Another car for MetroMPG: convertible 1991 Pontiac Firefly (Geo Metro)

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Christ

all those "spots" of rust are going to turn out to be much larger than they appear now

Yea, and thus spake the oracle!

Attacked the floor yesterday afternoon with a cutoff disk.

Rear floor, driver's side...



Front wheel arch/floor transition, before & after...

Before:



After:



Showing extent of previous floor patch:



The holes are big.

The good news is the hard points (where they used thicker gauge metal - suspension mount points etc) are still good, so I have a base to repair from.

[Christ]

So it's salvageable, right?

I'd hate to see your next information thread be titled "How to find some other jerk to buy you out of a project" LOL.

[MetroMPG]

Oh yeah, we have the technology. We can rebuild it!

If the hard points in the unibody had been compromised, I'd call it quits though.

The saving grace: it looks like the outside of the rockers were professionally replaced (welded in, proper gauge steel) at some point. If they hadn't been, the car would have folded up long ago because the three internal rocker members (it's got 5 total "layers" in the convertible) have since retired from any contribution to structural integrity! (On the driver's side anyway. The passenger side is in better shape.)

[MetroMPG]

Also, Tim has been giving me welding tips.

Along the lines of:

Darin: "Tim, my welding looks like crap."

Tim: gives tip

Darin: runs out to garage to try new tip. Runs back, excitedly telling Tim about how tip helped.

Tim: gives more tips

etc.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Also, Tim has been giving me welding tips.

Along the lines of:

That's great! LOL.

Can't wait to see some progress shots!

[Piwoslaw]

So are those tips secret?

[MetroMPG]

No, they're probably common sense... to most people.

1) I was welding with too much wire out of the tip, ie. > 1 inch. 1/4 inch is best (less resistance).

2) Since I'm not using inert gas with my wire feed welder, I can take the gas shroud off the tip, making it easier to get in to the corners

What else....

3) Read your amperage/heat chart for your welder. IE. what current setting do you need for the metal thickness you're using. (I was basically guessing, and going higher when in doubt.)

I am still having problems with the wire speed. Maybe it's a problem with the welder, but on the low amperage setting, the slowest wire feed speed seems too fast - the wire is bumping into my work. I'll have to look into that.

I got about 5 puzzle pieces welded in place.

But the project is on hiatus for a couple of weeks, because I'm on hiatus - going to the east coast for a summer holiday. Friends, sailing, seafood, biking!

[MetroMPG]

Drove ~1700 km to get to the east coast.

Saw zero hatchback/sedan body style Suzukiclones.

But saw 2 convertibles (on the freeway) with the tops down.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Drove ~1700 km to get to the east coast.

Saw zero hatchback/sedan body style Suzukiclones.

But saw 2 convertibles (on the freeway) with the tops down.

If you're having trouble with wire speed, move to the next thinner wire.

Or, learn to treat your wire feed like a stick... let it out a little further, and puddle up the excess, then let out more... pulse and glide your welder? LOL.

If your welder will support a thinner wire than you're using, though, and the low speed still seems too fast, you can either try the next thinner wire, or 1 step higher in amps. The chart isn't all-knowing, but it's always close.

[MetroMPG]

Good idea. I'm pretty sure I'm using a 35 thou wire, and 29 thousandths is available.