Hello All,
It was never my intention to build a show-winner (and way beyond my budget and skills), but I'm proceeding as intended when I bought it, and enjoying it without fretting about it being pristine, but improving / correcting / changing to what I fancy, as the needs (MOTs) and finances allow.
1972 Porsche 914 1.7 - very good at rusting, and my example has been 'restored' at least once previously, in around 1997, by a 'professional', whose work is giving me great confidence in my own limited abilities, as even I am able to remove work he has done, and replace it with 100% confidence that my work is better, and should therefore last at least as long as that which went before.
So here's the beginning of what is intended to be an on-going but occasional thread to record those moments when I remember to take a picture - or be it with my phone, so I'm not even going to begin to apologise for the image quality
First up, welding the rear-end of the driver's sill...
You should bear in mind here that I first picked up a welder in March 2007, after buying a sheet of mild steel, some tin snips and some welding gaultlets, I found this site and read everything I could to figure stuff out, and called for guidance on a couple of friends who between them 1) own a car sales garage, 2) have restored MGs to prize-winning standards and 3) hold a valid MOT tester qualification. In this way, I hope to avoid chopping the car un-neccessarily, keep it structurally correct (using door braces etc), and know that my work will pass the MOT when submitted.
I've thought long and hard about with-holding pictures of my work, but I wanted to contribute to return a little of the value I got from visiting these forums - however, I'm still a novice, and nervous of the quality of my work, so if you have nothing nice to say about my welding and fabrication skills, please use this opportunity to take your comments elsewhere...
Encouragement and constructive feedback welcome.
My rehersals consisted mostly of some scrap-welding, plus modifying and repairing a section of exhaust on my Saab (broken, not rusted-out), and making myself an adjustable door-brace. Plus all my first welds 'proper' were to the floorpan area of the Porsche, where strength definitely matters more than beauty.
The welder is a Snap-On branded 175amp using Coogar Argon mix, plus some sections done using my own MigMate 150 and pub gas, for comparison.
Before (well, after some attention from a wire-brush wheel on a grinder - the dark bits are holes):
After (well, before adding rustbullet, seamsealer and underseal):
Thanks for the knowledge so far, everyone. See you soon.
Carl
It was never my intention to build a show-winner (and way beyond my budget and skills), but I'm proceeding as intended when I bought it, and enjoying it without fretting about it being pristine, but improving / correcting / changing to what I fancy, as the needs (MOTs) and finances allow.
1972 Porsche 914 1.7 - very good at rusting, and my example has been 'restored' at least once previously, in around 1997, by a 'professional', whose work is giving me great confidence in my own limited abilities, as even I am able to remove work he has done, and replace it with 100% confidence that my work is better, and should therefore last at least as long as that which went before.
So here's the beginning of what is intended to be an on-going but occasional thread to record those moments when I remember to take a picture - or be it with my phone, so I'm not even going to begin to apologise for the image quality
First up, welding the rear-end of the driver's sill...
You should bear in mind here that I first picked up a welder in March 2007, after buying a sheet of mild steel, some tin snips and some welding gaultlets, I found this site and read everything I could to figure stuff out, and called for guidance on a couple of friends who between them 1) own a car sales garage, 2) have restored MGs to prize-winning standards and 3) hold a valid MOT tester qualification. In this way, I hope to avoid chopping the car un-neccessarily, keep it structurally correct (using door braces etc), and know that my work will pass the MOT when submitted.
I've thought long and hard about with-holding pictures of my work, but I wanted to contribute to return a little of the value I got from visiting these forums - however, I'm still a novice, and nervous of the quality of my work, so if you have nothing nice to say about my welding and fabrication skills, please use this opportunity to take your comments elsewhere...
Encouragement and constructive feedback welcome.
My rehersals consisted mostly of some scrap-welding, plus modifying and repairing a section of exhaust on my Saab (broken, not rusted-out), and making myself an adjustable door-brace. Plus all my first welds 'proper' were to the floorpan area of the Porsche, where strength definitely matters more than beauty.
The welder is a Snap-On branded 175amp using Coogar Argon mix, plus some sections done using my own MigMate 150 and pub gas, for comparison.
Before (well, after some attention from a wire-brush wheel on a grinder - the dark bits are holes):
After (well, before adding rustbullet, seamsealer and underseal):
Thanks for the knowledge so far, everyone. See you soon.
Carl