Mustang5l5's Progress Thread - Archived Progress thread '08-'20.

[Mustang5L5]

Picked up the sway bar reinforcement plates from MM.

I figured...now that I have a welder I might as well weld some stuff in

 

[Mustang5L5]

Bottle showed up, along with other welding odds and ends. So yeah...$800 or so later im ready to weld.

Did some quick trial welds. Welding with gas is much easier than flux. Better looking welds, less splatter, and I didn’t burn through!

Now to find time to start welding in the panels. I really want to get the pass side done by this weekend

 

[BlakeusMaximus]

Bottle showed up, along with other welding odds and ends. So yeah...$800 or so later im ready to weld.

Did some quick trial welds. Welding with gas is much easier than flux. Better looking welds, less splatter, and I didn’t burn through!

Now to find time to start welding in the panels. I really want to get the pass side done by this weekend

Damn fine welder there! Matches your car Mike!

 

[Mustang5L5]

Ugh. I hate black too. Everything I own is black.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Started working on the strut tower. Got it all welded in and partially ground flush. My grinding wheel wore out and I discovered it was the last one I had.

Threw some primer on, waiting on my new wheels. Clean it up a bit and blend it in, then weld in the rail patch.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

See,...you are proof that anybody that wants to can MiG. Despite that you have ground the welds down, the welds themselves look good.

 

[95BlueStallion]

I’ve personally come a long way since I did mine. I tacked mine, moving around and around to avoid warping. It turned out meh, but enough to trust it. Yours looks better. Wish I would have used gas, but glad to see yours coming out nice.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Wish I would have used gas, but glad to see yours coming out nice.

The gas made a huge difference. Was actually surprised how much so. Flux core seemed “hot” no matter how low I turned the power down. With gas, it seemed to penetrate easier with less burn through. Once I got the power and speed figured it, it was easy. Was worth the bottle purchase for sure.

I made notes on my settings. One setting to weld, and then a slightly weaker setting to fill the couple burned through spots where my panel gap was a little big.

I plan to grind the welds on the side just for appearance, but likely leave them in place underneath. Glad I started on the easy side.

Hate to say it, but it was actually fun. I’m probably going to end up filling holes now and definitely will be welding in my subframes myself.

 

[Gravydog]

Looking good, and familiar.

 

[Rdub6]

The gas made a huge difference. Was actually surprised how much so. Flux core seemed “hot” no matter how low I turned the power down. With gas, it seemed to penetrate easier with less burn through. Once I got the power and speed figured it, it was easy. Was worth the bottle purchase for sure.

I made notes on my settings. One setting to weld, and then a slightly weaker setting to fill the couple burned through spots where my panel gap was a little big.

I plan to grind the welds on the side just for appearance, but likely leave them in place underneath. Glad I started on the easy side.

Hate to say it, but it was actually fun. I’m probably going to end up filling holes now and definitely will be welding in my subframes myself.

Looking good. I found it to be somewhat “addicting” myself. Definitely a fun skill to be learning!!

 

[bird_dog0347]

The gas made a huge difference. Was actually surprised how much so. Flux core seemed “hot” no matter how low I turned the power down. With gas, it seemed to penetrate easier with less burn through. Once I got the power and speed figured it, it was easy. Was worth the bottle purchase for sure.

I made notes on my settings. One setting to weld, and then a slightly weaker setting to fill the couple burned through spots where my panel gap was a little big.

I plan to grind the welds on the side just for appearance, but likely leave them in place underneath. Glad I started on the easy side.

Hate to say it, but it was actually fun. I’m probably going to end up filling holes now and definitely will be welding in my subframes myself.

The subframes were the only thing I really hated doing, but mainly just because of the angles and getting the welds right while laying on my back with the car not quite high enough.

 

[Mustang5L5]

The subframes were the only thing I really hated doing, but mainly just because of the angles and getting the welds right while laying on my back with the car not quite high enough.

Oh, i'm sure it won't be fun. I dispise anything to do while laying on my back under a car.

Still, I was all set to drop the car off at a local shop to have them done. Now, given my investment in the welder, I should actually use the thing. My confidence is going up the more I use it. I spend my evenings watching YouTube vids on MIG welding sheet metal and various techniques and angles. It's been a good skill to learn.

I would have loved to have kept going and finish the rail, but i need to grind the welds down a bit where the frame rail peices is going to patch into place for clearance. I may even add some small stitch welds to the backside of the tower and start working on filling holes.

I'm not going to fill EVERY hole. I'll just focus ont he ones on the towers where you will see the swiss-cheese look plain as day and some of the holes on the aprons. I plan on running a stock Airbox and battery in stock location otherwise i would have gone with the scott rod aprons. I'm not building a show car, just a clean driver. But...while i'm here

 

[Mustang5L5]

Also picked up some of this stuff to spray inside when done

 

[kendawg73]

Also picked up some of this stuff to spray inside when done

I've used a bunch of can's of that on mine... still have some in the basement, I still need to treat the rocker area's, will do that in a couple weeks, I'm going to spray it into any area I can't get too... I've done several coats on my frame rails already.

I do plan on recoating my frame rails every couple of years just for peace of mind... anything to stop rust....

Make sure you put masking tape over the bottom holes in your frame rail, and on the sides... so it don't spray/drip out...

 

[Rdub6]

Oh, i'm sure it won't be fun. I dispise anything to do while laying on my back under a car.

Still, I was all set to drop the car off at a local shop to have them done. Now, given my investment in the welder, I should actually use the thing. My confidence is going up the more I use it. I spend my evenings watching YouTube vids on MIG welding sheet metal and various techniques and angles. It's been a good skill to learn.

I would have loved to have kept going and finish the rail, but i need to grind the welds down a bit where the frame rail peices is going to patch into place for clearance. I may even add some small stitch welds to the backside of the tower and start working on filling holes.

I'm not going to fill EVERY hole. I'll just focus ont he ones on the towers where you will see the swiss-cheese look plain as day and some of the holes on the aprons. I plan on running a stock Airbox and battery in stock location otherwise i would have gone with the scott rod aprons. I'm not building a show car, just a clean driver. But...while i'm here

In hindsight, my inside welds came out better than my outside welds on my subframes. I went in headfirst, on my back, and had a good angle. For the outside ones I stayed completely out from under the car and struggled to get a good angle. If I were to do it again for the outsides, I’d go in feet first under the car, on my back, and have that same angle I had for the inside welds..... if that at all makes sense! Basically working right above your chest with the MIG gun.

 

[darkfader]

Awesome developments Mike. I had to go back more than 40 pages to get caught up, and your work looks amazing. When I saw your frame rails, I thought you bought another project fox. As clean as the black LX is, I'd have never guessed. Loving the engine work you did. I'm super motivated now to get mine finished up after seeing yours. Great work so far!

 

[Mustang5L5]

As clean as the black LX is, I'd have never guessed.

I didn't think it was that bad. The towers were solid and the outside of the rails looked perfect. Other than a small bubble on the pass side, I almost wasn't going to touch it. When I started cutting, it was all rotted out on the inside. Tons of sand in there, so I assume it held moisture.

I probably could have done a smaller patch and called it a day, but i wanted to cut it all out and do it right. Now that i'm nearly done with the pass side and my confidence is up, i have plans to take care of the driver's side in a different method.

Grinder wheels came in, so i need to finish cleaning up the weld and see if i can get it all welded up this weekend.

 

[2Blue2]

Sure like your new welder
Its very nice

The patching is looking great, good clean work
This is such good use of shelter in place time
Right on

 

[Noobz347]

Here's a geewiz question:

Where do you all generally buy your sheet metal from? It seems like Home Depot is probably not the way to go if doing these kinds of things regularly.

 

[Rdub6]

Here's a geewiz question:

Where do you all generally buy your sheet metal from? It seems like Home Depot is probably not the way to go if doing these kinds of things regularly.

A Tractor Supply opened near me recently. They had a pretty good selection of smaller pieces when they opened. Havnt been there in a while though.