welding and education, schools of thought Options

[golden2.0]

So I just recently purchased a car and after reading all the rebuild posts I have decided to strip the car down and (with the blessing from my wife) to take a crash course in welding. If I am going to rebuild, I want to do it correctly. I found a school with small class sizes but they told me that they concentrate on mainly stick welding (which I have done before). The question I have is what is the best method of welding these cars back together? Seems that TIG is preferred. My past large welding project was using brass rods and a torch to rebuild a 67' mustang, I don't think I want to use that process for this current project since it requires a ton of heat...it worked, but it wasn't pretty.

Any in-site on type of welding to learn would great. I want to make sure I ask the right questions from the school before I sign up for their classes. Don't want to waste money on school if it is not going to specifically help with my project. I figure I can have the car done by the time my little boy is 16. He is almost 2 now.

[marksteinhilber]

So I just recently purchased a car and after reading all the rebuild posts I have decided to strip the car down and (with the blessing from my wife) to take a crash course in welding. If I am going to rebuild, I want to do it correctly. I found a school with small class sizes but they told me that they concentrate on mainly stick welding (which I have done before). The question I have is what is the best method of welding these cars back together? Seems that TIG is preferred. My past large welding project was using brass rods and a torch to rebuild a 67' mustang, I don't think I want to use that process for this current project since it requires a ton of heat...it worked, but it wasn't pretty.

Any in-site on type of welding to learn would great. I want to make sure I ask the right questions from the school before I sign up for their classes. Don't want to waste money on school if it is not going to specifically help with my project. I figure I can have the car done by the time my little boy is 16. He is almost 2 now.

My $0.02: I restored my first 914 with a $80 flux core 90 Harbor Freight welder. I should have bought my current Eastwood Mig 120 for $299 back then. But the car came out great with minimal bondo over the few repairs that I needed to do. The cheaper the welder, the more grinding and rewelding is needed to get good fusion of the materials. What all the others have said is true, but not cost friendly. If you're not going to do multiple car restorations, then you don't need to spend $500 or more for the brand name Mig. The Eastwood 120 has a dial for the heat or amperage setting as well as the wire speed, comes with the gas regulator and works with either 0.23 or 0.30 wire size. The 0.23 makes welding thin sheet metal a little easier with less heat. grind away all rust to clean metal and prepare all butt joint edges to a V or at least a half V. Tack and let cool. Don't put too much heat in any one spot when welding sheet metals, so just add to existing tack welds a few seconds at a time. Same with doing rosettes to simulate spot welds. find settings to make a nice rosette in just a couple seconds, then repeat by counting to get the right amount of filler and heat each time. Bigger holes in the top metal for rosettes make sure you get fusion to the bottom sheet. I'm a mechanical engineer and was trained to inspect welds, qualify welders, and approve weld procedures for high pressure boilers and vessels, but my own welding experience is limited. So I have watched the Eastwood videos, applied what I know about welding, metallurgy, and shipyard experience, and then played a lot with my Mig to fix all kinds of rusty areas on two 914's. Rusty sheet metal repairs are quite different welding than welding 1/4 plate or angle iron to handle structural loads. But the multiple layers of sheet metal that make up the longitudinals must carry structural loads, so those welds are much more critical; than just fixing rust holes on the body. Try fixing some rust holes on some junk body parts first, then on your car, and then work the unibody frame areas. Much of the trick is figuring out how to graft in good pieces harvested from donor cars, or cut from complete repair panels. Not every repair needs to be a replacement of the entire panel the way the factory built the car. On a concours restoration, maybe so, on most 914-4s that will be driven and enjoyed, fix in a sound, but economical fashion. here's an example picture.

[BeatNavy]

What all the others have said is true, but not cost friendly. If you're not going to do multiple car restorations, then you don't need to spend $500 or more for the brand name Mig. The Eastwood 120 has a dial for the heat or amperage setting as well as the wire speed, comes with the gas regulator and works with either 0.23 or 0.30 wire size. The 0.23 makes welding thin sheet metal a little easier with less heat.

I generally agree. I would maybe quibble on whether to spend the money and get a good setup or not (hopefully you WILL use it for years and for other projects). But he's right about practicing on sheet metal and using thinner wire. .23 is good for body, more cosmetic, work. .30 for more structural repairs. It's pretty easy to throw down a bead on 1/4 inch thick metal on a bench with good light. It's significantly harder to do that with sheet metal in a corner when you can't see (or get an easy ground point).

Where in VA are you? If you're at all near northern VA you I can help as well. You've probably got too much info at this point, I imagine.