Question for 962 best way to prepare welded on flares

Dpmulvan · 05-07-2017, 04:07 AM

Doing a set of turbo flares and wondering what products you would recommend to cover new welds. I've seen a lot of welded on turbo flares rust around the weld. Thanks

962porsche · 05-07-2017, 05:08 AM

personally i use the same primers as i do for the rest of the bare metal .
i know what you mean about the rusting around the welds but when i do my flares when i'm done i have no lumps and bumps left from the welds as i dress every thing in .

962porsche · 05-07-2017, 05:30 AM

let me try and explain this better .
on this job i am moving the fire wall back 10.25" in the car this is so i can move the motor back the same and the driver back also the same amount in the car .
i had to get the fire wall around the roll cage tubing i welded in before i moved the fire wall back

as you can see i welded in the roll cage tubing before i started to fill in the fire wall filling it in around the tubing .
the car owner wants to see the welds so he doesn't want me grinding and dressing them in at all . but i did around the tubing . i had a U shape cut to fit the fire wall up around the tubing . when i was done i dressed in the weld by grinding them smooth so you couldn't see any of the welded seams .
this is how i also do the welds when i do flares on cars also with patch work and when ever i do butt welds .

you see this TR chassis the patch work i did i also did in the same way i but welded in the patches and dressed in the welds so you really can't see them making it look as all one piece .
by doing this and making all one piece again you do not have the heads if the welds sticking up . it's all the nooks and crannies that if you just spread filler over will end up rusting out later on . if it's all one nice seamless piece you 1st will not need as much filler or any filler at all and then being one piece there is no seam to worry about blowing out later on .
rust around weld start from a few reasons one is what i just said about the nooks and crannies the other is from small pin holes left were you did your welds . moisture will find it's way thru the pin holes over time and blow out your welded seams .
depanding on the job and what the customer is looking to get and pay for depends on how i dress in the back sides of the panels too . with some lower costing jobs i will only seam seal the back side of the seams to hold out any moisture with the high quality high paying jobs i will also dress in the welded seams on the back sides of the panels . by dressing in the back sides you again get one seamless welded piece and with that you will not get rust around the welds as there are none left to see or feel . it's just all one piece when finished so you just spray your E type primer and then your filler primer and it's good to go from there .

962porsche · 05-07-2017, 05:41 AM

like with every thing it's has to start with the 1st steps . in this case it starts with the fitment of the pieces being welded in then 2nd the quality of the welds your doing . if your welds are not good and your getting distortion and warping from your welds you need to 1st learn how to weld with out getting warping and distortion in the panel . again it starts on the 1st steps and carries on thru the rest of the job to the quality of the job at the end .
i hate to sound like an ass or bragging but i don't tend to need any fillers over my patch work if i do it's only a very tight skim coat and i will spray a coat or two of a E-primer down 1st then do my filler work over it . the E-primer should be all that is needed to prevent any rust .

962porsche · 05-07-2017, 05:56 AM

if your wondering what i'm doing to the E30 firewall job this is a small part of it .
i had to make a new steering column i got rid of the eo brake boosted and went with a 944 brake booster and master . the seat is now mounted right to the floor this is to lower the CG of the driver in the car . the motor is a M52 motor out of a later 3 .
i took the hole center tunnel and cut it out as all one big piece this way i can keep the mounting point in place for the trans and drive shaft carrier . it also still keeps the peddles were they were in location as they were from the factory .
the front of the motor is now sitting at the center line of the front axle line so we have no over hanging weight on the nose of the car .

when you look at the car the 1st thing you say is what a total POS ! but the chassis is straight and building a rat racers is kind of fun . this is why the owner doesn't want me grinding weld and doing any thing to make it look nice . it's a rat and he wants it to look like one . it has to be fast safe and reliable but that's it . he painted it with a roller .

Dpmulvan · 05-08-2017, 03:43 AM

Thanks for the info!

Dpmulvan · 05-08-2017, 05:14 AM

My main concern is the backside of the welds behind the flares where you can't get to them very well. How do you protect that area and is weld able primer any good or just a gimmick?

962porsche · 05-08-2017, 09:50 AM

if it's a place like the backs of the flares you can spray your E-primers on them not a big deal to do .
if your dealing with inner boxed type areas that you have little to no access to you have to rely on the weld primers to do there job .
in many cases you can still get a protective coating in a boxed area thru a drain hole or what ever access you can find .
i will when i can spray rust shield or e-primer in the areas to just get some more coverage over the welded seams . i use a old chip guard gun with a extra long thin wand i made up out of plastic tubing for doing so .
the thing is with a weld zinc primer the zinc doesn't have to coat every thing to work . it's best when it does but it's not a must .
it's the same as placing a piece of zinc on the metal rudder of a boat . the little piece of zinc protects the hole rudder even though it only is one little spot .

Dpmulvan · 05-09-2017, 04:22 AM

Thanks again for your time, always helpful.

962porsche · 05-09-2017, 10:47 AM

THIS IS A LITTLE PIECE I WELDED UP TO SHOW YOU HOW THE WELDING AND DRESSING IN THE WELDS EFFECTS TO WELD PRIMER ,

when i do my welds i do one spot weld at a time let it cool down to the temp of the metal before i did my weld . i place the welding wire just on the edge of the last spot weld and and do the next spot weld .
by starting your weld part way on your last weld you run less of a chance to blow a hole thru the thing .

when it comes to your weld primer you do not need allot of it just a light covering is all you need a little zinc goes a long way to protect metal from rusting .
as you can see on the back side the weld primer doesn't burn like many may think . after all zinc is a metal . in most cases the little bit of bare from the welding will take so long to start to rust you and or the car would be dead and gone before it is a problem .

i used .035 wire this is not the proper wire to weld sheet metal . so the welds are twice the size as they should be .
you should be using .023 or .025 wire for your sheet metal work .

when you grind/dress in the welds just like when your welding heat is evil so do not over heat it when your dressing the welds in . you shouldn't have any lumps and bumps left after your finished grinding should look like all one solid piece of metal .
this way your not having to use lots of filler to get the patch to blend into the rest of the panel .

Dpmulvan · 05-10-2017, 05:58 AM

Once again thanks for your time and knowledge.