WTF.

really wtf man. harvinder just called me up telling me that the welders are done with the cortina! that's too freaking hard to believe!

i'm expecting shoddy workmanship right now. i'll have a sleepless night. i mean, overall the other welds look good. but a two weeks job completed in about a week? have to check every nook and crany of the body before i can decide if i want the fenders flared.

there are certain spots that i feel should be seam-welded instead of just tack-welding it in place, eventhough the seasoned veteran welder begs to differ. i just want the car to be perfect (in the real world, multiply that by a factor of 0.6 to get 'the-real-world-perfect'). i do believe that seam-welds can be performed. usually tack welding will be done first to hold the metal in the correct position and to avoid distortion. it's silly to just seam weld the thing at first go because you'll end up with a piece of distorted metal that's more distorted than a mental patient's perception of the world! ok, so it's tack weld first (1" apart at best) taking regular breaks to let the metal and welds cool down to further avoid distorting or burning through the metal and then only seam weld. if it's a very long seam weld that is required, usually welders use a step-back technique where you start seam welding from the ends or the center of the panel and skip a tack weld and after seam welding the fore-tack weld, you weld the aft-tack weld (ie. if tack welds are positioned at 1-2-3-4, you'd seam weld the gap in between each tack weld in the following order: 1->3->2->4, get it?). this process reduces/cancels out the residual stresses formed as a result of welding (ie. expansion and contraction from high heat which is due to WELDING!).

for those of you interested in what i believe is a basic to welding, you can read this good article HERE on tack welding. feel free to google more info so you don't get cheated when you have to send your ride for bodywork/panel beating.

more updates tmrw.