prehet and post cool.  Do you mean to get the metal warm by blowing a heater on it?  The garage im welding in is not het and its pretty cold outside right now.
Reply:Ummm, no, preheat is using a torch to preheat the steel to 300F or 400F or so -before- you weld it.Why?  Because nowadays, car frames are often made of some type of alloy steel and not just some plain low-carbon steel.  Alloy steels can be a bit fussier to weld on that plain old 'mild' low-carbon steel.