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How to remove frame rails?


JMortensen

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So far the cutoff wheel is proving the easiest. The burr is the fastest by a good margin, but a bit wild. I'm doing the crappy passenger side first, but I can already see that the floor is pretty F'ed up. Not sure if I'll be able to beat it flat of if I'm going to be buying floorpans too. Just what I need... ANOTHER project... :banghead:

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I have been in that situation of trying to drill out spot welds before. I was quite surprised to read all the varied answers and solutions to the problem in this thread. It has been my experience that a regular drill bit will not even begin to touch a spot weld. However if the drill bit is titanium coated, it'll drill through it quite well. One you have all the spot welds drilled out you should be able to separate the two panels with a good sharp chisel and hammer.

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  • 11 months later...

Yeah, cutoff wheel is what I've used for any spot welds that have needed to be removed since that portion of the project. I didn't try to remove the floor pans at all, and there may be some areas that are hard to get at near the rockers (just guessing) but the wheel would definitely be my tool of choice. You may want to look at one of the spot weld cutters too. That might even be better, I just never wanted to shell out the money for one.

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I started out using cut off wheels on the spot welds, then I bought this $11 bit

 

http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/ap1721.html

AP-1721.jpg

 

and this $13 spot weld cutter

http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/blr13224.html

BLR13224.jpg

 

The bit works perfectly to completely remove the spot weld flush to the bottom panel. The cutter leaves a button, but supposedly the button can be used to realign the panel if you are reattaching a repaired panel. It also works as a plug weld cutter to cut perfect holes in new sheet metal. It comes in several different diameters.

 

I find the $11 money well spent when compared to the cut off wheel approach. Massively faster and more accurate.

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hey jmort,

 

have you thought about using a flat piece of copper, or a penny, and butting it against the sheet metal and welding on the other side to fill any holes that are made while removing the spot welds?

 

a friend of mine does that when welding in the holes on battery trays after removing them from his project cars.

 

might wanna look into that and practice on some poo metal.

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