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In 2014, our contacts at Honda provided us with clarification on their Body Repair News on welding and sectioning. Here are the highlights of their sectioning clarification.
The Honda Body Repair Manual And Sectioning Guideline Revisions and Acura Body Repair Manual And Sectioning Guideline Revisions documents have been updated. The information clarified here in 2014 is equivalent to the information you will find in the updated document.
Do not section reinforcements unless a specific procedure is provided in the body repair manual. Replace body structural parts such as stiffeners, reinforcements, and other multi-layered steel parts as assemblies that match the replacement parts configuration, or body repair manual repair procedure.
Steel parts with a tensile strength of 780 MPa or less may be sectioned provided all of the following conditions are observed:
- Sectioning must be done in a single-layer area of the part. To determine if a part has a single-layer area that can be sectioned, refer to the body construction pages in the General Information area of the appropriate body repair manual to determine the steel grade(s) and part configurations of the parts being replaced (see Figure 2).
- If a part has multi-layer internal steel reinforcements and/or stiffeners, the area of the part where the reinforcements and/or stiffeners are located must not be cut. Inspect the original and replacement parts to determine if there are internal reinforcements and / or stiffeners. If spot welds are not directly on a flange or joint, this indicates a reinforcement or stiffener is welded to the panel. The body repair manual "Replacement" section shows some internal reinforcements as a dotted line (see Figure 3).
- The repair must not be in a load bearing area such as engine, transmission, or suspension mounting points.
Figure 2 - Multi-layer panels cannot be sectioned.
Figure 3 - (Courtesy of American Honda Motor Co., Inc.) The dotted lines show the outline of the reinforcement underneath the outer panel.
Also keep in mind that when sectioning 780 MPa or less, GMA open butt welds are now a Honda/Acura approved repair method.
The updated document states that Honda suggests and prefers open butt joints as the best type for corrosion protection on outer body panels.
But what about outer body panels and floors? Per Honda/Acura, mild steel outer body and floor panels may be sectioned without specific procedures. In the body repair manual, "outer panels" refers to the 270 MPa outer body skin panels. These are generally identified with the words "outer panel" in the part name.
The updated document now includes outer body panels made of low grade high- strength steel that is equal to or lower than 590 MPa to be sectioned without specific procedures.
For additional Honda/Acura information, check out the following pages:
Honda OEM Information
Acura OEM Information
Additional I-CAR Collision Repair News you may find helpful:
- Honda/Acura Steel Usage And Repairability Matrix
- Honda/Acura: Body Repair Manual Welding & Sectioning Guideline Revisions - UPDATE
- How Does the I-CAR OEM Linking Pin Process Work?
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