Welding on a Monaro?

[Lincsls1]

With the recent discussion on chassis leg corrosion on the Monaro, it reminded me of a conversation I had with Stuart at AAS in Newcastle.
I seem to remember him saying that the metal on the Monaro was a special type of steel that they couldn't weld?
Has anyone already done any welding on a Ro and were there any issues?
Can't see it myself, though looking at mine this afternoon I think I may have some to be done soon if I want to keep my car right.

[OversizeTigra]

Maybe they meant they couldn't weld to rust? ;-) There's a nice example of welding in a thread by 99t in Readers' Cars, Millie the blue Monaro. The sill cover was hiding a previous bodge and the results were a bit scary. I really want to get my sill covers off and check and clean underneath them but removing the screws is going to be a hell of a task in itself so I've started with the more accessible grot and am cleaning up and WDing the screws as I go in preparation.

[Lincsls1]

Nope, that's not what they were meaning. It was something to do with the type of steel used on the Monaro, I think, but can't quite remember it was more of a license issue?

[vxkev]

I can't see why it can't be welded as it is just normal steel and not a alloy of metals of any kind they are spot welded wings and the legs are spot welded to the inner wings like most cars

[Lincsls1]

I wonder what they were on about then. I can't see it being special steel. Just the usual stuff that forms most GM products.

[chris-y]

Lots of modern cars are made of special steel grades and it cant be repaired the usual way.
I've got no idea which cars though but I would have thought a Monaro wouldnt be anything special, its not as if they were at the cutting edge of modern technology.

I think the way to find out is via an insurance approved bodyshop. I think they all work to repair processes approved by Thatcham who disassemble and re-assemble cars and document the correct repair methods.

I guess they share that info electronically nowadays so finding a hard copy might not be easy, but someone in a bodyshop might be able to access the info.

I'm no expert in this but I do have the Thatcham book for my Carltons, its very interesting. I believe they still do the same now.



I have to admit that if I had a Monaro with localised rot I'd want to repair it no matter what people say, but it would be worth investigating first.

[99t]

As above, lots of high strength steel in structural bits of modern cars to allow weight savings whilst achieving increased stiffness.

As I understand it, the issue with welding them is mainly to do with the welding heat affecting the strength of the steel and thus potentially compromising crash performance.

I did indeed weld a section into the rear of the sill on my CV8 without any problems (with the physical welding). Couldn't tell if the steel was anything other than regular low grade stuff - certainly from the way it had rusted I suspect it was probably recycled Russian washing machines!

Have I reduced its performance in crash? Hard to say whether that corner of the passenger cell is weaker now than when new, possibly. However I am certain that it is far stronger now than it was when it was rusted out!

Personally, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. If crash protection is your main concern then almost anything a bit newer than a Monaro is going to do a better job, the platform never had great crash results even when new.

Mind you, there speaks a man whose El Camino only has lap belts and only has one crumple zone - me!