Preparation for this summer..

[RAYJON]

On the quarters, I will have to look but I may have the sheet metal you need, will look tomorrow, I have a fj60 I got from Fallon Dan , that is getting cut up for parts,

Welding those in shouldn't be bad , the time consuming part will be drilling out the spot welds.
and fitting it all.

On the paint thing, paint it, 100$ a gallon stuff from summit isn't bad looks ok and if you mess it up its cheep to fix. The bedliner paint jobs always look weird to me... IMHO...

I say borrow welder for now, Lear to use it, figure out what you want and then watch pirate4x4 in the tools section, As you get better a nice quality welder makes a difference, I have seen some killer deals where people upgrade or no longer need one, just saw a miller like mine with a bottle for 900, mine was 1800$ new with the bottle.

Ohh the cheep welders work but if you get into doing more a nice welder is worth the $$$,

 

[gregnash]

Thanks Ray I think you have my number and I am off tomorrow so feel free to give me a call. I happened to be checking PnP's website and they just got a 60 in their inventory so I am off tomorrow to look and see if their psp is any good. If not then it is a short belt for now.

On a side note, some good news is I had an interview today for a higher grade position. Got the call a few hours later with a conditional offer so looks like I am going to be starting a new job soon and making some much needed extra money!!! :bounce1:

 

[gregnash]

Ok so headed out of town this weekend but would like to start playing the following weekend, if possible, with the welder. Since I don't have a cart or anything special, yet, should I just buy a think spool of flux core to start off with then when I get the chance to grab the new regulator move over to solid steel with the 75/25 mix. I am watching different MIG welding videos on youtube to get some better information.

With regards to the regulator, is this what I would be looking for? http://store.cyberweld.com/smflreh1.html

 

[RAYJON]

Flux core is ok, but for body stuff you will want gas and some .023 wire, anything else puts too much heat into the metal.

 

[spressomon]

Jody's Welding Tips and Tricks is another great resource for beginners and experienced alike.

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/

 

[gregnash]

Thanks guys, finally back from all the family craziness and starting to come out of the polenta coma!
Hoping that I can grab the welder soon to start playing with..
First MAJOR project ideas.... sliders or roof rack?! Of course these will be after I fix some of that rust, need to grab a rattle can of rustoleum and hit the spots with the flap disc to see what I got going on.

So new PSP is in and works like a charm, never been able to turn the wheels lock to lock without the truck moving, now she does it with little effort. Got the new rear panels built with new 6x9 Fosgates in them. New alternator and vr went on with the first (bad) psp with new belts so now I just need to start looking at leaks, do knuckle rebuild and then I can paint once the rust is taken care of.

With regards to the paint job, I would love to paint it but really I don't have the experience or the equipment or the space to paint the vehicle. Part of the reason that I will go with the Monstaliner is that I can roll it on, it sets pretty quickly (soft set is within a couple days full set is within a week to 10 days) and the coating will be rugged so the dogs jumping out and scratching the tailgate will not be an issue (damn energetic german shorthair) plus I won't have to worry about stuff like Nevada Pinstriping and if I do take a ding it will be pretty unapparent. On top of that I will have the rust abatement. She will never be a show cruiser or live in a garage so the paint job is pretty unimportant. The only thing I haven't settled on is whether I want to do a two tone job like the 62s or if I want to just get the tintable Monstaliner base and then get the OE 8B4 color pigment and mix that in and stay stock color.

 

[gregnash]

Ok so finally getting around to this stuff. My wife's uncle is letting me "borrow" his welder. His words were "I will call you if I need it. As you can see by the layer of dust on it I have needed it oh so much."

So now I have this sitting in my garage

Should make for an interesting few weeks. And when I hit the one fender, Dan and Shawn were looking at it a couple meetings ago with me, it was just as bad as I thought. So going to have to get with you Ray in a couple weeks. With my mom passing suddenly a couple weeks ago and everything we have been doing almost weekly trips to Ca.

So next dumb question, where is a good place to get scrap metal to practice with?