MIG welder, comments welcome

[Pgh5spd]

I'm thinking of resurrecting my '88LX that I inherited from my father and drove ~13yrs. The reason I pulled it off the road was tinworm. The body's otherwise perfectly straight. I hadn't really thought of resurrecting it until now the thought of using it to learn MIG welding occurred to me :idea: . I've done plenty of acetylene welding, but haven't even watched anyone use a MIG.

Comments welcomed particularly on specs of a unit that would be powerful enough to repair the subframe where it rusts where it meets the floorpan, and anything else related to MIG welding in a home setting. Will I need to install a 220V outlet?

[NovaSS]

You want to get a unit that runs shielding gas, flux core wire makes a mess. 220 is nice but there are 110 units that will weld anything on a festiva. It doesn't take much to weld sheet metal, mater of fact it dialing it DOWN is the trick. You want a model with heat and feed speed dials, not switches, you can not fine tune those very easily.

You can also use a piece of copper as backing when welding thin gage metal, it supports the weld and help prevent burn threw and the weld does not stick ( unless you go over crazy with the heat)

The other thing is to weld short little burst, called stitch welding. If you try to run a long single bead the metal gets too hot and burns through, it also tends to warp the metal. You can take a wet rag and wet down the area after welding to help prevent warping. They also make a product that looks like wet news paper and goes on like a paste around the weld to help prevent warping.

The next thing is how rotted is the car, for every spot of rust you can see there is 3 more hiding. Sometimes on a really bad car its cheaper to find a new body.


P>S> BE CARE FULL OF FIRE ! I know one guy who burned down his car and garage because some welding sparks got into the insulation under the carpet, smoldered for hours until he went to sleep.

Welding can also screw up the computer on the car. Make sure the ground goes to the frame and does not take a short cut into the wiring harness.

MIG is the easiest form of welding, if you can run a caulk line with a caulking gun you can MIG, like anything it practice, when you have the heat and wire speed right it sounds like bacon sizzling on the stove.

[Pgh5spd]

Hey, good tips, thanx!! Particularly in re. dial settings vs. presets and the caution about grounding

I know tinworm spreads, but this one isn't really all that bad. The learning experience aspect combined with the sentimental attachment seem to make it worth pursuing.

John