JPH09207821A - Structure of front part of car body - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable the welding and joining works even after a cowl top panel is assembled in a cowl combined member by providing an opening for welding work for welding and joining a cowl side panel of the cowl combined member on a front pillar inner lower panel on the cowl side panel. SOLUTION: An opening 14 for welding work is formed in a part of a cowl side panel 2 which constitutes a side part of a cowl structural part and on which a front pillar inner lower panel 5 is welded and joined. Furthermore, the opening 14 for welding work is provided in the vicinity of a section A where the cowl side panel 2 is welded. A gutter part 15 for draining water which protrudes almost horizontally toward the outside from a lower end of the cowl side panel 2 is provided below the opening 14 for welding work.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle body front structure of a four-wheeled vehicle or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 5 and 6 show a conventional vehicle body front structure arranged at a lower portion of a front window of a four-wheeled vehicle. This vehicle body front structure is a member formed by assembling cowl side panels 2 on both left and right sides of a cowl upper panel 1, and is a cowl combination member 3 which is arranged below the front window along the lateral direction of the vehicle body. And a cowl top panel 4 assembled on the upper part of the cowl assembly member 3 and a cowl side panel 2 of the cowl assembly member 3 welded together so as to hang down below a side portion of the cowl assembly member 3. The front pillar inner lower panel 5 and the front pillar inner lower panel 5 are provided. The cowl combination member 3 and the cowl top panel 4 form a cowl structure portion 6.

When assembling the front portion of the vehicle body having the cowl structure 6, the cowl upper panel 1 is usually first assembled.
The cowl side panels 2 are assembled to both side portions of the cowl to form a cowl combination member 3, and then the cowl upper panel 1 constituting the cowl combination member 3 is provided on the outer surface of the front pillar inner lower panel 5 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The upper portion 5a of the front pillar 5a is applied and the portion indicated by reference character A in FIG. 6 is welded and joined by a spot welding gun or the like, so that the front pillar inner lower panel 5 is hung downward from the side portion of the cowl combination member 3. Assemble in the closed condition. Next, the cowl top panel 4 is assembled on the upper part of the cowl upper panel 1 which constitutes the cowl combination member 3, and the cowl box assembly 7 is constituted by these members.

The cowl box assembly 7 thus obtained is conveyed by a predetermined conveying device, lowered from above the dash panel 8 which separates the vehicle compartment from the engine room, and is arranged below the front window. Then, the cowl side outer member 9 is attached to the outer portion of the front pillar inner lower panel 5 (see FIGS. 5 and 7). Conventionally, the actual situation is to assemble the cowl structure portion 6 in the front part of the vehicle body by such a series of assembling procedures.

[0005]

However, the conventional vehicle body front structure as described above has the following problems. That is, since the welding work of the front pillar inner lower panel 5 to the cowl side panel 2 of the cowl combination member 3 is performed using the upper opening of the cowl combination member 3, the front pillar inner lower panel 5 is welded to the cowl combination member 3. There is a problem that the cowl top panel 4 cannot be assembled to the cowl assembly member 3 after they are coupled, and thus the assembly procedure is restricted.

Since the front pillar inner lower panel 5 must be welded to the cowl assembly member 3 before the cowl top panel 4 is assembled, the front pillar inner member 5 is one of the constituent members of the cowl box assembly 7. It will have a lower panel 5. Therefore, due to the presence of the front pillar inner lower panel 5, the overall shape of the cowl box assembly 7 becomes a shape that extends downward from the cowl structure portion 6 at the side portion of the box-shaped cowl structure portion 6 for transportation. The reality is that it requires a large space and the form of transportation is poor.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to weld the front pillar inner lower panel to the cowl combining member even after the cowl top panel is assembled to the cowl combining member. (EN) Provided is a vehicle body front structure having a configuration capable of improving the drainage performance and reducing the weight of the vehicle body front part while improving the conveyance form of the cowl structure part. It is in.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a member formed by assembling a cowl side panel to a side portion of a cowl upper panel, and a vehicle body left and right at a position below a front window. A cowl combining member disposed along a direction, a cowl top panel assembled on the upper part of the cowl combining member, and a cowl side panel of the cowl combining member welded to a lower side portion of the cowl combining member. In a vehicle body front structure each including a front pillar inner lower panel that is assembled in a suspended state, a welding operation opening for performing a welding connection between a cowl side panel of the cowl combination member and a front pillar inner lower panel is provided. It is installed on the cowl side panel.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The same members as those shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 shows a vehicle body front portion of a four-wheeled vehicle 10 having a vehicle body front portion structure according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 11 is a front window, 12 is a pair of left and right front pillars, and 13 is a front pillar. Is the engine room. In this four-wheeled vehicle 10, the structure of the cowl structure 6 forming the lower part of the front window 11 and the structure of the front pillar inner lower panel 5 forming the lower part of the front pillar 12 at the side portion of the cowl structure 6, that is, In FIG. 1, the vehicle body front structure according to the present invention is adopted as the structure of the vehicle body portion indicated by the diagonal line α.

In this example, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a portion of the cowl side panel 2 which constitutes a side portion of the cowl structure portion 6 and to which the front pillar inner lower panel 5 is welded and connected is used for welding work. The opening 14 is formed. The welding operation opening 14 is provided near the location A (see FIGS. 2 and 4) where the cowl side panel 2 is welded. A drain gutter 15 is provided below the above-mentioned welding operation opening 14 so as to project substantially horizontally from the lower end of the cowl side panel 2 toward the outside.

When assembling the respective members constituting the vehicle body front structure, the cowl side panels 2 are assembled to both sides of the cowl upper panel 1 to form the cowl combination member 3, and then the cowl combination member 3 is cowled. The cowl top panel 4 is first assembled to the upper panel 1 to form the cowl box assembly 16. After that, the cowl box assembly 16 is conveyed to the upper part of the dash panel 8 and assembled to the dash panel 8 from the upper part, and the front pillar inner lower panel 5 is assembled to the cowl side panel 2 on the side surface of the cowl box assembly 16 from the outside. And weld them together.

In this case, the cowl box assembly 1
When the front pillar inner lower panel 5 is welded to the rear cover 6, the welding work opening 14 of the cowl side panel 2 is used as shown in FIG.
Specifically, the upper portion 5a of the front pillar inner lower panel 5 is brought into contact with the cowl side panel 2 of the cowl box assembly 16, and as shown in FIG.
One of the holding arms 18 of the spot welding gun is inserted into the cowl box assembly 16 through the welding operation opening 14 of the cowl side panel 2 so that the welding electrode 19 at the tip of the holding arm 18 contacts the inner surface of the cowl side panel 2. The other holding arm 20 of the spot welding gun is arranged outside the cowl side panel 2 and the welding electrode 21 at the tip thereof is brought into contact with the front pillar inner lower panel 5.
Press against the outer surface of. And cowl side panel 2
The rear end edge portion 22, the bent flange portion 23 of the cowl upper panel 1, and the upper end portion 24 of the front pillar inner lower panel 5 are overlapped with each other (the portion indicated by the symbol A in FIG. 4) between the welding electrodes 19 and 21. These members are spot-welded (co-welding) at the welding location A by applying a welding current in a state of being held between them.

According to the vehicle body front structure having such a structure,
Since the cowl side panel 2 is provided with the welding operation opening 14, the welding connection work of the front pillar inner lower panel 5 is performed even after the cowl top panel 4 and the cowl upper panel 1 are assembled in advance. This can be done by utilizing the opening 14 for welding work. Therefore, the cowl box assembly 16 with the cowl top panel 4 assembled to the cowl combination member 3 is provided.
It is possible to transport the above and assemble it to the dash panel 4 and to weld-bond the cowl box assembly 16 after this assembly. Therefore, in this case, the entire shape of the cowl box assembly 16 is merely a box shape, and is not the entire shape in which the front pillar inner lower panel 5 is hung downward to the side unlike the conventional case. There is an advantage that the transportation form of is improved.

Further, since the hole composed of the welding work opening 14 is formed in the cowl side panel 2, the welding work opening 14 functions as a drainage hole in cooperation with the drainage gutter portion 15. As a result, the drainage performance will be improved. In addition, the weight of the cowl side panel 2 is reduced only in the portion corresponding to the welding operation opening 14, so that the weight of the vehicle body front structure can be reduced.

As described above, one embodiment of the present invention has been described.
The present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and various modifications and changes can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention. For example, the position of the welding point A can be changed as necessary, and in that case, the welding operation opening 14 is provided in the cowl side panel 2 portion near the welding point A according to the change of the welding point A. You can do this.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, the cowl side panel is provided with a welding operation opening for welding and connecting the cowl side panel of the cowl combination member and the front pillar inner lower panel. From
Even after the cowl top panel is assembled to the upper part of the cowl combination member, the front pillar inner lower panel can be welded to the cowl side panel of the cowl combination member by utilizing the opening for welding work. Therefore, the cowl top panel and the cowl combination member may be assembled first, and accordingly, the cowl box assembly including the cowl top panel and the cowl combination member is conveyed and assembled to the vehicle body. After that, the front pillar inner lower panel can be assembled. In such a case, the entire shape of the cowl box assembly does not have the shape in which the front pillar inner lower panel hangs downward at the side as in the conventional case, and the cowl box assembly is not transported because it is a simple box shape. It becomes better and its transportation becomes easier.

Further, according to the present invention, as described above, the cowling side panel is provided with the welding work opening, so that the welding work opening serves as a drainage hole and the drainage performance in the cowl structure is improved. Will be planned. Moreover, there is an advantage that the weight of the vehicle body front structure can be reduced by the amount of the opening for welding work.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a vehicle body front portion of a four-wheeled vehicle having a vehicle body front portion structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view seen from the direction indicated by arrow X in FIG. 1, and is a perspective view showing a main part of a vehicle body front structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a cowl side panel forming a side portion of the cowl structure member.

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view of an essential part of the vehicle body front structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing a conventional vehicle body front structure.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a main part of a conventional vehicle body front structure.

FIG. 7 is a horizontal sectional view of a main part of a conventional vehicle body front structure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 cowl upper panel 2 cowl side panel 3 cowl combination member 4 cowl top panel 5 front pillar lower panel 6 cowl structure part 10 four-wheeled vehicle 14 opening for welding work 16 cowl box assembly 18,20 holding arm 19,21 welding electrode

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cowl combination member, which is a member formed by assembling a cowl side panel to a side portion of a cowl upper panel, and is disposed along a lateral direction of a vehicle body below a front window, and the cowl combination member. And a front pillar inner lower panel that is welded to a cowl side panel of the cowl combining member and is attached to the cowl combining member in a state of being hung below the side portion of the cowl combining member. In the vehicle body front structure, a vehicle body front structure is provided with a welding operation opening for welding connection between a cowl side panel of the cowl combination member and a front pillar inner lower panel.