The last couple of cars I restored I had to do all the repair welding with an oxy/acetylyne torch. The setup allowed for perfectly acceptable welds except that on the heavy gauge metal, a lot of heat was required and more time is required to apply as well. After reading some of restoration threads on this BB, I was convinced that a MIG welder with an Argon/Co2 gas would be the best all around set-up to use. I picked up this used Lincoln SP135( it was repainted and tuned up) from a welding Rental outfit that at times sells some of their surplus machines. I also bought a self darkening Helmet as recommended by a few on this BB.
Not having used one of these before I practiced on numerous small pieces of clean sheet metal first so as to get a feel for the wire speed and voltage settings. The first repair I thought to tackle was that of the valence panel tabs which were badly rusted ....
as were some of the areas were the mounting screws are attached. I cut out the small areas with a dremmel tool using the small oxide cut-off wheels (it cut through this very thin material very easily...to my surprise)..
...I used short bursts of tack welds (letting each cool down in between) and welded on both sides of the repair pieces. If I had to do this with the oxy/acetylene I dare say that it would have been much harder for me to do...with the MIG, there was very little heat build-up on the part...
