I learned my very rudimentary welding skills on MGs.
Get a MIG welder with gas. Get a MIG welder with gas. Did I mention, Get a
MIG welder WITH gas. Here on the other side of the pond, Harbour Freight
has a pretty decent setup for about $250-$300. Good auto darkening helmet
is VERY helpful as well. I believe the metal for both sides cost me about a
grand.
When removing spot welds, get a spot weld drill bit. I started with a
regular drill bit, then when I burned it up, NAPA talked me into spending
the cash on a spot weld bit, about $30 with replacement "teeth". It looks
like a little keyhole saw, and works WELL. I'd never use a regular drill
bit again.
Make some sparks. Get some scrap metal to practice. It's very easy to do.
Use POR-15, or Eastwood encapsulation stuff on all metal before and after
welding.
So, to answer your question, yes it's a very complex (lots of steps) easy
(very straightforward) thing for someone to learn on. Just take your time,
go slow, and have fun with it. I think I could, providing no REAL issues,
do a side in a weekend. That said, my 73 B has been down for about 3 weeks
now, mainly due to a lack of time, my crazy work schedule, as well as
nearing the end of a semester for some grad classes I am working on..
Pictures of my progress are at:
http://tj.lhc-group.com/gallery/view.php?gallery_id=20
I've got all the metal cut away, for the most part, after about 5-10 hours
of work. Now I'm ready to start cleanup of the remaining metal. Then
painting with POR-15 then welding. In my twisted, perfect sunshine world, I
imagine I should be able to complete the job over a weekend, depending on
drying time of the POR-15, so realistically I plan on about 2-3 weekends of
time for me to finish up the drivers side, everyone knows nothing is ever
perfect, especially when working on a 30 year old car.
TJ
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-mgs@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-mgs@autox.team.net] On Behalf
Of Gosling, Richard B
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 7:39 AM
To: 'mgs@autox.team.net'
Subject: Looking at buying a BGT - but it's got a rusty sill
I used to own and love a '73 Black Tulip BGT, until it was accident-damaged
and written off (NOT my fault!) about 6 1/2 years ago. This weekend I went
to look at a near-identical car for sale near me.
This car has been off the road for some time, but looks in quite reasonable
shape (for the price!), and shouldn't take much too get it roadworthy again
(I hope!). The only major body problem is the drivers side inner sill - or
rather lack of it! The outer sill is there and mostly sound, the inner sill
above the floor is fine, but the inner sill below the floor is pretty much
non-existant. The jacking point is barely hanging on, and part of the
tranverse floor stiffener is pretty bad, although the floor itself seems
sound enough. Apart from this, the body is pretty sound, just the occasional
surface rust patch that you'd expect, and a 1" hole in the front wing - the
passenger side sill looks perfect, oddly!
Anyway, my question is this - for a home mechanic who is pretty competant,
but has never learned to weld, how stupid an idea is it to make a sill job
my first learning welding experience? How much (in the UK) should I pay for
a useable welding kit?
Thanks a lot,
Richard Gosling
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