Failed Weld - Seat Belt Bracket. Opinions & Advice Please

[MintyFresh]

I had a frightening experience this week. I've been prepping my new passenger side floors for installation having already welded the original seat belt bracket in place. I was working the rocker-side edge with a hammer and dolly when the bracket just fell off. Photos attached - it looks like there was absolutely zero weld penetration. Obviously the failed weld is unacceptable, especially for a safety component. That's where I could use some help and suggestions.

Before I welded the original bracket to the new floor, I stripped the bracket down to bare metal and removed 100% of the rust (mechanically and chemically). I used the original factory weld locations and drilled them into the bracket about 1/16" or so. I used a self etching welt-through primer to cover the exposed areas. Other than that, the panel and bracket were both clean and no debris. The floor is between 18 and 16 gauge, but the seat belt brackets are closer to 10 gauge. Given the thickness of the bracket I dialed my welder about half way between to about a 12 gauge setting. My welder has step style control for voltage and wire speed is a percentage. I've done the rough math and it's close to 17.5 to 18 volts and 395 to 405 inches per minute.

Honestly, the weld looked good and there appeared to be penetration on the front side of the bracket. But you'll see in the pictures, the weld pooled in the hole I drilled, but never penetrated the bracket.

Any thoughts on what to change to weld it up properly? I've never had much issue with good weld strength. Obviously this is super concerning since I was about to weld the floor in as if the bracket was safe. I'm considering drilling out the bracket's weld spots all the way through and using the existing weld stubs as a placement guide and starting point to try again.

Thanks for the recommendations.

 

[RaggedGT]

I’d grind it all to fresh metal-and with the bracket being of a heavier gauge-I’d preheat it, then run a few hot spot welds at every corner and check for penetration before melting it all together

 

[horse sence]

Weld looks to cold ,also the best weld is bare metal to bare metal .
Run a bolt through the hole and into the bracket to hold it in place to weld ,first grind away the old weld on the bracket and the floor pan ,drill the floor pan for new plug weld . This bracket is under the floor so the bolt actually pinches it to the floor when the seat belt is bolted in ,it will not come off even if the weld did fail

 

[wicked93gs]

When I installed mine, I drilled 4 holes for plug welds(instead of 2) and then perimeter welded the entire thing. Not at all factory...but I don't care...that anchor isn't going anywhere unless the floor board goes first.

For the rear anchors I didn't even have anchors...so I used 1/4" plate, welded the correct sized nut to the back then perimeter welded the entire slab to the floor.

 

[MintyFresh]

When I installed mine, I drilled 4 holes for plug welds(instead of 2) and then perimeter welded the entire thing. Not at all factory...but I don't care...that anchor isn't going anywhere unless the floor board goes first.

For the rear anchors I didn't even have anchors...so I used 1/4" plate, welded the correct sized nut to the back then perimeter welded the entire slab to the floor.

Thanks for the post and photo as well.

 

[manicmechanic007]

All the above sounds good. Get it done! You could easily torch braze it up tight. That's what I'd probably do. Clean it up real good and braze it back on