factory welds?

[jpryorx2]

do these welds look factory to you guys? i'm working on sand blasting my frame rails before welding the new firewall in and this just doesn't look right to me. what do you think?

[Topcat]

Those look just like mine were.

Rumor is they had a pregnant 18 year old named Jemimah doing the stick welding.   
The night shift, was covered by some guy named Duff.

[shawge]

LOL    Mine look the same

[72bluNblu]

Yup. Factory welds suck.

Easy rule of thumb- if it looks like a blind chimpanzee could have laid down a better weld, it's factory.

[soundcontrol]

Wow! I didnt realize it was this bad, and I was so anal ablut the welds on my subframe connectors....now I wanna blast my whole car and check all welds.

[anlauto]

Yup...factory welds

[jpryorx2]

this actually makes me feel better. since i'm having fitment issues with my firewall I was thinking that the shock tower had been replaced at some point.and wondering if the frame rail had been tweaked also. my car will just be a driver since nothing on it is original so needless to say welds like this will be ground down and rewelded. my 9 year old daughter can lay down a nicer weld then this.

[AAR6BBL]

Look just like mine, ugly as sin.
Topcat, Shame on you!! That is no way to talk about the highly skilled UAW workers that were putting our beloved Mopars together. 
Just because they were hung over on Monday and drunk on Friday is no reason to cast disparaging remarks.
and Soundcontrol, no you don't, they all look just as bad!!
Greg

[jimynick]

"Just because they were hung over on Monday and drunk on Friday is no reason to cast disparaging remarks.
and Soundcontrol, no you don't, they all look just as bad!!"
   Yep, mine, too. The right 1/4 trunk extension was welded in a measured (and photographed) 3/4" lower than the adjoining main floor pan. Saying chimps could weld that way is insulting to the chimps. I've changed my firewall/cowl, what's your problem? Maybe I can help, maybe not. Good luck. 

[jpryorx2]

"Just because they were hung over on Monday and drunk on Friday is no reason to cast disparaging remarks.
and Soundcontrol, no you don't, they all look just as bad!!"
   Yep, mine, too. The right 1/4 trunk extension was welded in a measured (and photographed) 3/4" lower than the adjoining main floor pan. Saying chimps could weld that way is insulting to the chimps. I've changed my firewall/cowl, what's your problem? Maybe I can help, maybe not. Good luck. 

i haven't taken a pic of it yet so i'll try to explain. my biggest problem is I didn't buy a amd firewall but that's hind sight now. anyways i'm having 2 problems with fitment. both on drivers side 1st is where the firewall sits over the a pillar. on the passenger side there is a defined bend that matches the a pillar but on the drivers side the firewall has more of a curve then a bend so i'm ending up with about a 1/4 inch gap. second is the very outside seam where the spot welds are the top fits in the channel but the bottom is again 1/4 in off almost like the firewall was stamped on an angle. I live in the middle of nowhere and my closest helper is 3 hours away so right now it's just me and the wife trying to figure this out. i'm sure I could just fudge it together at the a pillar since the cowl will cover it but i'm trying to do it as nice as possible.

[dpcd67]

Yep; no fancy robotic welds back then; just good old fashioned Detroit craftsmanship. Body panels were fitted with lead hammers; all this is why the Japanese started to emphasize quality because we didn't. But we taught them how (Deming).  Here in the US, we didn't have much use for quality initiatives. We knew how to do it.

[redo1973]

I wish I caught this post in January.  I too made the mistake of a Goodmark replacement and am encountering the same problem.  Did you resolve your situation?  I bought an AMD cowel and planned to use the Goodmark for patchwork until I saw the extent of damage I was unwilling to patch.  As for the upper cowel connection I hammered the contour and will allow the Cowel to cover and seam sealer overflow.  I had a bugger of a time matching the driver side floor to the cut out and eventually gave up for the end fitment.  I'm considering a patch and grind approach to replicate the cutout. I would appreciate any input on welding in the cowel as I've had a trying experience with seam sealer.

[soundcontrol]

Yep; no fancy robotic welds back then; just good old fashioned Detroit craftsmanship. Body panels were fitted with lead hammers; all this is why the Japanese started to emphasize quality because we didn't. But we taught them how (Deming).  Here in the US, we didn't have much use for quality initiatives. We knew how to do it.

On that subject, why the japaneese cars took over, this book is great, Lee Iacocca's autobiography
http://www.amazon.com/Iacocca-Autobiography-Lee/dp/0553251473/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432198205&sr=1-2&keywords=lee+iacocca+books