Welding advice please...

I was down at the Mini 50 event last weekend and came home with loads of enthusiasm for getting Freda back on the road after way too long.
I don't have the spare pennies at the moment to give the shell to a professional for them to sort out (front panel, front wings, inner and outer a panels, doors, bodged sills, etc etc...), so thought it'd be a good idea to have a crack at the welding myself. Having not done anything like this before, can anybody recommend any books or guides on welding for the total novice?

Also, as an aside, does anybody know whether it's possible to galvanise a stripped body shell? I appreciate that I'd need to put bolts into subframe mount captive nut holes and the like, to stop them clogging up, but it seemed to be an easy way to keep the tin worm at bay for years to come. I used to work for a company that sent steel reinforcing bar off to be galvanised and thought it worked out at something like £500 per tonne, so could be a good investment for the future...

Many thanks

Ben

Hi Ben

Have a look at the Haynes Mini Restoration Manual (H440) as this looks at both mechanical and bodywork restoration.
Re galvanising, I know of a Fiat 500 being totally galvanised but not a Mini. I don't see any reason for not going through this process other than a lot of hard work in flating down the Zinc in preparation for painting. Items such as Sub-Frames would be ideal but I don't know if the process may cause distortion.

Andrew

Many people recommend learning to weld on a local college course. I learned gas and arc welding as an apprentice, but the first time I had ever used MIG was when I started my first restoration Austin A40. I was patient, took advice from newsgroups and forums (and there are a number for MIG welding), and started with places that would never be seen, like floor panels. I went the hard route, butt-welding these patches even though lap welding would have been fine, but the practice was essential for later when I had to put patches into panels.

The Austin was interrupted by my Elf, but both cars won prizes (Elf was Jan 2004 Practical Classics Readers Cars runner up, A40 was 2nd best MkII at the A40 club show in 2006). You can see the work on the Elf here:

If you don't already have a welder, I would recommend that you get one with a Eurotorch fitting - my SIP 130 didn't have one, and when the swan-neck became damaged, a new one was only slightly less than a Eurotorch conversion (around £100 in itself) - the Eurotorch is far better to weld with, as well as having a 4 metre feed pipe, so the welder can stay put while I reach all down one side of the car. Cheap manufacturer's fittings have short feeds which are less convenient to work with.

I'd say go for it; you'll learn valuable new skills, and the car means so much more when you have put so much of yourself into its restoration. I sold my A40 because it wasn't "me", and I had too many cars already (even so it was a wrench to let it go). I will never sell my Elf!

Just find some scrap metal to pratice on untill you think you are good enuff to welded on the car
Might take awhyll for you to get the nack at it but i will be worth it in the end

The key is to make sure both sufance and clean e.g No paint and rust and you have an good earth or it will splutter and look like bird s**t.

Good luck and have fun post some photo if you can

have a look at frosts website

http://www.frost.co.uk/

they have loads of books and vids to help you along the way, just make sure you get the MIG stuff, not TIG. The other thing is to ask at local club level for help and advice . Ditto the haynes manual plus the one for restoring minis as well

With regard to galv, I would imagine that the body panels will twist due to the heat involved, as it does affect smaller panels in this way (I have had a load of land rover stuff done and a few of the lighter bits have buckled. The other thing is that the whole shell will have to be chemically cleaned/dipped to remove all traces of paint other wise the zinc will not stick. BUT, I was having a chat a while ago with a colleague who has my cleaning done for me and the company he uses is trying to develop a chemical galvanizing process that would not involve heat - hmm interesting, even if you just dipped the bottom six inches in this would save a lot of later corrosion. Cost wise to chemically clean a full shell you are looking at about £800 - hot dip galv would be about £250.

Welder wise - if you are only intent on doing a bit, gasless might be a better bet other wise you will go through the little bottles very fast(about 1 per 1/2 to 1 hrs of welding), or invest in the big bottle rental scheme

hope this helps a bit

Gordon

catmint wrote:Welder wise - if you are only intent on doing a bit, gasless might be a better bet other wise you will go through the little bottles very fast(about 1 per 1/2 to 1 hrs of welding), or invest in the big bottle rental scheme

Personally I use a pub CO2 bottle; £11 for a refill that lasts me over a year (and I weld a lot). Not quite as nice to use as Argoshield but a damn sight cheaper!

asahartz wrote:

catmint wrote:Welder wise - if you are only intent on doing a bit, gasless might be a better bet other wise you will go through the little bottles very fast(about 1 per 1/2 to 1 hrs of welding), or invest in the big bottle rental scheme

Personally I use a pub CO2 bottle; £11 for a refill that lasts me over a year (and I weld a lot). Not quite as nice to use as Argoshield but a damn sight cheaper!

I'm with you. My local Paint supplier Jawel offers a pub size CO2 gas bottle for about £11.00 and yes it doesn't quite have the same result as teh Argon/CO2 mix but it works well for me and is much cheaper than those disposable bottles at about £8.00 each.

Jawel paints are ace

They got my Almond green matched up really good

Thanks very much guys. Appreciate your guidance.

Think I'll do as you suggest and try it all out on some scrap metal first to get the hang of it so as to save wrecking a poor old motor!

I'll posts some pictures of progress as it happens.

Ben