Hey guys, I am having a problem with my project. I am shaving the drip rails on my 65 Mustang.

When I go to weld the roof skin and the door jamb together, it almost seems like I am not getting any penetration to my welds. Like the welding wire is just pooling on the surface of the metal and not going between the layers of metal.

Here is a shot of the weld before grinding:

And after:

There are a lot of voids, and the metal is NOT tacked together.

I am using a Harbor Freight 90amp flux wire welder.

Perhaps I need to open up the joint some before I weld to allow the wire to bridge the gap some? I just don't know enough about it to know for sure.

flux wire welding isnt the best choice for automotive sheet metal, but it's what you have so... I would recommend doing a lot of practice welds on scrap metal of the same thickness before continuing welding on your car. the car is a bad place to try something out on. use your scrap and work with different settings to see how the welds turn out. once you get it set up and working properly and you are comfortable with the process, then and only then have at it on the car

Go to [url]mustangandfords.com[/url] In the tech section there is an article " drip rails slippery smooth". It gives a step by step on how to do it. It looks to me like you may have cut them too close and not left enough to weld on. In addition I am not a fan of flux core. Some of the welders on here I'm sure will get you on the right track. From my view it looks like you don't have the 2 pieces held together to weld them to each other (your just welding on the roof panel) and then your too cold. You should be stitch welding every 6 inches or so so you don't over heat the roof panel and warp it. READ THE ARTICLE. I'm in the process of doing the same thing. Mel

907AK wrote:Go to [url]mustangandfords.com[/url] In the tech section there is an article " drip rails slippery smooth". It gives a step by step on how to do it. It looks to me like you may have cut them too close and not left enough to weld on. In addition I am not a fan of flux core. Some of the welders on here I'm sure will get you on the right track. From my view it looks like you don't have the 2 pieces held together to weld them to each other (your just welding on the roof panel) and then your too cold. You should be stitch welding every 6 inches or so so you don't over heat the roof panel and warp it. READ THE ARTICLE. I'm in the process of doing the same thing. Mel

Read the article multiple times.. just not getting the hang of it. The clamps are just beyond the picture, and the drip rail is only cut off along the top. There is still the full rails on the front and back.

Also, dont be afraid to clean all that old paint off there. welding works better when the metal is clean and bare

One more vote against flux core. It will be impossible to the best of my knowledge to run flux core wire cold enough to handle sheet metal. I've done a LOT of flux core but only in structural steel. You need MIG but if you can't do that weld it with an oxygen/acetylene torch. That's the way it was done for decades.

Trying to stitch-weld with flux is pretty hard, but it can be done.

You need to crank up your voltage and maybe bump up your feed rate slightly. Depending on how your welder reacts, you might even need to turn the feed down. When you are placing a tack, the trigger shouldn't be held for more than a second. Just long enough to form a puddle and tack, but not long enough to blow through or build blobs of bead.

Think of it as Voltage = Penetration and Feed = Bead. If you need more penetration, crank up your voltage. If the bead is too small or you are blowing through easily, crank up your feed. Its a delicate balance, but eventually you will find a setting that will work.

Try to keep your weld tip at a 20 - 30 degree angle if possible. This will usually allow you to blow away the contamination and slag, while laying down a fresh bead in place of the metal you blew away. Welding at a 90 degree angle usually blows through or makes heavily contaminated welds, especially with flux.

Thanks for the advice.. With alot of practice I was able to get decent penitration and stitch it together well enough that it does not look like a half drunk idiot was doing the welding. I am getting quite skilled with that grinder though lol.

I will post some pictures when the 65 returns from the Media Blasters (she is getting a full strip down now, I am waiting for her return with baited breath).