Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey guys, I'm doing some rust repair on my rocker panels and floor pans. I got some good patches on the inside of the rocker panels but, I need to weld near and on a floor pan or two before I close it up. Problem is that floor pan has insulation inside. I pulled a piece out and lit it on fire to see if it was flammable and it was.

What can I do?

Wet down the insulation

I thought about that only I can't get to most of the insulation to wet it and I don't want to seal that moisture inside the floor pan.

What process are you welding with? If you have the availability to tig weld it, I wouldn't worry about it. If you're mig welding it, I would just take it slow and just keep a fire extinguisher on hand just in case. The insulation shouldn't be flammable but the adhesive to tack it to the floor panel is but its not extremely combustible.... I really never worried about it when doing body work unless it's close enough to contaminate my weld.

Thanks. I'm stick welding which is why I'm concerned. Also, when I took a lighter to a piece of insulation, It went up like a piece of paper.

Wow. Never encountered anything on body panels that went up like that!!! What rod you planning on using?? You should probably use 1/16" or 3/32" 6013. It's designed as a sheet metal rod and there's very little sparks. Especially compared to 6010/6011.... It's not an explosive situation, could probably get away with just welding a few inches at a time to keep the heat down and keep a fire extinguisher handy just in case and go for it... They to make fire blankets and fire resistant products but not sure how much room is available to you.

Cool gel comes in a spray bottle like windex. It marketed to plumbers for soldering. It absorbs crazy amounts of heat. But it won't stain or ruin a finish. It dries totally and is undetectable afterwards. I've used it on walls painted with latex paint when I had to use a torch less than an inch away. Never even dis colored the paint. I saw it demonstrated by a marketing guy on a styrofoam cup. He sprayed it on then held a number 1 oxy acetylene torch tip about a half inch away pointed right on the cup. It's an Awsome product.