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

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The facts are the facts, the $550 dollar Harbor Freight welder (120 or 240V) is leaps and bounds better than the $800 dollar entry level Millermatic 140 (120V). Throw in the fact that it failed after 7 years and less than one bottle of gas.
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7 years, & 1 bottle of gas that's some funny stuff. No worry I find the words Harbor freight and professional an oxymoron is all. Just my sense of humor, no flame meant .

Cheers,
None of this makes any sense. You need to start drinking if you want people to understand what you’re trying to say.

I have a Chinese welder. It’s went several bottles w/o any issue. Id bet that a lot of the entry level domestic welders are Chinese. The Eastwood welder is Chinee,, and I’d bet if you look Closely at the cheap Lincoln......China makes that too.
 
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None of this makes any sense. You need to start drinking if you want people to understand what you’re trying to say.

I have a Chinese welder. It’s went several bottles w/o any issue. Id bet that a lot of the entry level domestic welders are Chinese. The Eastwood welder is Chinee,, and I’d bet if you look Closely at the cheap Lincoln......China makes that too.


I think you are seeing 2 conversations there, one quote and a response.
 
Well I bought one. As to when it shows up? Who knows.

I need to track down a bottle now. Rather find one to lease. What’s an appropriate capacity for this job? 20cf too small? Or should I go 40cf
 
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Well I bought one. As to when it shows up? Who knows.

I need to track down a bottle now. Rather find one to lease. What’s an appropriate capacity for this job? 20lb too small? Or should I go 40lb?

I went with a 40. I ended up buying a full bottle, and now it’s about $45 for me to refill. The shop I got it at doesn’t even sell 20lb. He said something that small is not worth it.

I burned through one tank practicing. Somewhere toward the end of my floor pan project I had to refill again, and after my subframes, I still have plenty left in that bottle.
 
The facts are the facts, the $550 dollar Harbor Freight welder (120 or 240V) is leaps and bounds better than the $800 dollar entry level Millermatic 140 (120V). Throw in the fact that it failed after 7 years and less than one bottle of gas.
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7 years, & 1 bottle of gas that's some funny stuff. No worry I find the words Harbor freight and professional an oxymoron is all. Just my sense of humor, no flame meant .

Cheers,

I clearly see this I run a Miller 135 I bought it from my friend I can lay down a decent pass with it and have had no issues with it with for the 8 years I have owned it. I believe this unit was made in USA.

None of this makes any sense. You need to start drinking if you want people to understand what you’re trying to say.

I have a Chinese welder. It’s went several bottles w/o any issue. Id bet that a lot of the entry level domestic welders are Chinese. The Eastwood welder is Chinee,, and I’d bet if you look Closely at the cheap Lincoln......China makes that too.

Yes Mike your right it does not make any sense that a Chineese welder is out welding a Miller that failed after one bottle.

Well I bought one. As to when it shows up? Who knows.

I need to track down a bottle now. Rather find one to lease. What’s an appropriate capacity for this job? 20cf too small? Or should I go 40cf

What did you buy?
 
I clearly see this I run a Miller 135 I bought it from my friend I can lay down a decent pass with it and have had no issues with it with for the 8 years I have owned it. I believe this unit was made in USA.



Yes Mike your right it does not make any sense that a Chineese welder is out welding a Miller that failed after one bottle.



What did you buy?
I read that the other way, sorry. I wasn’t thinking clearly at that time.:cautious:
 
Well I bought one. As to when it shows up? Who knows.

I need to track down a bottle now. Rather find one to lease. What’s an appropriate capacity for this job? 20cf too small? Or should I go 40cf
I think you should go even bigger than that, unless you want to be making too many trips to your gas supplier at the most inconvenient time. I had a 40, I moved that to the TIG machine, and upgraded to an 80 For the MIG.
 
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What did you buy?

I got the Eastwood MIG 135.

3 yr warranty and coronavirus $25 discount at Eastwood making it a $300 welded (shipped to tax-free NH at a buddies place) plus shipping. Uses Tweco gun parts.

I wanted to buy a better welder (more power, 220v, etc), but decided to just stick with what i think would get the job done.

I may even fill some of the swiss cheese holes now
 
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I got a Miller 135 off craigslist and it works great, even came with a bottle... problem was the only places to refill the bottle were like 45-60 minutes from my house so I just used it as a trade in at the home depot down the road and treat it like a gas grill propane cylinder.
 
I got the Eastwood MIG 135.

3 yr warranty and coronavirus $25 discount at Eastwood making it a $300 welded (shipped to tax-free NH at a buddies place) plus shipping.

I wanted to buy a better welder, but decided to go with what I’m sure will get the job done. I’ll likely never touch it again after this

You’ll get a good laugh at the “helmet” they send you. Other than that, it’s all been good!
 
I got a Miller 135 off craigslist and it works great, even came with a bottle... problem was the only places to refill the bottle were like 45-60 minutes from my house so I just used it as a trade in at the home depot down the road and treat it like a gas grill propane cylinder.

Just checked. No local Home Depot’s offer has exchange. “Not enough demand in your area”

I’ll have to try and find some local welding shops. Airgas is an option I guess too, but they seem like they want more commercial accounts vs a hobbyist
 
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when I got my Lincoln weldpak 135HD well over 10years ago, I went to a local welding/gas place and bought a bottle... I think it's 60 or a 40 not even sure (goes up to all most my waist), the pace I got it don't even bother re-filling them.. they just exchange the tank... well the next time I went back years later the place was gone... so I found another place, and they just did the same thing... just swapped my tank for another one.
and yeah, none of the big box places have welding gas near me at all (home depot, lowes, tracktor supply) I was looking and found a little hole in the wall welding gas place.

and btw - that MM k-member looks like a really high quality part.
 
I will suggest an 80, and recommend out right purchase, gas price is less for refills. Have a 120 for the tig, it uses more gas. However it is a bit of a PIA to change bottles . Much more prefer the 80, on the mig machine.

As to blowing holes in sheet metal, used a smaller feed wire, .025, be sure the change the wire feed rollers and tip.

How ya going to fix that crack ?
 
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Just checked. No local Home Depot’s offer has exchange. “Not enough demand in your area”

I’ll have to try and find some local welding shops. Airgas is an option I guess too, but they seem like they want more commercial accounts vs a hobbyist
Air gas will exchange your bottle, but they are usually more expensive than the competitors. Expect around $35.00 for an 80cf 75/25 mix refill/exchange. Once you start looking, you’ll find numerous gas supply companies in your city.
 
How ya going to fix that crack ?

Open to suggestions from those with more experience.

I've stick-welded in the past to repair trailers and such. I also perform automated welding with Laser and TIG at work so i'm familiar with penetration and how speed and power affect penetration.

But this is my first time MIG welding, but i'd like to say i have above average fabrication skills and am a quick learner. I have scraps i'll be testing some techniques out prior to working on the car.

At this point, i'm just dissecting out the rust and using cardboard to fit and trim my patch panels back in. I'm taking my time as i want this to go back together as OEM as possible and look factory. One thing i'll note from searching online is that everyone takes a different approach to repairing these. Some have been very good (in my opinion) repairs, and some have been poor and don't really do much to reinforce structural integrity.
 
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One thing that did surprise me was that my pass side frame rail looked "fine" when I began. If i was looking to buy this car, I would have looked at it and thought it was in good shape and thought nothing of it. Only when I cut a small bubble out did I find the rot mixed in with wet sand. Fortunately not much made it past the side structure of the strut tower which localized the corrosion to that region only. I had power washed the bay about a month prior to cutting it out, and this sand was still moist!

Both sides were filled in with sand. In our region, sand is sometimes mixed in with salt that they lay down on the roads. The salt washes away, but the sand is still common to see until after a few major rain storms well into the summer. What i assume happened is the sand got kicked up by my front wheels as i drove and landed on the "shelf" where the k-member nuts are. This plate is open around the edges so the sand fell into the rail and accumulated. It got wet, held the moisture, and rusted out the internal structure. SO even though i avoided all the salt, looks like road sand is something i'll need to avoid as well. I think i will seal up this top plate with seam sealer when i am done to prevent this from happening.
 
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So I started cutting in the panels. I figure some would want to see how I do this.

First off, this is where I started. Doesn’t look too bad right? Except the insides were corroded.

32C08952-F889-4101-8A17-79225959E2DB.jpeg


When I stopped cutting, this is what I was left with. The bottom of the rail needs to come out too but I’m using the bolt holes as reference for now.

5BE0E566-E024-48CF-8DA5-65026081CD75.jpeg
 
Here’s the inner strut tower replacement panel. I cut a little high on the strut tower, so I’ll need to cut in a small panel later.

Still need to trim it is obviously
8169204D-9272-421A-9F19-E9DD6A50DC9F.jpeg


From the inside.
D6BB987E-977A-4686-B125-6C07960052A9.jpeg


Here’s the main rail places on top. Some minor final cutting needed.
287C648C-382C-4EE4-9631-EB311F2DC34C.jpeg
 
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Here’s how the inner supports will be configured. The scott rod kit didn’t come with the middle one, so I got some 1 1/8 tube and made my own. All this will get tack welded in place before I weld the strut panel in.

DC266E44-2355-422E-8765-FC052D44F248.jpeg


And then how the top plate will lay in. Last piece.

A6619B75-DFD1-44C4-9633-8989FF990E2C.jpeg


Seems easy. Welder shows up tomorrow along with the MIG spot weld nozzle. I’m actually looking forward to this.
 
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