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If you ever need repair work on your Monte Carlo, the below may give you some information on what shop to search for with the talent to do the job,[/align][align=center][:-][/align][align=center]


Intelligent Welding
Pat Goss
[/align][align=center]Cars are involved in accidents, but how those cars are repaired determines whether or not they will be safe and reliable, and here to explain that to us is Tom McGee, President and C.E.O. of I-CAR. Tom, welcome to Goss' Garage.
TOM MCGEE, PRESIDENT & CEO, I-CAR: Hi Pat.
GOSS: We also have Steve from I-CAR to demonstrate some welding for us because welding is one of the most critical parts of repairing a car.
MCGEE: Absolutely, when a vehicle is involved in a collision and the structural members are damaged, welding is involved in just about every repair.
GOSS: What are some of the things that the individual car owner should know about the qualifications of a welder?
MCGEE: With the qualification test that we offer, we actually measure the ability of a technician to weld on a vehicle. In this set-up here we're first showing steel, then secondly we're doing aluminum welding, so depending on the material that's the qualification that person needs.
GOSS: You actually test these technicians, right?
MCGEE: Yes we do.
GOSS: And you have mobile vans, test vans, and so on?
MCGEE: We've got eight mobile trucks that go across the US and Canada as well as many schools that we've established a relationship with to do the test for us.
[/align][align=center]GOSS: Okay, Steve could you give us a little demonstration there, now he's going to start with steel right?
MCGEE: He's starting with steel and he's doing press joint with a backing weld in a vertical position, so it's a common joint that's going up and down on a car.
GOSS: So this would be something we would see if there was some damage to...?
MCGEE: A rocker panel or a quarter panel.
GOSS: Yeah.
MCGEE: Or the side of a frame rail.
GOSS: Now modern cars have lots of different metals in them, not the least of which is a lot of them have aluminum. So you have to be qualified in aluminum as well.
MCGEE: Many of the new cars today with the aluminum structures actually require the technician to have this qualification in order to be able to work on the car.
[/align][align=center]GOSS: All right, Steve, can you give us a little demonstration on the aluminum? Now with all of this aluminum, that's really tricky to do.
MCGEE: Compared to steel you need different equipment, different temperatures, different speeds and it doesn't show you when it's too hot and about to just melt.
GOSS: I see. For car owners, what should they look for at the body shop?
MCGEE: They should look for the I-CAR gold class professional's designation as well as the proof that the technician has qualification in welding.


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If you have a question or comment, write to me.
The address is MotorWeek, Owings Mills, MD, 21117. [/align]

 

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[/align][align=center][/align][center]Aneed for durable components and maintenance-free operation is pushing materials used in automobiles to their mechanical and physical limits. This is especially true for specialty alloys in today's hotter-running engines, sensors, solenoids, computers, and controls. Such applications need strong metals that are nearly impervious to heat and corrosion, with special electrical or magnetic properties. Additionally, advances such as camless valve trains, and continuously variable-transmissions will demand much of alloys. Steel makers continue to keep pace with a lot of new ideas.
STAINLESS STEELS
Stainless steels are about 50% stronger than lowcarbon steels. Their high strength-to-weight ratio, along with corrosion resistance, gives designers more options for machined and cold-formed parts. More than 60 standard and special stainless steels can cost effectively match even the most-demanding requirements. Stainless steels are corrosion resistant surfaceto-core. They offer an alternative for coated and plated parts that eventually chip, peel, or crack to expose the vulnerable alloy underneath.
The Carpenter Selectaloy system is a simplified method that helps designers select the best stainless steel based on corrosion and strength. The Selectaloy method uses 11 basic grades that are representative of certain types of stainless steels and heat-resisting alloys. Corrosion resistance increases vertically in the Selectaloy diagram, while mechanical properties (or strength) increase from left to right.
Type-304 stainless is the most widely used stainless grade and often serves as a good basis. But Type-316 stainless is a better starting point for parts needing more corrosion resistance. Next comes 20Cb-3 stainless for even higher resistance. In contrast, Type-430 and 405 stainless serve as bases for decreasing resistance. Reading the Selectaloy diagram from left to right across (starting at the lowest level of corrosion resistance), strength rises progressively from Type-405 to Types-410, 420, and 440-C stainless s