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Weld Quality??????

5K views 42 replies 30 participants last post by  BigLeo69 
#1 ·
Hey all I was just looking through another thread and came across this picture



And was wondering if this weld splatter is typical of Factory Five? This leads me to my next question Should i order my kit with the frame powercoated or wait to clean it up then get it powercoated somewhere else?
thanks
 
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#2 ·
Are you worried about the quality of the welds, or tiny little bits of spatter on stuff that nobody will ever see when the car is done? :huh:
 
#3 ·
I have seen no issues with the quality of the welds on my frame. The weld splatter in the pic looks worse than mine but I definitely have some splatter under the powder coat. My car is a driver and the frame looks good - just not show quality. If you're building a show car / trailer queen you should probably get a bare frame and prep it yourself.
 
#9 ·
I'm a perfectionist
Probably should look at a Kirkham rather than a F5 - the F5 is an entry level kit, not a high end kit - don't expect perfection. Just about everyone goes through some adjustment of expectations once they've been working on their kit for a while.
 
#5 ·
weld splatter is normal, atleast from the frames I've seen. sometimes you'll have to remove it just to get aluminum panels to fit.

but I think it's silly to order the frame bare, clean it all up, then powdercoat it - too much work for no gain.
 
#6 ·
I got my frame bare but that was because I got one of Patty's Bargain Basement deals on my kit. But having said that, the reasons I can see to get a bare frame are if you are planning on doing a lot of frame modifications - I ended up welding in an IRS frame (originally was a 4 link), did a drop butt mod that required cutting and welding the frame, redid the trunk area to hide my fuel cell better, and added a drop trunk area, redid the transmission area for a midshift tranny (a bar interferes there plus I wanted my ebrake on top). Also cut and welded the driver side foot box bars for more room, welded in tabs for the my flexible brake lines to attach to and welded stubs for ground straps to bolt to. Now most of those things have been addressed in the mk4 kit, so that may not be an issue any more. I also went with a different color (silver) which I much prefer over the black. Cost to sand blast and powdercoat the frame was probably in the $800 range.
 
#7 ·
The weld splatter on my frame was almost nothing. I'm glad I opted for FF5 powder coat.
 
#10 ·
I had asked Jason at FFR about the weld spatter when I got my kit. He said they try and remove it from the highly visible areas but don't do much about the stuff that you can't easily see. When I went back and looked at my frame he was right; the spatter I was worried about was in places that would be hard to see after everything was assembled.
If you want zero spatter I would suggest getting it un-coated.

Steve
 
#12 ·
Jeff,

I, too, was not happy with the welds or the splatter but eventually got used to looking at them. I had stuff that didn't fit right until I cleaned things up but didn't worry about the stuff you don't see. I thought about getting the frame bare the next time, etc....

However, I am in the process of rebuilding an old Yamaha and took it down to the frame. Sent it to the powdercoater/sandblaster and asked for them to spend a little time cleaning things up. When I got the frame back it was fantastic....Not perfect, but really, really good. Almost fake..Almost like it was formed out of plastic.

If I do another one I'm getting it bare. They charged me $400 and it's worth it. I asked if they could do a car frame and was told, "No Sweat"

I'd suggest to inquire in your area and get an idea of costs after you educate them about FFR and what's involved. Maybe show them some pics of the frame and some like you just showed us.

Good Luck

Bob

I'd be curious what they tell you on cost.
 
#13 ·
If I were to do it again I would opt for bare frame. The weld splatter doesn't bother me, it's just that I've done a lot of frame mods and probably would have been better off had I just done all that before powder coating. Been using POR15 which actually is a really good match.

Chris
 
#24 ·
My car was intentionally ordered with a bare frame in 2004 but FFR was out of them. They provided a PC frame and waved the $600 option price. I didn't notice any objectional spatter and the PC has held up very well.

Greg
 
#14 ·
Thanks for all the replies. I think I'll head for the uncoated frame because I definatly have OCD when it comes to mechanics. (it comes with the trade (Industrial Millwright)) I realize that welding is not the most beautiful thing to look at but splatter can be minimized with the right settings and Some ANTI SPLATTER MATTER spray. I'm not trying to knock the FF kit, the opposite is true, The kit is priced right because it is expected that the buyer is to do most of the work including the fit and finish. I just wanted to know the condition of the frame on delivery so as to decide if to powder coat before or after delivery. Thanks for your experience and opinons.
Any opinons on POR 15?

jeff
 
#17 ·
POR 15 is a good product but not as good as powdercoating. I've used it on two projects and it delivers as advertised (hard shell that gets harder when exposed to moisture). One challenge with the stuff is that you need to wear gloves and place some type of protection in your work area because this stuff does not come off. The other challenge is that once you open a can you can't close it because the residue will glue the lid back on making it a PITA to get open again. A trick an old timer showed me was to drill two holes in the top of the POR can. Pour out of one of the holes (the other is to release the vacuum) and when done, thread screws into the holes. This way if you need more, simply unscrew and pour.

POR 15 likes a rough surface and I have seen it peel off of a smooth one. They also sell a "metal prep" that will eat away at rust to give the POR15 something to bond to.

HTH.


Any opinons on POR 15?

jeff
 
#15 ·
That actualyl is not bad, my first set of sidepipes had about that much splatter--UNDER THE CERAMIC COATING!!!!. FFR fixed it of course, but i agree that if your going to do a job, you should DIRTFT. POR15 is awesome stuff. I too use ti to touch up the frame and repaint anything I add, weld or grind on. The next frame will most definitely be painted with POR15 100%.
 
#16 ·
Yeah thats typical of FFR since back in the day. I wouldnt expect them to clean the weld spatter, although I would like to see better preparation before powdercoating. I got my MK4 bare and had it coated locally after doing some frame mods. It was twice the price as the option from FFR but it gets completely sandblasted and you can pick any color you want. The main reasons for going bare would be for frame mods, weld splatter removal, better prep and color choices. If you are a perfectionist you wont be happy til you do it your way. You'll pay but it will probably be worth it to you. Good Luck with your build.

Mike
 
#18 ·
One of the beauties about the FFR is you can build it the way you want it. I knew I'd be welding on ground lugs and such, so i ordered both my MKI and MKII bare. If I were to build another roadster, I'd order it bare to. Thinking about a 33 and that will be ordered bare for the same reason. As others have stated, even some of the sheetmetal/frame junctures needed to have some weld or splatter removed to make it fit perfect. However, my builds are anything but conventional. A stock build would probably be fine ordered coated.
 
#21 ·
I ordered my frame bare and cleaned up the spatter, welds and sharp edges, then painted it. The sharp edges were my main concern, and there were a couple of stuck weld wires that would have been nasty if I hadn't ground them off.

Mike
 
#22 ·
WHEN I build my next FFR kit I will order it bare, make all the frame mods, clean it up and get it powdercoated locally. Would be nice if FFR offered color choice on their powdercoating.
 
#25 ·
I think as others have stated, it really depends on what you want to acheive, it is a kit, and while 90% of it goes together as planned, there are going to be things that need to be massaged a bit.

If weld splatter that your only going to see when the car is on a life bothers you, then by all means go ahead and fix it. It's your car, build it as you like.

The only offense I take with anything in this thread is the notion that guys who don't clean up the weld splatter are simply throwing it together and or not building it right. That's just a bit on the silly side.

-Scott
 
#28 ·
Adrian,
You are certainly entitled to your opinion but implying that everyone that has their frame powdercoated by FFR is "just throwing the thing together" is over the line. And that's my $.02!!!
 
#32 ·
Now you're just putting words in my mouth. I never said getting your frame powdercoated by FFR was "throwing it together". Hell, I never even said that not cleaning the welds when building the car was "throwing it together".

My statement, "than just throw the thing together just to get it on the road," was meant to cover things/work in general that could be done to the kit while building but isn't because people say it isn't a show car or because it isn't visible when the car is done.

That in my opinion is not the "right" way to go about it...


Well darn.. I spent WAAAAY more than 100-200 hours building my car because I didn't want to just "throw it together." On the other hand I didn't clean my splatter. So does that mean I just "threw it together" after all that work?

On a more serious note, Adrian, you will soon learn you can't make blanket statements like that here on the forum, unless you want to get called on them. There's more than one way to build one of these cars and just because it's different from the way you did yours (or will do yours) doesn't mean it's less of a car. Just my 2 dollars..
I didn't make a blanket statement, nor was I trying to be stereotypical. I was simply trying to express my opinion about something and some members here took it personally. Nothing I can do about that.
 
#30 ·
Spatter is quite normal for Fcaw and sometimes even Gtaw welds, such as these. Any time there is corrosion on the wire, it spatters. Any time the bead hits an impurity in the steel, it spatters. As the gas gets low in the tank, (For some reason, i dont know why) it spatters.

This does NOT reflect on the strength or penetration of weld.

Tig welding is not used here becasue it takes WAY too long.
 
#31 ·
What's with all the wadded up panties around here? :D

We're all building cool cars.
 
#36 ·
She said "who are you going to please with that?" I said "ME"

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to start any disagreements on this topic I just wanted some info to make my own decision on how to order my car when i get around to it (knowledge is power). I'm personally building this car for ME and as long as I'm happy with it others opinions are exactly that "THEIR OPINION". And while I like praise, my goal is to please my own sense of pride first. To sum it up, if you can honestly say "I Love My Car" then you did it right.

Jeff
 
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