How hard is welding body panels? I've done welding before, working with heavy guage steel, but never worked with anything as thin as car body metal.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Not too difficult, especially if you're dealing with removable panels. You'll inevitably blow holes, especially if you're trying to weld metal that has been thinned by rust. I use .025" solid steel MIG wire and it works pretty well.

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1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

What's a mig welder cost that would be okay for light, occasional use for body work?

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Harbor Freight or craigslist my man

I have the $200 Century welder from Home depot. The thing works great for body panels. Welding on the thinner sheetmetal I usually start on a heat setting of 1 and 2.5 on the speed; then check the penatration. If it doesnt look hot enough try at 2 and a little lower feed speed. Take your time and only weld approx .5 inches at a time. If you get to anxious and keep welding the panel will get too hot and warp and then you will be really mad and have to do some extra body work.

Craigslist is a good source. I'm not too fond of Harbor Freight though. Yes, they are a little cheaper, but my experience was it didnt last as long as I had hoped. I only got through 1 restoration with it. I've had my Century now for about 5 years and I dont even know how many spools of wire I have gone through. And, I dont know how many spools of wire my friends ran through it either.

I do have the auto dimming helmet from Harbor Freight. Now that I do recommend.

You've done some welding so I may be saying something you already know. Get some good gloves and make sure to cover your skin. The UV from welding will put a burn on you. Too much UV and down the road and you got a small case of cancer.

x2 on the auto-darkening helmet. I got a $300 Lincoln on craigslist.

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1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

Lincoln is a name I recognize. They're pretty good quality?

I've never done any arc welding, just gas welding.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Yes -lincoln-The harbor freight cheapos are J. U .N .K I need to get the aluminum spool gun for mine for custom 617 intake manifolds etc

I watchers the Rolls Rouce chassis assemblers welding chassis parts and body panels together last night on TV. That was impressive. They have to weld the left and right side pieces in perfect unison in order to not cause them to go out of alignment.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

With regards welding for car bodywork, MIG welding has now probably completely taken over from gas-welding.

Mig has distinct advantages over gas, it can cause less panel distortion if used carefully, better strength, as the heat of the weld is concentrated and doesnt spread out over larger areas softening some structural metal rails which in newer cars can be hardened steels.

A replacement panel can easily be tacked into place at every inch or so and allowed to cool so no/little distortion occurs.....

Buy the best MIG you can afford if you plan to do a fair bit of work, a 'El-Cheapo' welder can be a right pain! Issues such as overheating then cutting out and wire-feed jams are the usual issues with the cheapos!

Big MIG welders may however not go low enough in current-setting for thin body-panels like wheel-arches etc, which may need only 25A or so...

I have an 'Auto Star 190' which is a clone of a popular machine, also re-badged by 'Snap-On' --Its perhaps little big really for car bodywork but with a little care isnt too bad, does chassis on W123 on setting 2 and 4.5 wire-feed, using 0.6mm wire...

Choice of Shield-Gas is quite important, Use an Argon/CO2 mix, I use a Product called, Cougar 5, supplied by the British Co. 'Air-Products' which is bascically a mix of CO2, Argon and believe it or not, Oxygen at 5%, which gives it a better 'wetting' effect on the weld apparently--I dont know if this is available in the US though...

An auto darkening helmit I would say is an absolute must--Dont know what I would do without it, and they are not expensive anymore...

Ive just re-contructed the rear 17" of both the sills (Rocker-panels), and the curved section they attach to, around the rear subframe-mounts on my Wagon, My MOT Garage recommended I remove the whole sub-frame (Which I REALLY didnt want to do--So I didnt!)

--I cut away the outer sill from wheelarch and 17" forward, giving me plenty of room to repair the inner section, then I made replacement panels to replace the outer sill sections.--As a personal choice I removed the jacking-points complete.--In 15 years of W123 ownership, Ive never used or trusted 'em! IMO they are just another source of water and corrosion.....
I had to replace around 9" of the lower inner wheel-arch too--Which was fun!
--This area is rather prone to rust on the W123--Especially here in the UK!

I was amazed just how good condition the metal was, still having a painted surface and covered in body-wax, It was just the flat lowest sections that had rusted away.....

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http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...0TDnoplate.jpg

Alastair AKA H.C.II South Wales, U.K. based member

W123, 1985 300TD Wagon, 256K,
-Most recent M.B. purchase, Cost-a-plenty, Gulps BioDiesel extravagantly, and I love it like an old dog.

W114, 1975 280E Custard Yellow,
-Great above decks needs chassis welding--Really will do it this year....

Lincoln and Miller are good brands. For the do it yourselfer a 110 Volt mig welder is perfect. From my experience using a shielding gas really helps with ease of welding and quality of the weld. I would tack every 1/2 to 1 inch and then fill in no more than 3/4 inch at any time jumping around from one section to another so as not to concentrate too much heat in one area. If you can access the back of the weld then I would grind both sides almost flush and then hammer on dolly to stretch the weld. This removes the distortion caused by the heat which shrinks the metal around the weld. This area is called the HAZ or Heat Affected Zone. What happens is that the metal in the HAZ shrinks and then it pulls with it the surrounding metal of the panel causing distortion. By stretching the metal just at the weld area the surrounding metal distortion magically goes away!

That's great information, guys. Thanks a lot. Maybe I can find some junk bodies to practice on first. The part about skipping around during the weld certainly makes sense. I would not have thought of that and probably ruined the panel inthe process.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

I have always used aluminum pop rivets when replacing body metal.
I recess the rivet heads so a little grinding has the panel almost flat.
I space about every 3/4". Aluminum rivets won't pucker the metal around the rivet. I figured if rivets are good enough for a 747 they would be OK for my girls.

__________________
1984 300SD turbo 126
"My true love"

God made me an atheist and who am I to question His wisdom

Oh no, here we go...

Is this where I should ask which is the best motor oil?

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles