Spot Weld Removal

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howco4

howco4

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Started removing the qtr panels on my Dart. I have a decent weld cutter, but the main problem: I can't visually find all the welds. I took my body sander, and removed most of the paint, hoping the welds would be left visible. I could see a few of them but rest were not visable. The metal was not even indented to where I could feel a weld. Any tricks of the trade that might be of some help. Tnxs: Howard
 
I imagine your talking about inside the door jamb. After I got it started at the top by drilling out a few of the welds I used an air chissel and ran it down to cut the rest out. Just be careful you don't dig into the door jamb side try to hit more on the quarter side (you can always trim more down later).
Adam
 
I started at the rear of the car. It took me most of the afternoon to remove top to bottom on one side. I had a lot of extra cuts where there was no welds. I was worried the chisel would tear some of the inner metal. Howard (thanks for the put.)
 
i drilled all the ones i could see, then i took a hammer and chisel and slid it between. dont chisel them out, it might tear the metal. just use the chisel to find them then drill them.

not sure if that makes sence. but it worked for me.
 
I have done the same thing drill what you see, then seperate panels where you can with a screw driver or chisel this will help to locate the ones you couldn't see. To uncover the spotwelds I used a nylon bristle drill attachment that has a grit engrained in each bristle. I stripped down to bare metal with this and was able to detect almost all of the welds. It workd great strips faster then a wire brush attachment without any scratching.
 
This is my first venture into the muscle car resto. I've done a couple of street rods, but there were no spot welds to deal with. Everything was bolted together. Tnx:
Howard
 
What type of cutter are you using? I haven't found a decent one yet! The Blair one is supposed to be decent, but I dont know anyone who has used one.
 
Got mine out of the Eastwood online catalog. Came in a plain brown wrapper. My experience with these is very limited, however the one I got works for my purposes. Item 19017, $19.99. Howard
 
Thanks, might have to try that. I haved stripped the teeth off of most of the ones I have used so far. A slow speed drill is key to using these, I have seen recommendations of 600RPM or less for some cutters.
 
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