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Rusty, the 1971 145S

Thanks.

Regarding the inner arch it is two pieces with a seam in the centre which was originally spot welded together. If the only rust to the inner section where the shock mount is is to the mounting plate area, just cut out and butt weld in a new reinforcing plate. Regarding the outer section of the inner arch, they rust at the front and rear areas as well and where they join to the outer arch. If the only rust area is the seat belt reinforcement pad then just repair that section. If the others areas are gone then cut out the outer inner arch, delete the middle joining flange and butt weld the inner and outer inner arches together from underneath.

You don't need a expensive mig for welding cars. A euro torch connection is good, I like 0.6mm wire and use 5% co2 argon mix gas. The shock reinforcement plate would be a nice repair to start with.

All the best. We have plenty of rusty cars over here as well. :-)
 
IansPlatinum said:
P1xjAfMl.jpg


Going in...

Jp1cZOTl.jpg
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Just realized I installed these wrong... They're supposed to be 90 degrees rotated from the way I installed them.

I think they'll hold up ok though, considering the void is much smaller on these VP "reinforced" bushings as compared to the originals.

I had thought the void was there to allow articulation, but I guess its just a NVH feature.
 
hiperfauto said:
It's common practice to install these bushings with the voids rotated 90? to reduce axle twist under hard acceleration/braking.
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Seems like that should have been the norm!

hiperfauto said:
You probably already know that VP has the repair piece for the shock reinforcement.

http://212.247.61.152/US/main.aspx?page=article&artno=615080
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Yep, currently weighing them vs doing the whole inner well. I'm gonna thoroughly scrape down the area and ensure the repair panel would cover the entirety of the rust, and make the decision to go with whole inner wheel well vs repair patch depending on what I uncover.
 
vwbusman66 said:
"A grinder and paint will make you the welder you ain't."

The HF flux core will certainly do the job, especially considering the fact they set the polarity correctly for flux core (gas-shielded uses the opposite polarity). Spend another $12 on a HF air angle die grinder and some roll-lock pads and you'll be good to go!
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be careful with HF "MIG" and flux core welders. A lot of them arent DC, just a straight AC transformer to knock the voltage down. If you find that your "welds" look like a slug sitting on the top of the piece, get a 200v rectifier and wire it into the torch. This also gives you the ability to change polarity and if youre tricky with it, you can get it to fire off a gas solenoid and run a true MIG.
 
cwdodson88 said:
be careful with HF "MIG" and flux core welders. A lot of them arent DC, just a straight AC transformer to knock the voltage down. If you find that your "welds" look like a slug sitting on the top of the piece, get a 200v rectifier and wire it into the torch. This also gives you the ability to change polarity and if youre tricky with it, you can get it to fire off a gas solenoid and run a true MIG.
Click to expand...

Harbor freight has stepped up their game. The welder that I recommended is a dc inverter welder. You get super clean beads. Its also 120v. No need to buy a mig rig.
 
IansPlatinum said:
I think I'll have to buy that & try it out... price is right, and I don't have to run a long cord to reach my 240V outlet...
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Its 120v. Ideally it would be good if you had a 20 amp outlet to get full use of it. The welder can do up to 1/4 inch steel. For what you'll be doing, you don't actually need it to run at maximum power, so a 15 amp outlet will do.
 
Y'all are nuts. Hobart Handler is the way to go. Give me that sweet sweet shielding gas. I love mine and have built so much cool stuff with it.

Get a you at least 2 4.5 grinders, one for a flapper and one for a cutoff wheel and you can build anything! I'd get a wire brush too.
 
kyote said:
Y'all are nuts. Hobart Handler is the way to go. Give me that sweet sweet shielding gas. I love mine and have built so much cool stuff with it.

Get a you at least 2 4.5 grinders, one for a flapper and one for a cutoff wheel and you can build anything! I'd get a wire brush too.
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Oh I won't argue that gas shielded is king, but I can tell you that HF welder linked above is really really good for the money, especially for occasional rust repair (easy light gauge metal) and stuff you're covering with undercoating and paint.

That review video speaks for itself really.
 
Yeah I can see it having a place, especially combined with a generator. Or in the wind. Probably good for fixing Gates etc. There's been occasions where it is a pain to travel with the full setup. And I'd concede it would probably be fine for the job.
 
mitch1971 said:
Flux mig wire is not good for car repairs, get gas and use 5% CO2 and 95% argon mix. It is night and day, don?t make life hard for yourself.
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Unless you have home shop, no one has room for gas tanks and most are not going to fork out money to do that. The very idea that not using gas will make life harder is ridiculous. Keep drinking the koolaid man. We'll be getting s*** done.
 
mitch1971 said:
Flux mig wire is not good for car repairs, get gas and use 5% CO2 and 95% argon mix. It is night and day, don?t make life hard for yourself.
Click to expand...

Having spent a fair amount of time doing professional bodywork and frame building, you can get pretty good results from a flux welder. Then, once you grind down whatever you don't want, you can't tell the difference. Usually, flux core will actually be less sensitive to surface prep.

If you're ready to shell out $1k+ on a welder, sure, get a shielded mig welder.
 
white855T said:
Unless you have home shop, no one has room for gas tanks and most are not going to fork out money to do that. The very idea that not using gas will make life harder is ridiculous. Keep drinking the koolaid man. We'll be getting s*** done.
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No one has room for gas tanks? How big are these gas tanks? 😅
 
vwbusman66 said:
Having spent a fair amount of time doing professional bodywork and frame building, you can get pretty good results from a flux welder. Then, once you grind down whatever you don't want, you can't tell the difference. Usually, flux core will actually be less sensitive to surface prep.

If you're ready to shell out $1k+ on a welder, sure, get a shielded mig welder.
Click to expand...

Buy once, cry once.
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/t...J2kNOnxb7M3G3fJD4UPE44Y85-n0cH4oaAmEyEALw_wcB
 
vwbusman66 said:
Having spent a fair amount of time doing professional bodywork and frame building, you can get pretty good results from a flux welder. Then, once you grind down whatever you don't want, you can't tell the difference. Usually, flux core will actually be less sensitive to surface prep.

If you're ready to shell out $1k+ on a welder, sure, get a shielded mig welder.
Click to expand...

Do you use a flux core welder to do professional bodywork? I have never seen or even heard of anyone before not using gas professionally. You can do it but I?ve only ever seen the terrible results from a newbie to welding trying to use a gas less mig on car panels. Gas mig is as easy as it gets, if you can?t afford it or don?t want to spend the money fair enough but gas is night and day easier, especially for a beginner welder.
 
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