Hi All, First some background. I am doing my teardown on my 65 2+2 and like most people who do this have found a few surprises. The guy I bought the car from via long distance transaction (yeah yeah, I know) said it was factory original. The car has actually been rear-ended at some point in the past and also a drivers side hit as well. Anyway it's a good car to restore nonetheless and I have it now so no turning back. My first question is regarding the rear quarter panel extensions. I took them off and one has a rubber weather gasket where it mates to the quarter and the other does not. Both have Ford part numbers but one starts with '4C' (or Z) and the other with '5C (Z)'. My guess is that sometime during 64-65 production Ford introduced a redesigned extension with the gasket (that one has the 5C code prefix). My car was manufactured Nov 30th 1964 so I'm thinking the one without the gasket is correct for the car. Can anyone confirm? My second question has to do with welding body panels. I am going to replace the rear quarters as I do not want filler in the car when done. That was not part of the original plan but I was thrown a curve ball and I'm going to deal with it. I have a MIG welder and have been playing around with the heat settings on a scrap body panel. I can't seem to find just the right heat but I'm getting better at it. I read somewhere not to start the weld at the gap but that actually seems to help a bit. It seems that on low setting the penetration is not enough and as I go up it just seems to burn a hole so fast. What is the trick to doing a nice butt weld? I'm using 0.23mm solid wire with 75/25 gas. Any suggestions on technique and quarter replacement tips are much appreciated. Thanks all. Chris
As far as the welding part, I bought these. They made butt welding a lot easier. Also filling holes is a breeze. 4 inch Magnetic Copper Welding Backer They have other copper backing that might suite your needs better, look around.
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