Progress Thread HeHateMe gets bent

If that is all 16 ga. steel that you got to bend like that, good on you. I certainly couldn’t have done it any better. You owe it to yourself to buy and get decent at using a mig, and dump that el cheap o flux core box. I’d even go so far as to say even better would be you invest in a tig. I’ve been looking at the rust, and am still scratching my head as to why you wanted to go down this path, but it’s your path to go down, not mine.
I woulda cut and welded every piece as a strip instead of bending it. ( That’s just because bending heavy ga. sheet metal is a pain in the dick). One strip at a time, with inside corners that butt together welded on the inside/backside, then grind the outside edge of the welded seam to form a smooth radius. That way, you can make a more compound curve that follows the actual curve of the windshield.
But that’s me. Your bends look close enough to work. You just got to get a better welder.( And quit relying on your brother) The flux core welder is almost too hot for 16 ga. steel, and impossible for stuff thinner than that

Mig welding is monkey see, monkey do. There is very little technique required after getting the heat and wire speed right. If you can make a zig-zag motion with your index finger, or a cursive small e, then you can master the technique required to mig.

Im considering upgrading my TIG. I have an el cheap o chinee unit that works great, but want a Lotos combo TIG/ plasma cutter. The el cheap o tig would be el cheap o for you.

Learning to TIG on the other hand is not so easy. especially when trying to weld rusty steel. I don’t think that stuff is galvanized but if it is, it’s even worse. Ive had to force myself to use the tig more, especially doing light ga. stuff like exhaust tubing. It just looks better, there’s no weld spatter, and the weld bead, as bad as I am at it is way smaller than my best mig pass.

Ya ya ya....the flux core is at the end of my rope...It was an MFer to get that 16 gauge piece welded in....the parts where it welded to the cars rusty 16 gauge which is probably more like 18 gauge now. I blew a hole in it...then ALMOST had it closed up and bam, like a plasma cutter blew it open again. I finally got it boogered back together and ground reasonably smooth. Not doing that again.

My brother dropped off his Titanium (mid level HF brand) that has .035 flux-core in it. He couldn't find the .025-.030 MIG roller it came with or the 110v adapter cord. But he did find the regulator. So tomorrow, I call out NexAir rep that handles our business account and see what he can do me for a 75-25 bottle. I'm going to have to call HF and order the feed roller. I can make the adapter cord. It should weld 18-20 gauge just find on 110.

@CarMichael Angelo So how el cheapo is the cheap o tig? Dumb question, which I don't feel like looking for right now....can the TIG be used with 75-25 on mild steel?
 
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Ya ya ya....the flux core is at the end of my rope...It was an MFer to get that 16 gauge piece welded in....the parts where it welded to the cars rusty 16 gauge which is probably more like 18 gauge now. I blew a hole in it...then ALMOST had it closed up and bam, like a plasma cutter blew it open again. I finally got it boogered back together and ground reasonably smooth. Not doing that again.

My brother dropped off his Titanium (mid level HF brand) that has .035 flux-core in it. He couldn't find the .025-.030 MIG roller it came with or the 110v adapter cord. But he did find the regulator. So tomorrow, I call out NexAir rep that handles our business account and see what he can do me for a 75-25 bottle. I'm going to have to call HF and order the feed roller. I can make the adapter cord. It should weld 18-20 gauge just find on 110.

@CarMichael Angelo So how el cheapo is the cheap o tig? Dumb question, which I don't feel like looking for right now....can the TIG be used with 75-25 on mild steel?
no.
straight argon.
 
I had to order the .025 roller from HF. My brother moved back in July and everything is in a 12x24 shed in Heber Springs, but he couldn't find anything other than the regulator and gas hose. I need to go pick up some .025 wire and call my Nexair rep and see what he can do me for a bottle of gas.
 
Jeez 12 gauge is a bitch to cut with a jig saw. I cut out the filler panels. I'll Weld them from the fender well and grind them down on the engine side. I need to trim a bit more and start to shape them into place.

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Back at today with my brother's help. Which is fair since last week I went to his place in Heber Springs and helped him replace the bath tub in the 2nd bathroom with a shower. Being that it's a mobile home that meant cutting a hole in the wall to the bedroom next door to get it in.
Today we welded in the full in pieces. Lots of grinding was involved to get them to fit.
They are welded on the inside and out.

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I guess in a few minutes, I will go pull the steering column. My hands are tingling from running the grinder non-stop over an hour. I decided to take a break and let me hands get the feeling back...and pick out all the wire splinters. I need to see if I have another wire wheel for the grinder. I think this one is used up. It's spitting wire non-stop now. OUCH. I just picked 2 wires out of my mustache.

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I might have forgotten to put on the dust make and breathed in all this :poo:. I'll be blowing out red, pink, and black boogers for days. Sorry @Davedacarpainter no green ones...I had the 'vid back in Dec. 2019.

At last, I removed everything from the firewall. I need to get some more wire wheels but it's almost ready to wipe down and put some epoxy primer on to prevent the rust. Next project when my brother comes over is going to be a wood tip over jig. My next project will be fixing the cowl and the rust areas around the windshield. I'm picking up a 75/25 bottle this week and setting up with some .025 wire. Once I get the cowl and rust repair around the windshield done, time to remove and replace the floor. They make some floors that will replace most of it from the back seat to the front, but I am sure I have to fab up the toe boards....they make them, but I need to see how high up they go. Also, when I get some more wire wheels, I will clean the fender well areas too. It's old undercoat/caked dirt...so gonna be a mess.

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A much better tool for stripping off the old paint etc is these. https://www.harborfreight.com/3-inc...r5TZT7H-S0v1qho0AjkTQ66og2LrYwDkaAunLEALw_wcB
This is a cheap version the 3M ones rock.

I got something similar from Amazon that goes on a mini-grinder. It's purple, but it's actually what you call a LITTLE aggressive and will remove metal in a hurry....like a semi aggressive flap wheel. I ordered another wire wheel and a cup wire wheel so I can get into some of the recesses
 
I got something similar from Amazon that goes on a mini-grinder. It's purple, but it's actually what you call a LITTLE aggressive and will remove metal in a hurry....like a semi aggressive flap wheel. I ordered another wire wheel and a cup wire wheel so I can get into some of the recesses
Get yourself a torch. If you’ll heat the paint before you put the wire wheel to it, the paint can literally be brushed off by hand using a standard wire brush. Not enough heat to hurt the metal, but once the paint discolors, then put the brush/wire wheel to it.
Use a drill,...and that sht will jump off metal before you even touch it.

Just use the formula I use when stripping thicker metal.

Heat+wire wheel = - paint.
 
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Get yourself a torch. If you’ll heat the paint before you put the wire wheel to it, the paint can literally be brushed off by hand using a standard wire brush. Not enough heat to hurt the metal, but once the paint discolors, then put the brush/wire wheel to it.
Use a drill,...and that sht will jump of metal before you even touch it.

Just use the formula I use when stripping thicker metal.

Heat+wire wheel = - paint.

I'll give that a shot when I finish up the engine bay. I think that would work well on the tar that is in the fender aprons...of course the tar has an inch thick layer of mud baked/caked/mind melded on.

Stop that. That's a good way to get lead poisoning or lung cancer.

I ate the lead paint chips.
 
I'll give that a shot when I finish up the engine bay. I think that would work well on the tar that is in the fender aprons...of course the tar has an inch thick layer of mud baked/caked/mind melded on.



I ate the lead paint chips.
It will work on the tar only if you scrape it first. Trust me when I tell you it’s the sht for paint. You wouldn’t be wearing out all of those stupid wire wheels if you woulda done this from the get go.
 
It will work on the tar only if you scrape it first. Trust me when I tell you it’s the sht for paint. You wouldn’t be wearing out all of those stupid wire wheels if you woulda done this from the get go.
With metals in the paint, a mask better than N-95 seems like a good requirement for paint vapor.
I have not used a heat gun and scraper on old house siding and lead paint or asbestos siding lately. Anyone know the specs required for that now?
 
I actually bought a respirator to do this, then it was out of reach so I out the paper mask on. Then had to pee, when I came back out forgot to put even the paper mask on. My nephew has a97 454 suburban. My brother calls me yesterday says its got coolant pouring out can I take a look.
So I look and it looks like the leak is the back of the waterpump.
Tonite he comes over and as I'm getting ready to start taking the fan off, I happened to notice the heater hose nipple in the intake looks funny. I grab the heater hose and it comes right off. The aluminum nipple is corroded off. It's a quick connect type thing and can't get it Tonite. So we go to autozone and get a waterpump nipple, some heater hose, and clamps. Put it together and I am putting tools up and he says the intake isn't leaking, but the water pump still is

So it's actually got a leaking water pump. He left it here Tonite so I'll change it tomorrow. Good old big block chevy water pump change. Hope the bolts come out in one piece.
 
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Spent all day Sat running errands with the wife. She did convince me to buy a new stand for the tv. I've been opposed, but of all places there was one at Hobby Lobby that was 1) On sale, 2) matched out decor pretty well.

Of course no good deed goes unpunished, so I had to cut the back of it out a bit to get the receiver to recess enough so the barn doors on the sides will open and close, but that was quick. But there's no recess under the back so it won't get close to the wall because of the outlet strip. Which I will need to get a longer one so I can put the strip on the 2nd shelf behind the center channel speaker. Jeez....but I digress.

I had to clean house and prep for the Big Game yesterday, so I didn't do anything on the car, except straighten out the garage. I paid off my PP credit bill and my credit card bill. And promptly spent more on both.

I ordered Strange (brand not description) Fox adjustable struts. Will have to sell the used SN95 struts I have.

I ordered a complete stoptech front brake setup from RockAuto...rotors, calipers, caliper brackets, caliper bracket bolts, and pads.

I got on Fastenal and ordered all grade 8 hardware for the K member mount and control arms.

I got some 2K epoxy primer.

I ordered a set of SAE combo wrenches....I've have tons of metric wrenches but only 1 SAE set for some reason.

And I ordered a set of 15x4 Jegs Spike wheels for the front.

As you can see most of this purchase is to do an almost for real mockup of the front end once it's stripped and in primer.

I need to pickup some 1.5" .120 wall DOM tubing to make the braces to the shock towers that will go in from the outside. And I need to pickup my bottle of 75/25 this week. Unless something comes up, I plan on a lot of garage time this weekend.
 
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Spent all day Sat running errands with the wife. She did convince me to buy a new stand for the tv. I've been opposed, but of all places there was one at Hobby Lobby that was 1) On sale, 2) matched out decor pretty well.

Of course no good deed goes unpunished, so I had to cut the back of it out a bit to get the receiver to recess enough so the barn doors on the sides will open and close, but that was quick. But there's no recess under the back so it won't get close to the wall because of the outlet strip. Which I will need to get a longer one so I can put the strip on the 2nd shelf behind the center channel speaker. Jeez....but I digress.

I had to clean house and prep for the Big Game yesterday, so I didn't do anything on the car, except straighten out the garage. I paid off my PP credit bill and my credit card bill. And promptly spent more on both.

I ordered Strange (brand not description) Fox adjustable struts. Will have to sell the used SN95 struts I have.

I ordered a complete stoptech front brake setup from RockAuto...rotors, calipers, caliper brackets, caliper bracket bolts, and pads.

I got on Fastenal and ordered all grade 8 hardware for the K member mount and control arms.

I got some 2K epoxy primer.

I ordered a set of SAE combo wrenches....I've have tons of metric wrenches but only 1 SAE set for some reason.

And I ordered a set of 15x4 Jegs Spike wheels for the front.

As you can see most of this purchase is to do an almost for real mockup of the front end once it's stripped and in primer.

I need to pickup some 1.5" .120 wall DOM tubing to make the braces to the shock towers that will go in from the outside.
And I need to pickup my bottle of 75/25 this week. Unless something comes up, I plan on a lot of garage time this weekend.
Find the Metal Supermarket in your city....it’s your best best for DOM..or
Online metals