Welding Rear Bed Floor Sheet of Steel Over a Blazer's Gas Tank

[Agape Guy]

Hey all. Anyone have any safety advice on tack welding back on a section of a Blazer's floor bed sheet of ~1/8" steel, which will be tacked on directly over the gas tank? The owner of this project car Blazer had cut out a portion of approximately 3' x 4' floor sheet to gain access above the fuel tank to swap out the fuel pump (too much frame rust and other stubborn-bolt problems kept him from wanting to drop the gas tank to perform the fuel pump swap). The good news is he just wants 8-10 tack welds (one at each corner, and the rest evenly spaced apart around the perimeter of the sheet being welded back on). The remainder of his plan is to silicon seal the rest, then finally put Rhino liner over the entire bed floor. He wants to have easy access to the fuel pump in the future.

[Virgil5]

The owner will be far better served using sheet metal screws on the floor and investing savings in brake lines.
BTW, run a new ground wire from the pump outlet tube before closing the floor up.

Fuel pump was changeable thru a 12" hole, and the usual method of putting the floor back in place was astrigals and screws. If he insists on welding a sheet in, mark the fuel pump location or put a manhole in the sheet for access.


I'd prefer to not discuss how I know about Blazer and Astrovan brake lines. Complete prebent line sets are cheap direct from dealer parts.
Post Office does complete changeouts of brake lines as part of their frame replacements on their Blazer vans for good reason.

[Bistineau]

Are you going to be welding the original piece back in that he cut out?

[BD1]

Maybe consider adding a angle iron frame below deck and around tank. Cut new plate, countersink holes, and bolt new plate.

[Hobbytime]

from the description of the truck you give in its rusted stage, just use some duct tape, it will probably outlast the truck..LOL

[Agape Guy]

The SUV owner had me put the original sheet of steel back in place and tack weld it in, just for now. That way, he has easy access to the fuel pump in the future. It was a fun welding project, using my Everlast Power I-MIG 200 welder, which is a dual-voltage (120v/240v) mig/stick combo welder. For this welding job, which was thin metal (16 gauge), I used regular household 120v current to stick weld the panel using Forney 5/64" E6013 electrodes at 28-30 amps. Next time, I'll use thinner 1/16" stick electrodes to control the weld pool better at 20-25 amps. It was difficult with the 5/64" rods, but I got the tack welds done. Love these DIY projects, and this welder produces beautiful arcs using mig/fluxcore or stick processes! The best part is I was successful at convincing him that next month I can pull the panel, add 1-inch wide, 12-gauge thick strips of metal across it spaced evenly apart and tack weld each end of the strips, so the panel can support at least some weight underneath the floor's carpet.

[Agape Guy]

Nice!

[Agape Guy]

I just found this!! This guy has a really good video of comparisons of 1/16" 6013 and 6011 electrodes to weld thin metal (go to 11:12 into the video for the results comparison of 1/16" rods. He did well with both DCEP and DCEN positions---a thorough video, if you are interested in learning to stick weld thin metal. I prefer stick vs mig/fluxcore welding, but that's just me.

[Agape Guy]

Yes--done!

[Agape Guy]

Agape, what we used to do when welding gauged burner boxes on new boilers using 1/8th 6010, was skip weld around gaps, not trying to weld them closed in one pass.

We would lay down small amounts of metal along the sides of a gap to thicken the metal and lessen the gap's opening, what we called spider webbing, then jump from one gap to another to allow for cooling, and then come back and lay down more weld until the gaps were eventually welded shut.

A close up of the welds you made would provide a more visual understanding of what you accomplished.

Hi! Yes, I always do, re close-up photos. But I forgot to mention that I took that first photo (the posted one) right before my android phone (an old Note4) had a bunch of successive re-starting problems, turning on and off, which lasted about 30 minutes--weird! So I could not take any more photos, close up photos, like I had planned of the welder settings, rods used, and most importantly the tack welds. I did an android software update a little later, which seemed to solve the problem. Anyway, I'll post photos of the next job, when I revisit this project. My neighbor, the vehicle owner, does not have time for a few weeks, but that's OK because I want to practice using 1/16" rods on 16-gauge to improve my skillset on stick welding thin metals. Lovin' my Everlast welder, after 3 years, which is still going strong.

[Xsbank]

Was the welder turned on? That would mess up your phone...