Post #19, 8/2/10 RF floor support

65 Mustang Restoration

Work is going slowly, mainly due to lack of time, but I finally brought home the new Lenco Spot welder that we got for the restoration. This is a pretty nice little machine.

 

This is the simplest welder there ever was to use,,, just place the 2 wand tips down on the metal you want spot welded & squeeze the trigger. The only adjustment on this welder is the knob that adjusts the amount of time-duration for the 2 welds(longer for thicker metal). Each time you pull the trigger, 2 nice little spot welds appear. The really cool part is,, you can place the 2 tips side-by-side,,, you don't have to put the on opposite sides of each other. 

Since this was a new tool,,, we figured we had better practice with it first, so we found a couple of scraps and went to town. Tip: don't go too long, you'll melt right through the top layer. This is going to be a big time saver!


Next we installed the rr torque box metal patch panel,,, man does the spot welder work nice!

I actually only had to weld the one side of the panel in with a regular mig welder. It takes a bit of time and patience to smooth out the welds,, but if you're going to do it,,, do it right the 1st time. That's how a panel is supposed to look after it's installed! Also, before we welded the panel in,,, on the areas of the panel & the frame section below it, where they touch each other, we sprayed the parts with Eastwood's Copper Weldable Primer to help protect those surfaces from the elements. 


We then moved forward to the RF Floor Support that we got from Laurel Mountain Mustang. This is an extremely beefy part that fits perfectly. We did a quick test-fit,, marked the holes for drilling(for spot-welds),,, and then coated the mating surfaces with some more Copper Weldable Primer.

Reinstalled the floor support, clamped it into place,,, triple checked all of the measurements,, and welded it in.

36 spot welds,, just like they did from the factory,, only beefier. I just have to blend in the welds a bit. Brent stood on it after we got done, and bounced up & down several times to test it out,,, it passed. One of the nice things about the beefy supports,,, if & when someone jacks the car up by this area again in the future,, these supports shouldn't bend & buckle like the factory one did. 

Till next time,,,,