My Datsun 280Z "Rustoration"

HaZmatt · May 17, 2015

Matt, Looks great! Not to be Debbie downer, but that exhaust pipe looks pretty close to the ground. You will scrape it...been there, done that...no t-shirt.

Cheers, Mike

I hear ya, but the exhaust guy put it up as close to the body as he could with 2.5" piping. I guess i'll just have to be careful.

Patcon · May 17, 2015

What welder were you using?

HaZmatt · May 17, 2015

I used an Eastwood 150 mig welder

Patcon · May 17, 2015

So you have some spare voltage. I have a 210 amp welder. I wasn't sure your welds were penetrating as much as they could. I would have probably turned it up a bit but I don't think you will have an issue. Most of the load on the strust is compression. I like to be sure my welds burn in a little more around the edges. If you look at the welds in "Careless's"?? thread his puddles lay down a little more. He is TIGing I believe but the same principle. When I see them sort of bead up like water on oil I add some heat.

HaZmatt · May 18, 2015

Thats an excellent pic of the different welds. Yeah on my first strut the voltage was too low. By the third one I had it down good. But like I said I would've felt confident in just doing a few tack welds because the coilover slides over the housing really nice and tight.

Patcon · May 19, 2015

Yeah, I didn't think it would be a problem either. I guess the largest forces on the welds are them trying to rotate from braking or acceleration. With the whole circumference welded it aught to be fine.