I have some body repairs I'd like to do on my TR8, and I'm wondering about the
feasibility of learning to weld well enough to do them on my own. I've
checked the local community college, and the only welding classes they have
are geared toward students preparing for a career in welding, they don't have
any "Adult Ed" type classes. Of course, I could have a body shop do it, but
the few that are willing to do this kind of work want to do the whole job at
once, and not piecemeal (I also want a respray at some point).
I have three different things to address:
1. The car came with a bump strip along the sides, which I didn't care for.
It was attached with pop rivets, so I have a series of 1/8" holes along each
side, from the front fender, across the door, and across the rear fender. I
have access to the back of most of the holes, but not all. But I do think I
can spray cavity wax everyplace. Right now the holes are covered with some
silver 3M striping tape, which is pretty invisible beyond about 10 feet. But
it would be nice to get a more permanent solution.
2. The car came with a luggage rack, which I also removed. That left eight
holes from the sheet metal screws. These are a bit larger than the pop rivet
holes, and of course distorted from the screws. Half of them have easy access
to the back side, but the other half are hidden under the stiffening rails.
Again, I could certainly get cavity wax in there. Right now I have some plain
aluminum plates screwed over where the brackets go (the car is silver).
3. The last area is the rear panel. The car was hit in the back at some
time, and wasn't repaired very well. It looks like they made no attempt to
pull anything out, and just sculpted the area with Bondo. It actually doesn't
look as bad as it sounds, except that the panel is pushed in about an inch. I
think the best way to fix this would be to install a new panel, if I can get
one. Also, some of the panels in the boot are crumpled, and those are
available. These are all attached with spot welds.
So, my questions:
1. Is it reasonable to think that I could teach myself to weld well enough to
do these jobs? I definitely don't want to make anything worse in attempting
fix anything.
2. What kind of equipment would be required? Would one of the inexpensive
110V welders be sufficient? Would a TIG matter over a flux wire-feed for
these jobs?
3. How much paint should be removed around the repair holes?
Thanks!
--
Darrell Walker
66 TR4A IRS-SC CTC67956L
81 TR8 SATPZ458XBA406206
Vancouver, WA, USA
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