Welding/brazing panels

[warrenrhen]

I have this 79 124 spider, AZ car but it still has a rusted right front foot well. I'm old, I live in a gated community with only a carport and not much more than hand tools. I used to do pretty extensive work. Of course I used to be young and good looking to but anyway. I bought a replacement foot well and I still have some clecco clamps left. My question is, is there some kind of new miracle silver solder/brazing rod that uses pretty low heat that I can use to braze a new foot well in. TIA

Cheers,
Warren

[Nut124]

Warren, I feel your pain. Getting older myself.

How bad is the rust damage?

If you have to do it yourself and cannot weld, I'd consider pop rivets and some kind of a panel sealant compound.

Have you tried fitting the new piece inside the floor pan?

[davidbruce]

I think Nut has the right idea. I have no experience with them but the panel adhesives are supposed to be very good these days. Probably only as good as the old metal is clean. I would still want a good fit and would also use pop rivets for peace of mind.

[DieselSpider]

I use the Harbor Freight Wire Feed Fliux Welder that goes on sale for around $90 and use an .030 E71T-GS (single pass) or E71T-11 (multi-pass) flux core welding wire. On old steel potentially with a high level of impurities, low temp gas brazing/soldering would be my last choice. Electric Weld or Sealed Pop Rivets with Panel Adhesive would be preferable. When Electric Welding using a heavy copper spoon to back the seam being stitch welded helps considerably.

[GreyDR]

Warren, I feel your pain. Getting older myself.

How bad is the rust damage?

If you have to do it yourself and cannot weld, I'd consider pop rivets and some kind of a panel sealant compound.

Have you tried fitting the new piece inside the floor pan?

We'll consider this idea as well for the rusted Tbird project. We'll take a closer look at the extend of the rust after we finished installing the suspension and jeep wheels on the Wrangler this week.