A day in the garage

[MoparAl-]

Bought a second hand welder and a piece of sheet metal today and spent a couple of hours practising as ive never welded before !

Then i thought in for a penny in for a pound i will attack the worst bit on the car and if i can do that i can do the rest !

I know it aint great but im very happy with my first attempt.

[Tom Skinner]

Mopar Al,

You can weld for my cars any day - Great work!

Keep up the good work you are a natural welder.

Tom

[T120]

..I second that,Mopar Al...Your car is in good hands

[falconvan]

Nice job, Al! That's one of the hardest areas to repair on these cars in my opinion. You made it look easy.

[Plymouthy Adams]

your choice to do a full perimeter welded steel panel repair places you about 95% ahead of most body shops ..this is good and you will thank yourself later for doing it yourself..the hardest part of most repairs like this is committing yourself to the task..you will have it wiped out before you know it and will be looking for antoher project car body to repair..

[MoparAl-]

Thanx guys, cant wait to get back in to the garage after the Christmas break !

Im now ordering the new interior fabrics ! For once im gonna do things myself and enjoy this project instead of throwing thousands of pounds at it like i normally do and then moan that it cost too much ! Lol

"MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL"

[Bingster]

Great work! Congrats on having the guts to do it yourself and SUCCEED!

Ya know, I've thought about doing my own welding. I don't have a lot but the rockers do need work. For the price of having somebody do it I could buy the equipment and still come out ahead. It's a skill I would like to have.

I live in Iowa farm country and there is aguy who could teach me. A lot of guys who could teach me, actually. Or I could go to a local college I guess. I did that with cabinet making a number of years ago and today have released a high end Art Deco end table for sale.

Fabricating parts in metal - I assume - is similar as in wood except the "gluing" principles are different. You measure, you cut and fit and then you weld. Right?

What is the best and safest method of getting the car off the ground to work underneath?

And, what type of welder am I looking at getting?

[dndrodshop]

Here is the safest way to work underneath.

[MoparAl-]

Hi girls and guys, spent a few hours in my little english garage this weekend, thought i'd do the drivers side rear rot. Put it all in primer and temporary topcoat so i could get onto another section. Gonna hand paint the whole car later in Rustoleum.

[1940_dodge]

Wow, seeing your work not having 20 years experience gives me hope that when I start mine it will look as good as this.

[MoparAl-]

Hi guys, ive been working on the trunklid the last couple of weeks, had major rust in the bottom and was dented as well. cut out the rust, bought a dent puller, primed and hand painted with Rustoleum. Gave it another topcoat tonite to give it a bit more substance.

Have gone with a lighter Grey.

[MoparAl-]

Also started the passenger side rocker rust, this being the better of the sides to do. I removed the rubber step to find NO rust but solid metal, so i let a new section of rocker to the rear. The self tappers are only to hold it tight so that i could weld the top edge from inside (that was a job and a half !) I then made up a section for the outer skin this afternoon and welded it in, i spot welded all the bottom pieces that are on show so that it will look original !!!!

[Oldguy48]

Your work is impressive. Nice job:)

[ptwothree]

Hope mine turns out half as good!! Like the use of Rustoleum too....Btw..what welder did you end up getting??

[MoparAl-]

Hi guys, thanks for the vote of confidence, the welder i ended up getting was a second hand Sealey Supamig 195, a bit big for what i need but it does go right down to 30A which a lot of the smaller welders dont.

[MoparAl-]

Hi everyone, thought id post an update on the renovation. Due to the rotten weather and losing the wifes Dad progress has been slow. Anyway i have painted the interior window surrounds in gloss black then mist coated them with a burgundy gloss to give a two tone effect. I have spent some time on the passenger rear fender removing all the filler, rebating it and welding the weak sections that had split the metal. Im painting the body one section at a time due to my small garage. Im using Rustoleum and a 4" foam decorators foam roller !

[greg g]

are you using a hardener in your paint?

[MoparAl-]

No greg, i spoke to the manufacturer who stated do NOT use a hardener. why you ask mate ?

[MoparAl-]

Hi guys, a little update, took the car over to my inlaws larger garage to paint the roof and associated panels and it came out rough, when i smoothed out the orange peel it left a mottled finish (like dark grey with light grey in it) i think ive done well with the welding and fender reshaping so ive given it to my mate to put a proper coat of paint on it now, the car is such a dream i just couldnt bear to do it an injustice with my attempt ! Ive recoated the dash in Ivory, fitted a good quality steering wheel that i found in the many boxes of stuff the car arrived with together with a clock that i also found !

When driving the 15 miles to the inlaws i experienced the dreaded hot engine bay treatment ! bloody thing wouldnt start Lol. i floored the accelerator to overcome the flooded carb and it eventually started, took time though with the 6 volt battery. I aint gonna change to 12 v though so im gonna heat wrap the fuel line etc and go from there. I found out from the paint guy that a guy i know not to far away has just bought an early fifties Plymouth convertible ! Next update will be when the cars back from paint in about two weeks :):):)

ps keeping it original colour guys !!

[MoparAl-]

Hi everyone, its been a bit slow on putting the car back together after the paint was done as ive been bed bound with a bad dose of food poisioning ! at least the Olympics are on. Managed to get out to the garage for a couple of hours today and refitted the back end and started on one rear moulding.

will update as i feel better and get round the car, the guy matched the colour 100% perfect, and that has made a big impact on the finish when you lift the hood or trunk lid.

Al.

[Reg Evans]

Very,Very nice ! Love the color.

[greg g]

looks good. I asked about hardner as I painted my Studebaker with out and the paint (basically rustoleum) is fragile. In hind sight I should have added some.

For the hot start poblem, lower your float level about 1/32th of an inch. That seems to aleviate a lot of fuel perculation problems. And then remember to crank with the gas pedal on the floor.

Edited August 2, 2012 by greg g

[Richard Coney]

Nice colour Al. Looking good!

[Plymouthy Adams]

is that a Wedgewood? it's very easy on the eye..I do like..

[MacGyver]

Looks good, Brother! Hang in there, that food poisoning will pass. I am hoping to see more pics in the near future.