Grind on it all day long!

    As I mentioned yesterday, I wanted to take my time welding in this hood panel. So, I went down this AM and got started. I welded about 3 inches on one corner then moved to the opposite corner and did 3 more. Then I went out side and did some yard work for about 15 mins and came back in and welded some more.

    This went on pretty much all day. I rotated back and forth from yard work to laundry and cleaning. After dinner I went out and finished up the major welding. I still have some touch up and grinding to do.

    As I went I would hammer out the shrinkage on the seam ... it's comming along nicely!

    I did manage to clean my kitchen, do 4 loads of laundry, sweep the downstairs, clean out 2 flower beds, trim several bushes and shave my gate bottom to keep it from dragging the ground! Oh and clean up all the brush to a pile!

    Well here are a couple pictures of the real work!

    Note the relief cut. I cut this in before I started welding. The metal was stretched a bit for the previous effort and that caused a slight buckle. I welded a bit on the opposite side of the patch to get things in place then made the relief cut to prevent further buckling when I worked my way around to that side. This worked out very well as it pretty much closed back up on its own from the welding and the buckle is gone. The weld shrinkage also seems to have tightened everything up! Sweet!

    Also note the filler on the front end past the patch. This is left over form the last heavy coat I put on before I decided to patch the hood. most of that will come off.

    I wanted to weld from the backside for a neater look, but the metal did not want to clean up enough to allow a good weld. Having to weld on the top will force me to do a proper grind for a nice finish.