replacing floors in my IH scout

[Chris P]

Hi all, I'm finally getting around to doing a little body work on my truck and I'm very very new to welding. Not knowing that much about it, I'm a little concerned about different safety issues. I was wondering if it is necessary to remove the gas tank when welding the body of a vehicle? Any other tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated, but mostly I'm just concerned about 1) electrocuting myself and 2) blowing up the Scout.

If it matters, I'm running a cheap generic 120 stick welder I got from Sears.

Thanks a lot.

[hdwarner]

i am a fan of ih can i see some pics

[Thomas Dean]

How close are you going to be to the gas tank/lines? How much welding are you having to do? Sometimes it's better to er on the safe side, so if you have ANY doubts remove the tank. Also, welding automotive body parts with a stick welder is going to be a challenge, to say the least. If you can afford it, puchase a small MIG welder, or oxygen/acetalene rig and gas weld it. The wire (MIG) welding process is made for welding thin materials. If you have a friend that owns a wire machine rent it from him, or make a friend that has one.
Good luck. would be fun to see before and after pictures....hint hint.

[ThomasPowers]

Do you need to weld or could you rivit the floor patch in?

[Chris P]

here are a few pics of my two scouts. The yellow one is getting new floors and rockers.

Actually I probably could have riveted in patches for the floors, or even left them alone for a while. But, the rockers are completely shot, so I figured I might as well do both.

I'll snap some pics of the actual job tomorrow hopefully. Been raining so much here I can't do much of anything with them .

[Awalker]

You might post on the Binder Bulletin or the Binder Bench. I have an 800 and have a lot of information on those sites. I would not remove the gas tank though, just make sure you are not cutting/welding right above the fuel line.

[pigpen]

I don't know if I'm to late or not but it would be wise to unhook the battery before welding. If you don't you run the risk of shorting out anything electrical. Suth as radio computer fuelpump etc.

[maddog]

Here's how its done!

[Awalker]

Hey pigpen, that was the funniest thing I have heard in a while! A computer of electronic fuel pump in a Scout!