learning automotive welding

[bigbadbugga]

I've been repair welding cars for myself and family/friends for a few years now. Nothing very complicated, just patches and stuff.

I have been looking into learning how to do it properly, for classic restoration.

I can find loads of welding classes upto g&g L3 but cant find any courses which are specifically for repairing cars. I need to learn the tecniques for removing the old layers of rusty metal and letting in the new ones so it looks like the factory fit..

what courses do I need to look for?

 

[Paul.]

Not sure there are any courses specifically for classic restoration, you may be able to find a bodywork course but they are mainly aimed at modern vehicle accident repairs for apprentices,
at the college I used to work for, we ran a non vocational evening course for amateur car repairers, where you could bring in your own project and be guided through the various tasks by the lecturers, but it cost so much to run that it was discontinued some years ago,
have a look at my photo album, 1959 frogeye restoration, you'll see that its part welder, part panel beater, and part sheet metalworker/fabricator,
I take it this is sort of thing you want to do?.
Paul

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

I did the City&Guilds intro course for welding, gas, arc, mig with a bit of gas cutting...

then the next year I did a bodywork repair and spraying course. That was mainly beating and filling on a 3' x 2' sheet but later we could take our own cars in and a couple of guys did a bit of welding before spraying.

The local college seems to have abandoned all of these courses and basically concentrate on IT stuff now.

Regards
Peter

 

[jrmig]

Practical Classics in May did a feature on restoration courses.

I don't know how good their info is but they list Liverpool Community College who do "vehicle body repair" - which apparently focusing on classics. Also Bolton Community College who to "Classic Car Restoration". Don't know if this helps.

John

 

[jrmig]

Just to add:

Check the courses out carefully. One of our local colleges does a Classic Car Restoration course over two years but I've heard mixed reports about it. I understand they try to cover everything and consequently it can be very basic in places.

I believe the Liverpool course is brand new starting in September.

John

 

[bigbadbugga]

thanx everyone for the info, I'll look into the liverpool community college course and see if its what I'm looking for.

 

[Unclefista]

Sign up to the forum at http://www.turbosport.co.uk then check out the "Restorations and Projects" section of the forum, there's a load of rusty old Fords there being/been restored. Plenty of pictures and you're unlikely to find rustier metal

Special mention to Dave http://www.turbosport.co.uk/showthread.php?t=110188 , an amateur who's restored 3 Mk1 Escorts from the ground up, a magician...

 

[Splatfest]

Sign up to the forum at http://www.turbosport.co.uk then check out the "Restorations and Projects" section of the forum........

Whoa ! they like their sig pics on that forum,they must have a gazillion gigabytes of server space

 

[bigbadbugga]

Practical Classics in May did a feature on restoration courses.

I don't know how good their info is but they list Liverpool Community College who do "vehicle body repair" - which apparently focusing on classics. Also Bolton Community College who to "Classic Car Restoration". Don't know if this helps.

John

cheers for the info mate, im waiting to hear from the tutor to get the info about the body repair course concentrating on classic car body repair. its available as an evening class.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Whoa ! they like their sig pics on that forum,they must have a gazillion gigabytes of server space

Hehe, you're not kidding! Is there actually any text in those threads?

 

[snowcat]

Hehe, you're not kidding! Is there actually any text in those threads?

makes you glad theres none on this site.....

 

[Wozzaaah]

Got to admit, I don't miss them .
Think Malcolm made a good decision when he disabled the option, it makes the forum look a lot tidier.
When you see something like that it is just all pics, very difficult to follow threads.