Welding longs with engine in?, Beginning a resto... Options

[mbseto]

Howdy all;
About to start a restoration, hoping to do a rolling resto. After looking over some of the threads on prep for repairing longs, I see two things everyone advises:
1) brace the doors
2) get the car off the wheels, i.e. jackstands under the donuts

It looks like the engine is nearly always pulled... Is this a must, or can the longs be repaired with the engine in? If so, is additional support under the engine/trans needed?

Thanks for the input,
M.

[mbseto]

I can weld and I trust in my ability to do so. Was asking about rules of thumb, not for this specific car, but just to get an idea of where others draw the line. Are there things you look for where you say I'm just not going to try to fix that?

I've read through the "digging into hell" thread multiple times and the first time I thought man that guy's got guts. Glad I won't have to do that. Then the more I uncover with mine the more I see that looks like that car. Seems intimidating on the one hand, but on the other it provides me with an excellent blow-by-blow with photos of how to fix it. It is a tempting challenge. Just like the precipitous drop at the edge of a high cliff wants to draw you forward.

I notice he used the 4x4 method, but never came back to say how the car turned out in the end. I read through several of scotty b's bracing posts and it makes a lot of sense to me. Which then leads to thoughts of a rotisserie resto.

The decision is mostly made at this point. Just trying to build up some courage. Iceberg pictures aren't helping. :-)

[BeatNavy]

I can weld and I trust in my ability to do so. Was asking about rules of thumb, not for this specific car, but just to get an idea of where others draw the line. Are there things you look for where you say I'm just not going to try to fix that?

I've read through the "digging into hell" thread multiple times and the first time I thought man that guy's got guts. Glad I won't have to do that. Then the more I uncover with mine the more I see that looks like that car. Seems intimidating on the one hand, but on the other it provides me with an excellent blow-by-blow with photos of how to fix it. It is a tempting challenge. Just like the precipitous drop at the edge of a high cliff wants to draw you forward.

I notice he used the 4x4 method, but never came back to say how the car turned out in the end. I read through several of scotty b's bracing posts and it makes a lot of sense to me. Which then leads to thoughts of a rotisserie resto.

The decision is mostly made at this point. Just trying to build up some courage. Iceberg pictures aren't helping. :-)

I'm in the same boat you are right now. I've read through michelko's thread several times (and others, like PaintedMan), and I've got my car braced and up with a 4x4 under it like Scotty recommends. I agree it's like standing at the edge of a cliff, and when you fire up that angle grinder and the sparks start a'flyin' you've pretty much taken the leap.

My hell hole sucks, so I know that's got to be repaired. The PO did a repair on the long, but I don't know how well. That's kind of what has me hesitating. Do I just start cutting and let the chips fall where they may?

Good luck!