The Blue Bomber (1 Viewer)

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Disc brake swap complete. :) Just got to bleed them now. That was my first major modification. Anyway, here's some welding practice pics on 16 gauge sheet with a hobart 125 running flux core. I'd appreciate any tips, pointers, critiques, whatever that you all would like to share. I'm still new to this welding but I'm slowly learning. My problem seems to be with penetration. I try to slow down my travel speed, but I can't slow it down too much, otherwise I'll start warping the metal. I get a really nice bacon frying sound when I weld, just like every video I've watched. What do you all think? First pic is topside and second pic is backside showing penetration. From left to right, it's first second and third runs. I stopped every inch or so and let it cool down for about ten seconds, then cleaned and started again.
013mk4.jpg
014fb1.jpg
 
IMO you are running too long of a bead, and not letting it cool long enough. what you can do is do a spot weld in one spot then move to a totally different spot and do a spot weld. then go to another spot and so on. millions and millions of spot welds. it takes a long time but it keeps the heat down and you will get good penitiration. Also slow your wire speed down. that will help too.
 
Thanks for the quick reply. One more question, how long do you do a spot weld for? I can't get good penetration on the spot welds either. Usually, I stay in the same spot for 1-2 seconds before stopping, but it never seems to go through. Is that a voltage problem or wire feed? I had read about that spot weld technique. I think I needs lots more practice before I can get it right. Oh and I know gas would help immensely, but that's not an option right now. It gets entirely too windy where I am.
 
as for a spot weld, if your not getting good penetration try trurning up the heat a little and the wire speed down. hold the gun at a 45° angle and let 'er rip. and hold it there untill you feel like it's through. Does the inside pannel of you welder have recomended wire speeds and heat settings for different gauges of steel? also you may wnat to try a thinner wire to weld with too.
 
Ya, it's got recommended settings on the inside. I played with them to see what bad welding sounds like first and I've found that I get the best sounding weld with the wire speed a little lower than recommended. Thanks for the advice, I'm going to keep at it. Hopefully, I can get at least one patch in this weekend.
 
Oh ya, and I had an idea for the tailgate that may or may not come into fruition. I've been thinking about whether or not it's possible to convert the tailgate into a back hatch type thing. Like the 4runners and later FJ's have. I'm sure it would take some good metalworking skills, but it seems like a nice way to keep the stock look while doing something totally different with the rear. Of course this would be a long time planning, but it's definitely something to think about IMO. Anybody ever heard of anything like that?
 
laguna80 said:
Oh ya, and I had an idea for the tailgate that may or may not come into fruition. I've been thinking about whether or not it's possible to convert the tailgate into a back hatch type thing. Like the 4runners and later FJ's have. I'm sure it would take some good metalworking skills, but it seems like a nice way to keep the stock look while doing something totally different with the rear. Of course this would be a long time planning, but it's definitely something to think about IMO. Anybody ever heard of anything like that?
Click to expand...

That would take some serious engineering. but sounds pretty cool. go for it!!!
 
Nice project.

Looks a lot like the type of work I'll be up against when I finally have a shop to work in.You've got quite a bit more rust than I do but that just means you'll be that much better at welding when you're done.:D
Post pics as you go to give us pic hungry fools happy and to let us see how things are going together--disc brake swap etc.
Good job saving a pig.
 
Well, nothing new today. The welding did not go well at all. I got to learn how to cut shapes that can get a perfect fit first. The gaps were way to large in the piece that I cut out. And I need to find a way to clean the metal better. I can't get the right angles to clean the ridges and such. I also gotta get the tie rod ends back on to the pitman arms.
 
Well, I've had more practice with the welder, so today I cut a rusty section out of my fender and put in a replacement patch. It went ok. The patch didn't quite fit right because of the curves in the fender and the way that I had cut the piece. You can see the triangle shaped gap in the top left. Well I used the piece I had cut out of the fender and cut a small piece out with some snips and then clamped that in. I'll have more pics tomorrow once I weld it in. The parts that are built up are where I burned through and tried to re-weld with my aluminum clamp as a heat sink. I'm not sure how well this works but it's seems to be good. I'll check tomorrow once I grind it down flat. Here's the almost finished patch.
img0096li0.jpg
 
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Today, I finished the patch and ground the welds down on this part. Next, I cut out a large portion of the upper and lower fender seam. Then I welded in a small section as a test piece. It came out all right. I think I need to be using 18 gauge on the fenders and doors. I burn through too easily when combining the 16 gauge patches and 18 gauge fenders. Here's pics.
img0101es6.jpg
 
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hey Laguna80,

Your welds are getting better. You might consider turning up
the power and reducing the wire speed, to reduce the "booger
effect" More penetration and less grinding:)

Be sure to do short bursts with the juice turned up (like 1/4" burn,
skip an inch, then burn another 1/4" etc. then come back the the
original 1/4" weld and do another 1/4" weld etc.)

You should almost be burning a hole through your metal.

George
 
Thanks for the tips. I'll be doing more tomorrow. I have no problem with the new metal, but if the gap is too big, i.e. greater than the width of the wire (.03) then I burn holes in the old cruiser metal like there is no tomorrow. That's the main reason for the large booger welds. I end up having to do little tacks around to build up and cover the burned through hole.
 
laguna80 said:
I'll post up some paint progress pics later on today. For now, I realized that my truck isn't as bad as I thought after seeing this one on the road.
img1626wd8.jpg
Click to expand...

Jebus...I see Scouts in New England that are in much better shape. Look at all that torn up fiberglass and duct tape. :eek:
 
Fender should be done by sometime this week. Things went a lot smoother today. I got some 20 gauge and made sure that it fit perfectly. I blew through in a couple places because I held the torch there a little too long, but over all my bests welds. I just tacked it up little by little. Here it is unground:
007wf8.jpg
and ground down a bit:
009en2.jpg
 
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