New user with Cosmo 170 (SIP) and a headache

Try a zener diode in parallel with the motor. You will have to experiment with different voltages, use 5 watt types minimum.
Have used these before with success, on small migs.

Back to welding with a less than perfect welder

Background April 2009 Marham track day resulted in a nice crack in the screen

Managed to get the Monza thro an MOT in sept (with an advisory) helped by the fact a new screen was 2 months wait and the crack was just outside the swept area

So this weekend old screen came out as I figured I might have a bit of work to do (water leaks give the game away)



So all the grey bits show where any minor surface rust was ground away and treated before a coat of zinc anti rust primer

However some bits need some sparks pointed in the general direction



Theres me water leak then

Nasty but solid



Another bit scabby



And not so bad but hey ho once I've got the sparks out it'll look a lot worse



Anyway it's a track car so it doesn't need to look pretty and I need to get the bloody thing out of the garage and round into a friends garage so I can finish the LC

All done now - Content warning CONTAINS SHOCKING EXAMPLES OF MY POOR WELDING SKILLS

So moving on

Was a hole Hit it with grinder then dented the metal and filled it with weld ground it back - worked a treat - yes I know it's not the best way but "it's a track car" and one day I'll put it on it's roof so I'm never that fussy



Zinc Primer Applied



This was the one I was worried about - but I made up an insert of 20 guage steel - stitched it in and it looked OK - Well apart from the crappy welding :lol:



Ground all the excess weld back (sorry for poor pics I was on a mission)



Zinc Primer



Same Trick from earlier repeated on the passenger side corner - just a finished pic



Then got the top coat out (hammerite silver and black self mixed at Le Mans Classic 4 years ago to match the body colour when I had a day to kill and a primered roll cage to paint) was a good match then and not too bad now and as I had some spare seemed a shame to waste it :lol:









See a blind man on a galloping horse wouldn't notice the difference :roll:



Ready to get the new screen fitted now

Meantime I have to say it was a pleasure working in the garage tonight - temperature outside was 3 deg C - with no heating needed - previous to the garage improvement project temp in the garage would normally have been same as outside - frapping cold and even with heating frostbite was still a high probability if the temp dropped below zero!!

However over the summer I've been preparing the garage for the winter projects in last 4 months I've been

- Plasterboarding the roof of the garage
- Redoing the lighting with 6 new striplights
- Insulating above it - 3 - 4 Inches of insulation above the plasterboard
- Boarding it out above that to provide storage in the loft for all my spare parts
- Adding a loft hatch big enought to get panels and bumpers thro it
- Painting walls to cut down on dust
- painting the floor

Still got a couple of things to do but they are nice to do rather than essential power socket ring main round the garage and hard piping for the compressed air system

Doesn't look like much for the effort put in but without any heating the garage was a nice comfortable 14 Deg C tonight when I left it having finished the Monza

Well new screen is in

Fitter was chuffed to find a car with the screen already removed, the rubber seal and the trims all cleaned and ready to fit

I explained to the autoglass technician I didn't want any sealant I had to sign a disclaimer to the effect that if the screen leaked they wouldn't be liable. There were a couple of reasons for this but the main one was the rubber trims aren't avaliable any more and I think that if they use the sealant it will stick it to the shell making it more likely that if the screen is removed again the rubber seal could get damaged

But the screen went in perfectly first time - pulled nicely down all round and the trims fit really well (this is great as for the last 4 years I haven't had the trim on one side as when the previous screen was fitted the trim was not avaliable (it got runover by a lorry) Replacement Trim above I got from Matt Alcock a few years back

So screen in



While the screen was out I took the opportunity to do a little bit of cosmetic work - especially as I found my long lost Ray Ban wafarers sitting in one of the holes (I had really missed those sunnies, they were a gift from my sister over 20 years ago and the best driving glasses I have ever had) I was so chuffed to find them I nearly stuck Don Henly Album in the tunes box and went for a drive 8) (it was raining!!!)





Then I remembered something was missing (the rain was a clue)



While the screen had been out I took the opportunity to replace the wiper motor and linkage assembly as the old one parks as well as Lisa (my OH), That was a job and a half as it appears I have a roll cage the seriously gets in the way of the removal process - once out however I was able to set the new one up to give the max clearance and it went in slightly easier.

Guess how much better the replacement was at parking??? - answers on a postcard

PS so that's all for now on the Monza - need to roll it round to a friends house and park it up till the new year as the big green thing is next and lots to do to that - bloody vauxhalls are bad enough but when lotus get involved it just gets worse

A couple of questions to BChild and anyone else that can answer-

1- has anyone that have done the wire feed power supply mod feel the multi-turn pot for speed control would be of benefit or are you able to control the slow speed adequately with the original pot ?

2- I mainly need the MIG for car repairs and the ocassional light welding - if I need to do anything heavy I have a stick welder for that. After the power supply mod my original speed knob is driving approx 6m/min at half way round the dial so if I could spread that out to nearly full turn I'm hoping I would get a better spread at the slower speeds - any ideas on doing that - will the trim pot on the board provide that or just delay the start and compress the range?