Ideal welder for 2CV project?

[Oatley]

Hi
Complete newbie here, considering undertaking repair of my 2CV rather than paying someone else to do all the welding.
It needs lots of body sections replacing, but the chassis is sound.
Being a 2CV a lot of the material is fairly thin.

I've not done welding before, and have no idea what kind of machine would be good for the job. Funds are, of course, limited.

 

[madkayaker]

Good luck! You want as low a current as possible and 0.6mm wire. Something like the portamig with 15amp current is a good bet.

I welded mine up with a miller welder that does 8 amp and even then it was testing the one saving grace is when changeling whole panels you can spot weld as originally done and not much body work is stratal on a 2cv

 

[KemppiFrog]

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=24497

Some reading for you.
Difficult to get the low amps needed on a budget mig machine. Second hand? My Kemppi gets down to 12amps, but would be rare on the 2nd hand market.
KF

 

[Sean]

goes against the general ethos of this site but....

SIPs seems to do fine on all the ones that come here - ok ive modified it and fettled it but the power goes down low -needs argon mix at lowest settings to get a good stable arc and of course its impossible to run a bead on the rusty pitted oil soaked and pu covered 0,5mm steel

welcome to my world

 

[keith19]

If you will only be using it on the 2CV, and your budget doesn't run to the Portamig, the little Clarke 90EN is a decent machine for light panel work:
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/mig-90en-no-gas-mig-welder

But only really okay up to 2mm or so metal thickness, without preparation of the joint. You shouldn't need more than that on a 2CV though.

They sometimes come up for sale s/h too, so worth looking out for. But take someone along to test it if it's s/h, there has to be a good reason for selling....

 

[pondy]

I have a Clarke 150 for sale?

 

[classic2cv]

Hi and welcome to the forum

i've done a lot of welding on 2cv's and used a few different welders


i used to have an NBC Autoweld 140

very big,heavy but smooth with lots of control

Now i use a Clarke MIG 151TE Turbo

very flexible with good control and it's also very portable

the bodywork on a 2cv is very thin and you will need to work carefully to make sure that you don't blow holes in the body

The mig welding tutorial should be of help

or you can drop me a line

 

[the snooper]

Ideal welder for 2CV

the one sat next to it in the crusher

 

[malcolm]

Meanie! Small French cars are brilliant.

There is no right answer (though Snooper's answer was completely wrong). With any welder you'll be doing the on-off thin metal technique. Generally brand new hobby welders aren't great for this as they have little wire feed motors. New welders at double the price or secondhand big welders (whatever the minimum amps) will be better for this as the wire feed motors will be bigger and get up to speed faster.

Having said that I started with a Clarke and it thin metal is perfectly doable. Just isn't quite as nice or easy to do as it could be with something a bit nicer.

 

[Wozzaaah]

I was going to say the one you put in the boot so it's heavier when you weigh it in for scrap.

Just kidding of course, see very few about now, probably not a car I'd have myself but it's good to see them still about.

 

[the snooper]

sorry malc

i know you collect those french things, we all have our faults

 

[KemppiFrog]

I was going to say the one you put in the boot so it's heavier when you weigh it in for scrap.

Just kidding of course, see very few about now, probably not a car I'd have myself but it's good to see them still about.

OOOOh Get you!!

Quite a few around here, some not loved, just used as designed. Daily rides. Others polished a bit.

 

[Wozzaaah]

My next door neighbour, a die-hard VW man, has just bought one though I've not seen it yet.

 

[agrimog]

any welder and a competent user if you intend putting it back on the road. why does everyone on this site think that they can buy a welder, and then be capable of fixing a car to a standard that is safe to put back on the road, please please stop telling people that welder xyz will do, and encourage them to learn to weld FIRST, before they start tacking bits onto there death trap and putting it back onto the road, it might be your family they kill when there project fails on the public road......rant over, I spend to many hours fixing amatuers f**k ups these days

 

[the snooper]

if no one recommends a welder that is capable of doing the job then how can they practise?, its pointless them getting something to big as they will never use it, get something too small and the welds will fail.
everyone has to start some where.

also the answer is not any welder too much low end power and you just going to blow through, you should know that

 

[Sean]

any welder and a competent user if you intend putting it back on the road. why does everyone on this site think that they can buy a welder, and then be capable of fixing a car to a standard that is safe to put back on the road, please please stop telling people that welder xyz will do, and encourage them to learn to weld FIRST, before they start tacking bits onto there death trap and putting it back onto the road, it might be your family they kill when there project fails on the public road......rant over, I spend to many hours fixing amatuers f**k ups these days

feeling better after that?

2cv isnt a unitary construction, it has a separate and strong chassis which caries all the stresses and strains. The bodywork is literally to keep the worst of the weather off- the Mehari version had an ABS body tray with all the structural integrity of a tupperware lunch box yet they were used as medical back up on the early Dakar rallies and they all completed the course.

I seem to spend a huge amount of time sorting out f**k ups of a far more serious nature done by people that consider themselves professionals - they cant cope with the idiosyncrasies of the unusual but brilliant design of older Citroens and dismiss them as "Piece of crap" rather than admitting that all they can handle is some lump of iron with cart springs.

its not unusual to find £15K restaurations (sic) in shiny 2pack with badly set up suspension, dampers back to front and upside down and brakes that don't work.