Restoration advice

[Aaron P.]

if you never had any experience with welding, would you do a restoration project?

im use to stripping cars etc down to the bare bone, but have no experience with welding....im not sure to keep my van or to sell it??? its a pretty good shell over all & drip rails/ side panels on vans are a must to have straight & these are the best ive seen on a shell (resto project).....the worst part is the wheel arch (o/s) where it meets the sill as the bit of metal behind it has totally gone as well.... afriend has said its pretty bad & hard to do & he has some experience....should i have a go at soing it myself?????

the van has sat in the garage for a 1 1/2 yrs without been touched but id love to get it started.....what would u lot do????

i will get some pics up during the week

[ian parker]

Aaron, having just gone through it all with my car, in my opinion, i think you have to take these criteria into acc. How much spare time have you ?. How deep are your pockets ?. What end result are you looking for ?. I think if you answer these questions, your have your answer. Personally i wouldnt attempt it, bearing in mind, on a scale of 1 - 10 my practical skills are .5 !!lol, good luck anyway.

[arron]

Welding is a bit of an art form - if you want a good job done of it then it's best to leave it to someone who knows what they are doing.

[vinny]

hi arron

you sound very much in the same situation that i am in, i have had a very limited experience of welding but have always had a go, my biggest problem was that i couldnt afford to buy a car that was clean and straight and needed no welding, so i have bought a resto project that has turned into a bigger project than i wanted or needed , but as funds are very limited i have no choice but to give it a go and the fact that i have always wanted to restore a car myself, and have in the past been guilty and starting projects and not finishing them (i have always seemed to scrap the money together to sell em on and add more funds and buy a finished car).But have regretted not finishing them.
But this wont be happening now and though i am apprenhensive about doing the car i am also looking forward to doing it.
Why dont you start an evening course in welding or failing that buy a welder and practice till you feel confident enough to have a go on your own car, they are a few web sites that will give you the theory on welding but sooner or later you have got to give it a go yourself.
Hope my babbling has been of some help

[Frosticles]

Can be a bit daunting at first but you get used to it. I taught myself to weld in 20 minutes. Never looked back since.

If you want some encouragement then look at Mark's (M11RF) Restro. He did all that himself.......
http://bbs.rallyesportescorts.co.uk/...read.php?t=742

[dasadrew]

Don't be daunted. I used the RS Resto to learn welding and a lot more!

One VERY serious tip: Safety First! No joking - NEVER even consider using an angle grinder, wire brush in drill or welder WITHOUT AT LEAST eye protection. Buy a batch of cheapy plastic goggles and get into the habit.

I'm not trying to be yer dad but believe me - shit does happen. I've even had the opthalmic surgeon remove grinding wheel particles from my eye after using goggles - they came in via the air holes - so the result without goggles would be frightening. I've had weld spatter get in my lugholes too when working under the floorpan and you can smell the flesh burning. Imagine that in your eye!

Apart from that, what can you do wrong? It's "only" a car!

[RUDDY]

I was fortunate that my employers at one time were paying for people to do courses in the hope of encouraging them to leave at a later date , guys were getting their HGV training and tests paid for , people were getting flying lessons , cooking lessons , you name it they got it. So I jumped on the bandwagon and got meself on a welding course , hard work but enjoyable and a diploma at the end to show for it . Practice lots before going near your car. Das is right also , I have had my eyeball scraped with a needle at casualty to remove particles of RS even though wearing goggles.

As for a resto project ............I would never go near another !!!!

[Aaron P.]

thanks for the enthusiasim lads.....it helps in a big way.....whats a good welder to buy then?
vinny, im on a budget as well but would like the finished job to be perfect (as we all do) & the fear of makin a balls of it & then paying to get it corrected is just to much wasted money.....my dad does welding but not car body welding more like church guards for the windows, steel frames for this & that but we live 35 mile apart but he is always there to help me out......i used to just buy shit boxes myself, strip & sell for a loss & had always said id buy a minter one day & when i brought the mex home my dad couldnt believe it that i had proven id do it......wasting more money on cars is no fun as now im a family man & when things get tight they get tight....so my cars suffer...it depresses me but back to the point......ill try it & see how i get on, but first to buy a welder so lads point me in the right direction........ ...
i take my hat off to guys that restore cars as its such a proud moment when its done......

[Banishit]

I was told dont buy anything under a big 150amp mig welder but bigger is even better, I contemplated it as I used to do a lot of work on MG's 20 years ago, but I still bottled out of doing it myself, as you say making a bollox can be harder to rectify ?

[dasadrew]

Whatever welder you get, make sure you can wind the power right down. You'll find most will blow holes in RS bits even at the "low" setting. To be honest I've NEVER used the "high" setting on mine for car work.

If your wallet will stretch to it, TIG welders are the bees knees and prices are coming down.

[vinny]

just to add to the good advice on safety you've been given m8 i always try to use a face mask as you dont really want to be breathing in to much of the shite your grinding off, and i always were ear defenders and goggles like what has been said, but the best goggles i have is a clear full face motorcross type mask.
go on have a go, its only a car as das says

[RS2000CUSTOM]

and i always were ear defenders and googles like what has been said,

Where can I buy a good pair of Googles ?

Will do a search on Google maybe !

[vinny]

[Robb]

I 'd give it a go the more you practice the better you'll get, and then you'll have another string to your bow. There's no better feeling than to do a job yourself and be proud of it. I would recommend a Sip 105 or above they work very well on thin metal and i would also get an auto darkening mask they make things a lot easier.

[Andrew T]

just to add to the good advice on safety you've been given m8 i always try to use a face mask as you dont really want to be breathing in to much of the shite your grinding off, and i always were ear defenders and goggles like what has been said, but the best goggles i have is a clear full face motorcross type mask.
go on have a go, its only a car as das says

Speaking from the other side of those opthalmic needles and 'toys' we have...
I'm one of those chaps that digs out the crap out of folks eyes, strangely the welder at work is my best customer and he has all the right gear ,
Invest in good goggles and make sure they are on! You only get one set of eyes, and there is no transplant option at present