Visible Spot Welds - Where?

[Canadian Moke]

I'm at the body prep stage of my Moke restoration.  It is an 82 Californian.  I am trying to keep the exterior looking close to factory spec - even though the factory spec varied quite a bit.

What I want to know is where on the body did they leave the spot welds visible and where did they fill them.  I know that all the spots in the hull side panels were visible, but I'm not sure about the top of the side panels, and the front panel.  My Moke had had some....er....work... done to it over the years so the front panel had a fair bit of filler on it as well as the top panel above the fuel tank and the storage compartments.  Would you all be willing to post up some pics of these areas from some un-restored Mokes?

Thanks,
Canadian Moke.

[Terry]

Hi,

excuse the dust!








There are possibly more which I will add when I see them.

Terry

[Canadian Moke]

Thanks for the pics.  How do the top surfaces of the sides look?  And where the side top panel attaches to the front and rear fenders?  Are you able to snap a pic of the front panel?  There are spots all over the front face, but I don’t know if they just smoothed them out.

Canadian Moke

[Terry]

Hi,

There aren't any obvious spot welds on the top of the boxes on the '81 Moke I used but where there is a 30-40mm edge that rides up the  guards at each end I thought there were, but I couldn't see them. I will find another couple of Mokes and look harder. The spot welds on the front panel should only be where the inner guards are attached and I think down around the hole for the front mounting bolts for the sub frame.

For Mokes with the non removable grille there are also a some where the strengthening strip run down the inside.

Terry

[Canadian Moke]

Thanks Terry.  Do you think the later Mokes with the removable grill had the strengthening bracket spot welds above the grill filled?  The top surface of the sides is the next to figure out.

Canadian Moke

[Terry]

Thanks Terry.  Do you think the later Mokes with the removable grill had the strengthening bracket spot welds above the grill filled?  The top surface of the sides is the next to figure out.

Canadian Moke

I forgot to look and take a photo today so I will have to let you know.

Terry

[moemoke]

Canadian,  I do think these spot welds give a moke some character, are you hoping to recreate the look?

[Canadian Moke]

Yes.  Where they should be I will make sure they remain.  Where repairs have deleted the original spots, I’ll have them faked 🤪. Mokes look a bit to polished to me if the sports are gone, it also makes me wonder how much filler is in a car if everything has been smoothed out.  I like the body to look as original as possible.

Canadian Moke

[Terry]

Hi,

it you want to make a nice looking spot weld in a layer of plastic bog my repair man uses the chewing end of a Bic pen to dab into the bog just before it goes off.


Terry

[Canadian Moke]

That’s essentially the plan where needed.  😎

Canadian Moke

[Tim]

I didn't think they filled any of the spotwelds.

Tim

[Terry]

I didn't think they filled any of the spotwelds.

Tim

At the factory they didn't, it would be too costly and time consuming to be dipping into a can of bog  on every car. Canadians issue is a previous owner has been spreading it around.

Terry

[Canadian Moke]

That’s what I needed to know.  If they didn’t fill any of them then that makes it easy.  We’ll just replicate where repairs have deleted the old ones.  Currently the filler is all gone as the shell has been blasted clean.  Prior to blasting a number of areas had been filled and painted by previous owners so I was unsure if there were specific areas that received special attention at the factory.  I’ll just make sure to have all spot weld lines visible and it should come out looking as close to correct as possible.  Thanks for the help.

Canadian Moke