I'm a welder & fitter by trade with 25 yrs. working in fab shops. I'm what you might call an experienced fabricator. I agree with grigg, leave it alone. our gm trucks had strong frames anyway, they had to be because of the wood frame body. ford frames were designed to twist & flex because of the buggy spring suspension. most of the time a frame only needs beefing up in an area where it's been modified like "C"ing for lowered suspension or "Z"ing to lower the car, or adding a power steering box. but most of the time the boxing people do or want to do is completely unnessecary. ive been looking at old gm truck frames my whole life & seen very few that were cracked or broken. for a gm truck frame that's in reasonably good condition adding a modern V8, auto trans, power steering & brakes does not require boxing regardless what you've seen done to model "A" & 32 ford frames in the street rod magazines.
welding on your trucks chassis needs to be given serious consideration, especially if you're not very experienced. excess heat can cause warping & twisting before you know it. improper welding can mke your frame weaker. the frame & the weld metal are different tensile strengths & hardness creating a stress point. as the frame twists & flexes going down the road a crack can form.
2 other things i'll point out then i'll get off my soap box.
1) your welded joint is only as strong as the the thinnest part. two pieces of 1/8" plate welded together is not going to be stronger with a 1/2" tall x 1/2" wide weld bead. more likely it will cause the aforementioned problems. the weld bead need only be as thick as the thinnest part.
2) this is the worst thing i've seen ameteur welder/rodders do on chassis. a guy will make a weld raise his hood & see that it's a bad weld that won't hold. so they throw the hood back down & run another weld over it..........or twice......or 3 times. it may look better but you still have a crappy weld at the root that won't hold. if it looks bad grind it out COMPLETELY! & then lay another weld.
if you're contemplating welding on chassis, practice on a lot of similar scrap metal & get a pro welder to mentor you.
& DON'T USE THAT GASLESS FLUX CORED WIRE!!!! it makes a brittle weld that isn't suited for twisting & flexing of an auto body or frame.
oh yeah, i almost forgot. guys are always asking whether they should get a 110 or 230 volt mig welder. get the 230. especially if you intend to weld on a frame. the 110 welders don't put out enough heat for chassis work.
i know the 110 machines are cheaper. the flux core wire is cheaper because you don't have to buy a gas bottle. if you need to save money that bad you don't to be restoring antique trucks & building hot rods.
Robert
