Hi all
I was pointed in the direction of this forum by quite a few people as I've never welded before but the rust has caught up with me.
A little intro on the car, it's a 1975 Vauxhall Viva 1256 DeLuxe in Monaco White. I bought it in December 2008 and was my daily until November last year, when I got a comfortable, modern (by my standards) daily and laid this up on my driveway. It was amazingly reliable until it reached about 50k miles and started to throw strops. I left it for a while but with regained interest I'm ready (I think) to tackle the jobs I said I'd sort a year or two back. Here's an ongoing project thread - http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=readersrides&action=display&thread=58743&page=1
As well as try to get this troublesome engine to run with a Mini SU carb, and another 1256 in bits to rebuild it with a bit more bite, I've decided to start stripping the interior so that I can tidy up the floor and get some much needed welding done, so new soundproofing, underlay and carpet can go down.
So far my experience of welding is watching my dad - solid but far from tidy, and reading through a few threads on RetroRides from a guy called 'tonybmw'. To me, the man is a god. What I've learned so far about panel fabrication and welding is from Tony, but I'm very nervous about putting it in to practice on my own car as I've got very little idea of what I'm actually doing. I've got a welder - a Clarke Mig 160TM, and that's about it, so please throw any advice and criticism you can at me.
The first area needing welding attention is the rear wheel arches, to be honest they really scare me and look like a massive pain to do for a seasoned novice, let alone a beginner. I hope I'm wrong.
As it's a joining of several different panels, and is tucked right into a corner, I'm not sure how is best to cut the rot out let alone weld metal in...
Other areas needing attention are the battery tray which will be slightly relocated, wing/bulkhead, parcel shelf to correct some bodgery, rear arch behind shock, and spare wheel well.
I might not get started straight away due to weather and having the drivers floorpan to sort first, but that feels solid so hopefully it will only need a bit of a tidy up
Let the fun begin...
I was pointed in the direction of this forum by quite a few people as I've never welded before but the rust has caught up with me.
A little intro on the car, it's a 1975 Vauxhall Viva 1256 DeLuxe in Monaco White. I bought it in December 2008 and was my daily until November last year, when I got a comfortable, modern (by my standards) daily and laid this up on my driveway. It was amazingly reliable until it reached about 50k miles and started to throw strops. I left it for a while but with regained interest I'm ready (I think) to tackle the jobs I said I'd sort a year or two back. Here's an ongoing project thread - http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=readersrides&action=display&thread=58743&page=1
As well as try to get this troublesome engine to run with a Mini SU carb, and another 1256 in bits to rebuild it with a bit more bite, I've decided to start stripping the interior so that I can tidy up the floor and get some much needed welding done, so new soundproofing, underlay and carpet can go down.
So far my experience of welding is watching my dad - solid but far from tidy, and reading through a few threads on RetroRides from a guy called 'tonybmw'. To me, the man is a god. What I've learned so far about panel fabrication and welding is from Tony, but I'm very nervous about putting it in to practice on my own car as I've got very little idea of what I'm actually doing. I've got a welder - a Clarke Mig 160TM, and that's about it, so please throw any advice and criticism you can at me.
The first area needing welding attention is the rear wheel arches, to be honest they really scare me and look like a massive pain to do for a seasoned novice, let alone a beginner. I hope I'm wrong.
As it's a joining of several different panels, and is tucked right into a corner, I'm not sure how is best to cut the rot out let alone weld metal in...
Other areas needing attention are the battery tray which will be slightly relocated, wing/bulkhead, parcel shelf to correct some bodgery, rear arch behind shock, and spare wheel well.
I might not get started straight away due to weather and having the drivers floorpan to sort first, but that feels solid so hopefully it will only need a bit of a tidy up
Let the fun begin...