Fuel filler, welding, bottom fuel pipe grommet

[Colin Lindsay]

10 hours ago, poppyman said:

Costs to much to deliver to Northern Ireland Colin.......   

Tony. 

I'd reckon an entire Aldi would require slightly more than Parcelforce 48hr delivery. 

DPD would, however, deliver it and hide it under the mat at the back door, where of course no-one would think of looking...

[Unkel Kunkel]

Some really   superb advice and tips  have been posted by several  posters who are obviously very experienced. 

As a self-taught   total amateur (whose original results  were so  awful they were just absurd) I offer you encouragement- If I got there, you will.

I am still learning.Improvement came with  practice , practice.practice ..it is now a very satisfying thing to do.I progressed and have  done sills floor, boot floor, inner and outer rear wings, chassis out riggers..

Along the way, I learnt:

1. Welder

Don't be tempted by  “cheap” equipment.I have heard  experienced welders not only say how useless they are but how difficult  they are to use.Wire feed the main issue.

A newcomer will be just get disheartened and either give up or (  from personal experience) have to go and buy a “proper” one.

Clarke is good.My 160TM is excellent and on full wack runs off ordinary 13 amp.

2.Gas :

Although there must be someone who speaks highly of the results from gas-less mig welders, they seem  disappointing for car body work.

You will not be impressed how quickly a disposable gas bottle is used up!
Go for X Size with regulator and a L/min flow meter.

3.Accessories:

 After a decent gas mig  welder, an auto- dimming helmet  was the most important thing I discovered. They are wonderful.

4.Preparation :

a.Cleaning  to bright metal makes a really vast difference to the ease of welding.Trying to weld  through rust and debris will just  produce dramatic showers of    splattering and sparks,  holes  and frustration and very poor welds.

b.ensure a good earth connection.

5.Fire.

At some stage  you will at least get a bit of  underseal smoking and some little flames.

- Yes, you will.

Be aware.-Stop and look from behind your mask at regular intervals.

It will really spoil your day if you set your car, + - yourself/ garage /house /neighbour’s  house on fire.

Be prepared - Have a  dripping wet rag, some water and a fire extinguisher to hand  and if you in a bit of a confined space - an escape route.

(Also,  if you switch the power off  your welder  and turn the gas flow up, you have now have an inert gas/CO2 extinguisher  in your hand)

Keep at it!

 

[Adrian]

On ‎03‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 11:51, clive said:

Maybe I am being tight, but £400 for a clarke 130A machine sounds a lot. The Rtech are only £480ish, and streets ahead in terms of quality. A Euro torch is nice over a hobby type too.

Have a look around, if you want to keep costs sensible there are often good used migs available, but best to have somebody who has some experience along with you to see if all is well. 

The 5mm tips are fine and easily available, been getting mine via ebay for years.

Well...Clive had better be right (no pressure) a new Rtech 180 is being delivered tomorrow. I bought the auto dimming mask as well and Rtech threw in gloves, plug, 5KG wire, tips and argon flow meter. I found out it is worth asking for shop spoiled machines as they will frequently 'do a deal' although as the 180 is so popular they hadn't got any but they still threw in the sweeteners.  I really didn't want to spend this much but comments and research seem to indicate that going cheap just leads to poor welds and disappointed users, mainly associated with wire feeds. Once delivered I'm off to hobbyweld. If its anything like the first time I got a jet wash - every loose piece of metal will get welded!

Once I've got over this the next step will be compressor, etc.

Thanks again for all of the advice and help

[Clive]

My new Oxford got delivered yesterday....

But the R tech is very much a brilliant machine, it was a tricky decision to choose between that and the Oxford form me. The R tech has the nice advantage of being much lighter and infinitely variable power. Oxford is old fashioned transformer, and has a wire feed motor about the same size as my spit wiper motor (clarke is not much bigger than a cotton reel) 

Besides, if you decide welding is not for you, these machines have very good resale values. But once you have used a good mig, there is no going back...

[daverclasper]

18 hours ago, Adrian said:

Well...Clive had better be right (no pressure)

I think it was me who sang the high praise of the R Tec (even though as I said, I haven't had a chance to use mine yet!).

For me, having used a cheap gasless, with not very good results, I thought I would bite the bullet (I managed good results on decent machines at night school).

I do like the idea of finer tuning the voltage on the R tech for me.

Hope you enjoy it.

Dave