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I am going the route of replacing the headliner/rear window trim in only the necessary patch pieces. The roof skin is solid so don't know that I will remove that but a compressed air bath and coat of fluid film post weld in between roof and headliner is a must - also have a donor cowl for the interior bulge at least...the firewall side will have to be custom. Damn rodents.I think if I was you, I would try removing the roof skin from your truck before you do anything else. If you can get the skin off fairly easily, replace only that with your donor piece and patch in little pieces on the inner skin. I really think if you cut the whole roof off yours and try to weld the pillars back together, you are going to have a hell of a time getting things straight, square and lined up so that the windshield and doors fit right. It is a LOT easier to drill out a bunch of spot welds on your skins than get everything lined up with a full roof swap... and you'll have the opportunity to fix that dent in your donor panel while the skin is off.
That cowl is not going to be fun to fix, I do not envy that one bit.
I've thought about that before too, but decided it's too much work unless the cowl needs to come off and you can easily get the 2nd gen one to install. If someone has the skill and is going to be welding and body working anyway, cutting out the vent sections and splicing it in might be an easier option?I think you can take a cowl cover off a second gen and put it on a 1st gen to eliminate the slotted holes. It helps keep a lot of debris out but it's kind of a pain because you have to remove the windshield and it's spot welded in a lot of places.
Swapping them is a real pain. Cutting a section out is certainly an option but that's a lot of welding and a lot of warping.I've thought about that before too, but decided it's too much work unless the cowl needs to come off and you can easily get the 2nd gen one to install. If someone has the skill and is going to be welding and body working anyway, cutting out the vent sections and splicing it in might be an easier option?
I really have no idea how much work either would involve, but replacing the whole cowl would require removing at least teh front clip and windshield, then finding and removing a lot of spot welds. Make it twice if you've got to harvest a used OEM from a donor.
If someone didn't want to do that work, but were looking for a way to prevent leaves and trash from collecting in the cowl while sitting, consider getting some sheet magnets cut to size to fit over the vents.
I don't think I would have attempted it with flux wire, butt welding sheet metal is difficult enough with gas. 0.030 wire is a little big for sheet metal too, I try to use 0.025 but I don't think they make it in flux core so you might be stuck with what you have. Here's a couple tricks -Man this shit is thin. I'm using HF titanium 125 flux welder with 0.030 flux core wire and having better luck on my butt welds with longer wire stick out and higher amperage but it's a lot of tack building then letting cool off completely to not burn through. On a practice piece I could get along great on a lap weld but can't over lap these patches obviously.
Can I use solid mig wire in the fashion your talking about? Ol Bondo Billy on YouTube may have me over confident in the flux but he gets along pretty well with it in very similar conditions to what I am working in.Swapping them is a real pain. Cutting a section out is certainly an option but that's a lot of welding and a lot of warping.
#1 if you can access to the back side of what you're welding, you can hold a piece of copper or aluminum directly behind where you're going to weld. The weld won't stick to it and it allows it to pool and fill in the gap rather than making a bigger hole and falling through.
You have to use gas with solid wire. Having done sheet metal with both I prefer solid wire & gas... but flux is doable.Can I use solid mig wire in the fashion your talking about? Ol Bondo Billy on YouTube may have me over confident in the flux but he gets along pretty well with it in very similar conditions to what I am working in.
I should have specified more; Using flux core wire through the welder, can I then lay solid mig wire in the gap and tack it?You have to use gas with solid wire. Having done sheet metal with both I prefer solid wire & gas... but flux is doable.
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