289 Plans Build

[Three Peaks]

Didn't David say something about using a special alcohol or propane torch for welding their bodies? And I believe he said they use a different alloy of aluminum I'm not familiar with. 3003 should work fine, in any case.

After thinking about it for a while, I realized David said something about a Hydrogen torch, not alcohol. IIRC

[MAStuart]

Yes hy\O works well. Most guys that tig use acetone to clean the metal before tig welding aluminum. Kirkham use a lot of tig welding on the coupes they weld here and in Poland they used to torch weld the bodies. A tig weld tends to crack if much work or shaping need to be done in the weld area. also most tig welds need to be done on both sides of the panel. A good torch weld the back side of the panel the weld will look much better than if tig welded. As a rule you can work or beat the snot out of a torch weld on aluminum without the problem of the weld cracking.