Dont let anyone weld on your f-body that thinks they know what their doing...
Thread Starter
TECH Regular
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 458
Likes: 1
From: Keller, Texas
Dont let anyone weld on your f-body that thinks they know what their doing... So i am in the process of doing extensive body work on my z28. Tonight, i brought my car up to my boss's shop to shave off my antenna and weld a patch in.
My boss owns a few shops and his main shop is employed with 40+ year old guys. I walk in there and 3 or 4 of his other employees give me **** because i am some punk college kid with a nitrous lt1... Oh you got a go fast bottle ***.... Were older than you so we know more than you college boy....
I asked my boss if a could use his welder and a few tools, its never a problem hes a damn cool boss. So i am preparing the surface to weld in a patch and some douche rolls in and tells me that i am doing it wrong. Starts giving me **** about chevys and tells me to buy a ford blah blah....
I am an experienced armature welder so i thought maybe he knows welding more than me. Wrong decision.
I wanted to weld in a patch using only a few spot welds thats it to prevent warping and contamination. So this stupid F##ker welds two super fat beads around the antenna hole. GAHHHHH! The welds were at least 1/3 inch tall and the quarter panel was warped to ****....
It looked like dog **** IMO. I was pissed but i could fix it with at least 2 hours of work. All i wanted was a few spot welds not two thick *** beads.
So i spent the rest of the night grinding and preparing the warped area for an excessive amount bondo. I hate using bondo when not necessary.
So never let anyone weld on your car that has less experience than you.
Ill post up pics tomorrow.
My boss owns a few shops and his main shop is employed with 40+ year old guys. I walk in there and 3 or 4 of his other employees give me **** because i am some punk college kid with a nitrous lt1... Oh you got a go fast bottle ***.... Were older than you so we know more than you college boy....
I asked my boss if a could use his welder and a few tools, its never a problem hes a damn cool boss. So i am preparing the surface to weld in a patch and some douche rolls in and tells me that i am doing it wrong. Starts giving me **** about chevys and tells me to buy a ford blah blah....
I am an experienced armature welder so i thought maybe he knows welding more than me. Wrong decision.
I wanted to weld in a patch using only a few spot welds thats it to prevent warping and contamination. So this stupid F##ker welds two super fat beads around the antenna hole. GAHHHHH! The welds were at least 1/3 inch tall and the quarter panel was warped to ****....
It looked like dog **** IMO. I was pissed but i could fix it with at least 2 hours of work. All i wanted was a few spot welds not two thick *** beads.So i spent the rest of the night grinding and preparing the warped area for an excessive amount bondo. I hate using bondo when not necessary.
So never let anyone weld on your car that has less experience than you.
Ill post up pics tomorrow.
Thread Starter
TECH Regular
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 458
Likes: 1
From: Keller, Texas
lol yeah i guess your right. He said that he had a 460ci 1/2 ton that would rape my car. Ford guys...
It just pisses me off that older gear heads think they are more knowledgeable than the current fuel injected generation gear heads. Dont get me wrong there are some old school guys that educated me to a great extent about automotive hobbies.
Anyways ways. Ill post before and after pics. Its going to be a long day tomorrow.
It just pisses me off that older gear heads think they are more knowledgeable than the current fuel injected generation gear heads. Dont get me wrong there are some old school guys that educated me to a great extent about automotive hobbies.
Anyways ways. Ill post before and after pics. Its going to be a long day tomorrow.
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,516
Likes: 0
Sorry to hear about someone else messing up your car. About welding it though. I would have welded it all the way around with spot welds. I have heard that if you leave cracks below filler and paint then they can eventually show back through. I dont mean to run a big fat bead around it, but make sure it is all tied back together.
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gotta love the "experianced body men" its funny because i know a lot of awesome awesome body guys out here but you'd be surprised how many times you hear how "back in the day we did this or that to hack a car out because this or that person didnt wanna pay to do it right" sorry to hear about your car. i shaved my antenna with a nice bead around the entire hole and it didnt take much grinding and just a minor amount of bonbo to make it smooth.
Wow, that sucks man. The thing is with me is that I do all of my own work. I don't trust anyone because of things like that. I know that if I do it myself then it is being done with care and if I mess up its my fault. Anyone else is just doing it to put money in their pocket and business's sometimes push cars out with more problems than it came in the shop with. When I worked at the Chevy dealer back home, I got **** all the time because I worked slow. I don't think I work slow. I just respect others car and do just as good of job if not better than on my own car. To me that is better business, not seeing how many cars can come in and out in a certain time frame. Quality is one of the words that I live by day to day. Everything I do needs to be done right. OCD I guess.
Last edited by VeitSSki8701; Nov 21, 2008 at 12:44 AM.
Should have slammed his head into the quarter and turned it into the insurance company. "Gee I don't know, I was at the bar and some drunk guy ran head first into it!" That sucks though, hope it comes out ok.
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 6,216
Likes: 236
From: Wichita KS / Rancho San Diego
Another classic case of the "know-it-alls" you meet in the world of cars who don't know anything. I know what you mean ... they talk like they know so much that you think they must know more than you. Then they prove themselves to be complete idiots.
Sucks to hear! Only shade-trade mechanic i trust workin on my car is me! 
I hear'ya on older guys raggin on younger kids for their cars. Ive got a cammed LS6 '91 Z28 and i get ragged on a fair bit for having a 500hp car at such a young age, even by my grandparents
I go to shows&shines and im told all the time about how much better it was back in the day etc etc, how kids these days have no idea. Its pretty friggen annoying. Not gonna lie haha.
I hear'ya on older guys raggin on younger kids for their cars. Ive got a cammed LS6 '91 Z28 and i get ragged on a fair bit for having a 500hp car at such a young age, even by my grandparents
I go to shows&shines and im told all the time about how much better it was back in the day etc etc, how kids these days have no idea. Its pretty friggen annoying. Not gonna lie haha.
Shame on you, you young wipper snapper, for even thinking about welding something like that. On that type of project I would have used panel adhesive; No welding no warping. By the way I'm 50 and I guess I would classified as an old school body guy. By the way, I don't don't this for a living, I only do it on the side, all though I have been doing it for 30 years. It's like being a DR. You have to keep up with the times.