It's been the overriding theme of my '67 project since I started two years ago. Yesterday I figured out how to put the coil spring in the engine lid. Then I heard a crack as I closed it.
Can this be welded or would it crack again under the pressure of the spring? I can't find this part in the catalogs so I assume I'd have to try a junkyard if it can't be welded. Any suggestions?
I'm getting miserly. I could buy a pair of used hinges on Ebay for $20 or weld it myself and hope it works. So far it seems to have held. The spring holds the lid up and when I close it it seals with a satisfying click. Three coats of Rustoleum hides my amateurish welding, sorta.
Welding will work fine, but Don's right. All that extra build up is not doing you any good and may be hiding welding cracks and voids.
The hinges are fairly thick metal, so can take quite a bit of heat. You need to grind the extra weld off and cut a sort of "v" shaped groove so the piece looks about the way it started. Set your welder for fairly high heat and relatively slow wire speed. When you weld, the piece should go red hot about a 1/4" to 1/2" around the weld line. You should be able to watch the whole piece melt together. There should not be heavy build up on top of the weld - some, but not lots. Grind down to flush with a grinder. you can make the weld invisible.
These pieces are easily replaceable for cheap, so this is a good opportunity to practice your welding. My suspicion is that your initial attempt used too low a heat setting for the job.
Thanks for the suggestions. I hadn't planned on grinding the excess weld off mainly because it's a hidden part. If it were in a visible location, I'd grind and reweld til nobody could tell there'd been damage. Since one side cracked, I imagine the other will crack eventually, or my welding job will fail. In either case, I'd probably get new ones. Or do a better job repairing the old ones.
