Rough Welding Costs

I'm hoping thats it, yeh i would like it to last a while as hopefully a appreciating classic

I plan to keep the car for a while and will be a track car. Minus the arches I'm not too bothered about what it looks
Like as all the places are hidden. I do however want it to last and be strong!

Had a quote of £450 so far. No idea on how much this
Sort of stuff costs so good to try and gauge the quality they may do

I looked through the hole and inners seem fine, from what i could see that is. It had welding work and a full respray a couple of years ago

Buy a welder, it's the cheapest way. And you learn a skill. If you into older cars welding will come up time and time again

I do my own welding and did a similar repair on Monday as the wheel tub and end of the sill were failing.

Sill - easy to make
arch - ok to make
bottom of the wheel tub (to close the end of the sill) was a total pain as it curves in different planes, and getting access to weld it was difficult even with the car up on a ramp.
If it was an easier panel I'd say get a welder and try yourself - but it's not a job I'd want to try with little experience.

Maybe ask on www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/ if anyone local can help?

Can I ask why?

Slitting blade on an angle grinder - make it bigger than you need to because edges next to rusty holes are always thin and quickly get thinner in preparation

Cut it out in one piece and you have a template to draw round and follow in terms of curve so the repair patch fits nicely and is easy to buzz back in.

Copied from another thread - couldn't be "ar5ed" to link to it and I hadn't bookmarked it as it was one of those what did you get up to at the weekend threads

A mate he bought a Ford Capri 2.8i a while back and it's quite a nice one but like all old cars not without the odd issue.



This winter he's been sorting out the electrics (dash and carpets and seats out) and incidental to ridding the car of a host of electrical niggles he found a crack in the floor by the seat mounts so I offered to fix it.

The crack was describe as a stress fracture and it all looked sound - simple flap up and and mig it back together.

So I gathered tools (portable welder - portamig, consumables, flap discs and angle grinder and just in case some slitting discs - well you never know do you.........

Quick inspection - Well it was a crack for sure and maybe I could have just buzzed it up but it was a bit swollen. The floor has a plate spot welded under the floor so we drilled out the spot welds so we were just dealing with a single skin thickness.



Yeah not so nice - all a little frilly

So cut it out - now it was a big hole but nice solid edge to work to and all the cracks weren't a problem



Use what was removed as a template and then fettle a plate to fit in and buzz it up



It's a floor covered with carpets and so rather than grind it back flush I just took the tops of the weld (so not an invisible repair but perfectly acceptable)



Now with a solid rust free floor we could puddle weld the strengthening plate back in and then blow a bit of paint over



Underneath with a quick squirt of primer to keep surface rust at bay



Now while I was here with tools it would have been rude not to do a quick inspection of the other seat mounts.

Not cracked but I can't say I like it



Might as well drop the strengthening plate - ah that's better



Chop chop



Clean the edges up top and underneath



Make up a piece to fill the hole and drill the holes for the plate and fettle to fit



Buzz it in



Underneath looked good too



Clamp the plate in position and puddle weld it back in



Temp paint job



Postscript

I'm by no means a good welder but practice makes perfect and there is a great deal of satisfaction gained in knowing you've done the work yourself to a decent std

I have a friend who is an MOT tester and occasionally has to carry out MOT std welding - he hates doing it but says customers will not pay for a proper job - all they want is the minimum to pass the test - patches on patches he calls it!!!

What happened? You get a disc shatter on you? Kicked and hit you? Someone chase you with one when you were a kid? Have weird dreams about being in angle grinding school stark naked but can't go home to put clothes on? Was one mean to you once..? lol!

Best way is to just get stuck in with them chap! You'll soon forget why you were scared of them while you are making it your b*tch!

Not a good welder? That looks superb! I'll give the benefit of the doubt to your "poor" skills on the basis that welding on top of something IME makes the job far far tidier.

You are right about the latter. The thing is welding is not cheap even for a patch job. For a well finished job the costs go higher as it is not something that takes 5 minutes and it is not like the supplies will replenish themselves or the gear.

Regarding welding the three biggest improvements I made to my welding were the following:

-Using Argon Gas ; way less splatter was made
-Getting a new and proper large reel or welding wire with a good cable sleeve for the welder ; it used to always jam.
-Getting an auto dimming welding mask.

With all three I managed to weld up an MG Midget I had with two similar floor sections to that Capri in just over half a day. Was it satisfying at the end? You bet!



What happened? Did it involve not using a guard?

I will be honest, and admit I do look like a curse word when I weld. Thick jacket with a hoody on for my head, with safety glasses, as well as gloves on the grinder along with earplugs. It may be fiddly and a wimpish way to grind and cut but I do value my health as well.