> I have finally finished most of the summer "honey do" projects. Now I can get
> back into my TR3 project. The next phase is replacing the floors.
> I am planning on cutting out the old floors while leaving a lip to position
> and weld the new floor. As far as welding, I saw another TR3 on which the
> owner drilled 3/8" holes every 1.5" on the floor flange and welded the hole
> edges to the body, much like spot welding. It was done very neatly and
> appeared to be quite strong. Has anyone ever done this, or is this overkill?
> Any opinions or advice on the above is greatly appreciated. Also please
> advise me of any pitfalls to avoid during this process.
The August issue of Practical Classics has an article on their restoration of
a Jag XJ6 with some serious rust problems. They are replacing just about
every bit of sheet metal on the car including the floor pans and inner and
outer sills. It seems (from the article) that the standard method for welding
in these new panels is first to drill out the spot welds & drop out whatever
piece of metal you're replacing. Then you clamp up the new piece, and do
what they call a plug weld (ie weld around the diameter of the hole in the
piece that's still on the car until you fill it up). They use a MIG to do this
and I think it's only an issue where you either don't have a spot welder, or
the welding point is inaccessible to your spot welder (or both). If you can have
a read of the article (pp 90-95) it's very interesting.
Hope this helps,
Frank Biedermann
69 TR6
Adelaide, Australia
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