Technical Hard to reach spot-welds

[fiat500]

It looks like many of the panel to panel welds on the 900e body are inaccessible if you try to reassemble as original. An example being the connection between the short piece of sill under the door to the front valance.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Gary50]

The chaps that welded Connie had the same problem.
The way they appear to have got around it is to put a couple of spot welds to position the sill correctly then cut out a section to be able to get inside to weld (at least that looks like what they did from the photos.

You can just about see the cut out here (black hole).

Here is a closer image with the hole filled back in.

Hope this helps?

 

[fiat500]

That does help Gary. At least it reassures me that I'm not being thick.!
I think Fiat must have had a long spot weld tool that could act from one side of a join. Working in a logical sequence I should manage most of the welds for now.

 

[Gary50]

Looking at the construction it appears that the side sections were welded together first (hence all the internal welds) and then the front and back and finally the floor and roof. Okay if you have a production line but no use when you have to make repairs.

 

[fiat500]

I have worked out that the reason for the unusual construction of the front inner wheelarch is that the cover panel which fills the gap between the outer lip and the main arch would be the last bit fitted to allow access for the welds.

 

[fiat500]

The deeper I get into the bodywork, the closer I get to answering my own question. I can now see that some of the quirks of the design, such as the way the sills attach, are specifically to allow welding access until the last moment when a cover panel goes over the top.
Basically, to do a neat job you have to do everything in a certain order. This won't always be possible when you are patching a panel or part panel into the body.