Finding rusted spotwelds?

[Ben_SaxoForte]

Ok i'm trying to remove the two rear beams that run under the boot floor, basically the plan was just to drill out the spotwelds with a spotweld cutter and just pull them off but I'm having problems finding them with the metal being so pitted with rust (hence why I'm removing them to replace) I can find roughly where they are if I look at the other side of the floor inside the boot but not exactly.. anyone else had a similar problem? the problem is I don't want to damage them too much on removal because I need them relatively in tact so I can copy them to new metal otherwise i'd have chopped them off and ground off the remains. I also don't really want to drill them from the inside of the boot as its pretty nice and tidy inside so I want as little damage as possible to the boot floor.

Considering getting an air die grinder as I think that might work? any other suggestions?

Cheers

[stevo67]

Get the metal as clean and degreased as possible,that way you'll have a better chance of locating the welds.

[zetecmk2]

skim a belt sander lightly over the welds. spot welding deforms the metal so you will see any low spots. by the time you've ground 3, you will have sussed how much to grind to see them best.......then it's 10 mins work!

[MartinObviously]

Ok i'm trying to remove the two rear beams that run under the boot floor, basically the plan was just to drill out the spotwelds with a spotweld cutter and just pull them off but I'm having problems finding them with the metal being so pitted with rust (hence why I'm removing them to replace) I can find roughly where they are if I look at the other side of the floor inside the boot but not exactly.. anyone else had a similar problem? the problem is I don't want to damage them too much on removal because I need them relatively in tact so I can copy them to new metal otherwise i'd have chopped them off and ground off the remains. I also don't really want to drill them from the inside of the boot as its pretty nice and tidy inside so I want as little damage as possible to the boot floor.

Considering getting an air die grinder as I think that might work? any other suggestions?

Cheers

As soon as you weld in there again, it'll probably burn the paint in your boot floor anyway :homme:

[Ben_SaxoForte]

thanks for the idea's I will have another look at it tomorrow, and I know it will possibly burn through the paint when welding but i'd just prefer not to cut holes in the floor if I don't have to plus there are a few that I can only get at from underneath anyways so will still need to find them.

[Shadowslayerzz]

Cut the whole section of boot out around it I would, will be easier to weld back in a square with four straight edges aswell rather than welding the new ones onto existing boot I would just cut the boot floor out with the pieces on it then make up a new boot floor and weld new bits to the new floor before putting the new on the car with a welder

[stevo67]

Cut the whole section of boot out around it I would, will be easier to weld back in a square with four straight edges aswell rather than welding the new ones onto existing boot I would just cut the boot floor out with the pieces on it then make up a new boot floor and weld new bits to the new floor before putting the new on the car with a welder

If I was going to that trouble i'd take it to a professional fabricator.:y::drink:

[Ben_SaxoForte]

Cut the whole section of boot out around it I would, will be easier to weld back in a square with four straight edges aswell rather than welding the new ones onto existing boot I would just cut the boot floor out with the pieces on it then make up a new boot floor and weld new bits to the new floor before putting the new on the car with a welder

I can see what you're saying but as we all know saxo's are made of tin cans and I don't really fancy my chances running a bead of weld around two big rectangles without burning through, if I get them off from the spot welds then I can just plug weld the new ones on so less chance of burning holes hopefully!

[Ben_SaxoForte]

Ok decided to go through the top inside the boot to cut the spotwelds (actually turned out quite neat and much easier to access..

But there are still a few spotwelds underneath the car on the little tabs at the ends of the beams. Does anyone have a good way of getting these off I can't get in at them with the spotweld drill or the grinder.. bought an air die grinder and its utter shite lol don't know if its the grinding stones that came with it or what but id be there a week on one spot weld.

Any good ideas?

[Shadowslayerzz]

If I was going to that trouble i'd take it to a professional fabricator.:y::drink:

Haha I get what your saying, I used to be a metal fabricator back in the day used a lot of tig myself :y:

And can you not get at them with the welder?

[Shadowslayerzz]

Are the welds inside the beams? If so could you not try cutting some squares out of the beams and use the welder burn off the welds?

[Ben_SaxoForte]

No they are on the outside but they are just in a tight corner managed to get one beam off today one more to go.. I didn't know you could use the welder to do that? I'm pretty new to welding lol..