Build thread for the 72 GMC, finally. Thanks John!

Nohome, Buttweld I did. I wanted to experiment with the flange tool because I have to use it on the roof. I need a better flanging tool, that's for sure. Still looking for ideas on that. I cut off the crappy flange today and test fit it.

Note fancy new weld-free fastening devices:

OK, now I tack welded it into place. Ever since getting hit by a race car, my argon regulators gages have been destroyed. Does anyone know where I can find cheap replacements? My first few welds looked like crap until I learned my gas wasn't on high enough.

Note crappy weld on left, acceptable weld on right.

$35, free shipping, I have one and it works great.

http://www.usaweld.com/Welding-Flowmeter-p/12020-f.htm

dinger wrote: $35, free shipping, I have one and it works great. http://www.usaweld.com/Welding-Flowmeter-p/12020-f.htm

Nice. I am going to buy that.

Now, does anyone have a good experience with a flanging tool? I WILL NEED one for the roof. NEED.

tuna55 wrote: Now, does anyone have a good experience with a flanging tool? I WILL NEED one for the roof. NEED.

What tool do you have now? I use a pneumatic one like this

Never given me anything to complain about.

JThw8 wrote:

tuna55 wrote: Now, does anyone have a good experience with a flanging tool? I WILL NEED one for the roof. NEED.

What tool do you have now? I use a pneumatic one like this Never given me anything to complain about.

Like this.

Does a pneumatic one make it easier to make the lines straight? Does it make a deep enough flange?

tuna55 wrote:

JThw8 wrote:

tuna55 wrote: Now, does anyone have a good experience with a flanging tool? I WILL NEED one for the roof. NEED.

What tool do you have now? I use a pneumatic one like this Never given me anything to complain about.

Like this. Does a pneumatic one make it easier to make the lines straight? Does it make a deep enough flange?

Not sure it makes it any easier to get it straight, I usually scribe the line or mark it with a grease pencil first so I can follow it better. It does make the flange quick and effortless so I guess there's less chance of distorting it while fighting the manual tool. The flange is definitely deep enough.

JThw8 wrote:

tuna55 wrote:

JThw8 wrote:

tuna55 wrote: Now, does anyone have a good experience with a flanging tool? I WILL NEED one for the roof. NEED.

What tool do you have now? I use a pneumatic one like this Never given me anything to complain about.

Like this. Does a pneumatic one make it easier to make the lines straight? Does it make a deep enough flange?

Not sure it makes it any easier to get it straight, I usually scribe the line or mark it with a grease pencil first so I can follow it better. It does make the flange quick and effortless so I guess there's less chance of distorting it while fighting the manual tool. The flange is definitely deep enough.

So then what:

countersunk rivets?

adhesive?

spot weld and then seam sealer?

whern i do the quarters on the elky, im planning an air powered flanging tool, with 3m panel bond. fill the small gap with filler, block, repeat.

and the hand flangers are much worse than a donky punch in the daddy bags. scrap metal them. but hharbor freight air powered.

michael

Dusterbd13 wrote: and the hand flangers are much worse than a donky punch in the daddy bags.

Yes, this.

As for progress last night...

this is the only build thread i really follow because of things like. "No work on truck because i had to hot glue the tedious parts on bows....you are doing a great job if you have things like that popup all the time

keep it up

RING RING

"Tuna, we need you tonight at job2"

"Tonight?"

"yes, we'll pay the fee"

"But my adoring fans won't be able to read any progress on my build thread"

"we pay you $200 per hour plus a $150 emergency fee"

"yeah, good call, see you at 9:30"

cutter67 wrote: this is the only build thread i really follow because of things like. "No work on truck because i had to hot glue the tedious parts on bows....you are doing a great job if you have things like that popup all the time keep it up

Thanks! It's awesome to read stuff like that. I want to post every day. It makes me feel bad if I don't get something done to post.

Warning, though. I need to swap the master in the PT Cruiser and the anode and dip tube in the water heater, so we may be off topic for a bit.

In reply to tuna55:

I just spent 2.5 hours putting my sick 14-month old down. I haven't touched my car in 3 weeks. I understand when you've got family matters and/or a bitchin' paying job to go do. We'll still be here.

Today I learned something very useful.

I am not able to solder copper pipes.

Not at all.

I did it wrong every possible way.

The water heater quick job turned out to be less so because there was no union in my water line. After a few (5) hours, I finally just bought the push-to-connect crap and it's done and working fine.

What an update, eh?

In reply to tuna55:

We had the electronic monitoring on our water heater taken off today. All I had to say was "Yeah, sure" and "don't change the settings, I already have it at 115 degrees".

I looked at the Javelin today while it was being hailed on.

tuna55 wrote: Nohome, Buttweld I did. I wanted to experiment with the flange tool because I have to use it on the roof. I need a better flanging tool, that's for sure. Still looking for ideas on that. I cut off the crappy flange today and test fit it. Note fancy new weld-free fastening devices: OK, now I tack welded it into place. Ever since getting hit by a race car, my argon regulators gages have been destroyed. Does anyone know where I can find cheap replacements? My first few welds looked like crap until I learned my gas wasn't on high enough. Note crappy weld on left, acceptable weld on right.

Doing better than the first time I ever tried this!

The trick to this welding gig is to stop looking at the arc, and see past to the actual little bead of molten metal. Hard to describe how you do this: Its kinda like those magic pictures that jump out of the pattern of random dots if you stare at them cross eyed long enough, but once you see past the arc to the actual bead, you will never not do it.

Once you get to where you can focus on the bead, you can start welding a seam from one of your tacks. With sheetmetal, you don't want to weld down the crack between the two panels. You want to weld on the leading edge of that first tack. What you are going to do is pour some molten metal over the front half of what is basically a dome (your last tack). This molten metal is going to fall down the side of the tack and via capillary action, be sucked into the crack between the two sheets. You want to pour a volume of metal that is the same as the tack, so you need to do portion control with the trigger. You do a weld seam by doing a lot of these, the trigger finger gets a good workout.

Now, you also want to control the heat portion, so between trigger pulls, wait until the red just goes away, then hit it again.

Since your finger is controlling the portion of molten metal and your timing is controlling the heat, the welder settings are not so critical. I like to weld hot to the point where the leading edge of my seam is opening up a bit, called "keyhole" welding. This way the backside of the bead looks pretty much the same as the front. Allows you to grind the weld smoth for an invisible joint.

tuna55 wrote: I am not able to solder copper pipes.

Me too when using the blue gas bottles. Step up to the yellow maap gas - now you're cooking.

Clean well and flux. Any water dripping down inside when soldering IS a challenge. Those shark bite fittings work well.

If you MUST solder a fitting on to a pipe using the blue propane bottles, and there was water in the pipe already, try this:

Find a dowel that fits inside the pipe. Grab a slice or two of bread. Jam the bread into the pipe and push it in with the dowel past where you are soldering.

Go to it and ignore the smell of toast burning. When you turn the water back on, the bread will flush right out.

I accidentally bought one of the acetylene rigs that plubers use and have never looked back.

tuna55 wrote: The water heater quick job turned out to be less so because there was no union in my water line. After a few (5) hours, I finally just bought the push-to-connect crap and it's done and working fine.

Shark-Bite fittings FTW

The shark bite deals worked great, still no leaks after 24 hours.

Unfortunately, due to that, the in laws, and kid #2s adenoid surgery tomorrow (which entailed staying up late and stuffing him with food) there is no update AGAIN, for the longest stretch yet in this build. ICK! I will get back to it tomorrow, I wouldn't want to lose my fans.

CPVC

I got the "lens error" on my camera, so I am without pictures for a while until I can figure it out. I have tried the "paper between the lens layers" and the "bang it on something" and the "grab it when it extends" methods to no avail.

So, last time I had a picture that looked like this:

The seam of the patch panel and the GM panel was unfortunate. Because I initially tried to flange this near the body line, the eventual cut line (when I cut off the E36 M3ty Eastwood-flanged part) was right on the body line. As such, some of the body contour was lost near the right side piece of tape. Today I lined up the right hand side with the tail panel and welded it correctly and applied pressure to the inside of the panel with a long prybar whilst banging on the GM panel above the cut line with a dolly to try to induce the right body contour back into the bedside. If anyone knows a better method for doing this, please let me know.

Kid #2 had his tubes & adnoidectomy today, which meant sleeping last night from 2:45-5:30 and no naps for any kids. Kid #1 already had an ear infection, and today kid #3 threw up and had diarrhea for the babysitter while we were at the hospital. As such, I only spent about 1/2 hour in the garage. Kid #4 just woke up screaming, kid #2 is still not fully asleep, and kid #3 was rumored to be restless thus far as well. It's going to be a fun night.

So... if anyone knows a more appropriate procedure, that would be fantastic.

I also started making the patch panel for the gas tank hole.

On the bright side of the news, Father-in-law was visiting and brought some 600 rounds of .40 S&W, 100 of them being Federal Hydra-Shok hollow points. Nice. He also went through the detail strip of my "new" pistol with me, so some of the not-in-the-garage time was well spent elsewhere.

tuna55 wrote: On the bright side of the news, Father-in-law was visiting and brought some 600 rounds of .40 S&W, 100 of them being Federal Hydra-Shok hollow points. Nice. He also went through the detail strip of my "new" pistol with me, so some of the not-in-the-garage time was well spent elsewhere.

Well, I certainly know where to go if Armageddon ever hits here.

In reply to tuna55:

Jealous of 600 rounds of .40 and a new pistol.

Not jealous of 4 sick kiddos to take care of.

Sine_Qua_Non wrote:

tuna55 wrote: On the bright side of the news, Father-in-law was visiting and brought some 600 rounds of .40 S&W, 100 of them being Federal Hydra-Shok hollow points. Nice. He also went through the detail strip of my "new" pistol with me, so some of the not-in-the-garage time was well spent elsewhere.

Well, I certainly know where to go if Armageddon ever hits here.

600 rounds will only get you through about the first week of armageddon. Though hopefully the burn rate would decrease exponentially over time.