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

Bugger welds like that might be due to too low a power. Does it improve if you crank up the current? Or does it just blow through then?

Make sure your shielding gas pressure is around 6 to 8 psi- seems to work best for me.

You want the tip pretty close to the work- maybe about an inch away. Wire feed speed should be enough to keep a constant pool going, but not so much that it pushes the gun away. Make sure there's no fans or anything blowing on your workpiece.

I've had wire feed issues before. The little wheels that feed the wire do wear out and can be replaced. Also, check the inner metal cable that the wire feeds through and make sure it's not kinked, rusty, or otherwise going to provide resistance to the wire as it feeds. On mine, I've found it helps to make sure the welder is as far away from the work as possible so the gun cable is as straight as possible. Adjust the tension on the spool so it just barely doesn't free-wheel.

Not an expert welder, or even certified, just some things I've learned in my 15+ years of DIY welding with the same Lincoln MIG unit.

volvoclearinghouse wrote: Make sure your shielding gas pressure is around 6 to 8 psi- seems to work best for me.

I don't know what my pressure is, some guy ran my regulator over with a Lemons car once and I haven't replaced it yet.

This metal is thin, it blows through if I crank it up. The wire speed is set very high right now and it's still not pushing away, which makes me think it's slipping, which is naturally inconsistent.

I am close to the work. The feed line is smooth. I just don't trust the feed mechanism right now.

Is there any adjustment inside your box for the wire feed? Usually you can adjust the tension on the big wheel and the rollers, might help. Any jams or gunk buildup in the gun itself?

Javelin wrote: Is there any adjustment inside your box for the wire feed? Usually you can adjust the tension on the big wheel and the rollers, might help. Any jams or gunk buildup in the gun itself?

There isn't any gunk, and I got to the point where I am as high on the adjustment as I can be, and the spool isn't tight.

Holy crap it was cold today. I got some grits n' eggs and some tea and pondered the welder issues.

The spool was too tight. I had the tension cranked a bunch, not sure why. Reducing the tension to something normal made everything much happier. I have a bunch of work to do re-learning the welder, but it acts much more normal now, and at least is consistent.

So the tunes.

Now the work. A weird looking patch to do the vertical plane between the kick panel and the A pillar patch.

BAM. Now off to the A pillar patch.

OOPS

And now it's time to go in, can't do much without welding wire.

BOOOOO

At least I warmed up.

Enjoy your oatmeal, Javelin.

how about my evening cup of tea? thats when i typically catch up on a lot of stuff....

or on my smoke breaks at work....

good to see ya keeping at it. and it was 38 in my shop tonight. when the roads are passable again, im getting the needed parts for my kerosene heater.

I had grits today, too!

Running out of wire sucks.

Wow, nice!

Well I bought wire, but I got home late, so no garage.

Here is what I did today instead.

At first glance I thought that was a certificate you had signed up for a welding certification class. I am slightly disappointed. Ha.

how close is greer to greenville?

and im a firm believer in the second amendment, you a good man.

michael

I was in the garage Saturday until the propane gave out. And my welder bottle is nearly empty. For once, I don't have any gas.

Dusterbd13 wrote: how close is greer to greenville? and im a firm believer in the second amendment, you a good man. michael

Greer and Greenville are separated by 20-30 minutes depending on where in each you are talking about.

So neighbor Jimmy came over with his Exploder tonight. I had to replace his rotor, and his pads ate it and themselves to death, so he'll need to come back with some pads tomorrow. Then he couldn't get it started because some goomba tried to redo his battery terminals and messed everything up, so I had to nurse his terminals back to life. He'll be back tomorrow to fix that as well. And an oil change (he was out. Yup, you read that right. Out.)

So I got started late.

made a patch for the A pillar

Welded it a bit

ground the crap out of it

did a bunch of other grinding, and painted everything to do rust prevention. and...

and...

AND

tacked in the rocker. I'll test fit the door and fender tomorrow.

volvoclearinghouse said:

"Adjust the tension on the spool so it just barely doesn't free-wheel."

tuna55 said:

"The spool was too tight. I had the tension cranked a bunch, not sure why. Reducing the tension to something normal made everything much happier."

Occasionally I do know what I'm talking about. ;-)

volvoclearinghouse wrote: volvoclearinghouse said: "Adjust the tension on the spool so it just barely doesn't free-wheel." tuna55 said: "The spool was too tight. I had the tension cranked a bunch, not sure why. Reducing the tension to something normal made everything much happier." Occasionally I _do_ know what I'm talking about. ;-)

tuna55 wrote:

volvoclearinghouse wrote: Make sure your shielding gas pressure is around 6 to 8 psi- seems to work best for me.

I don't know what my pressure is, some guy ran my regulator over with a Lemons car once and I haven't replaced it yet.

Occasionally, you do run over tools with a car.

hehehehe

Hot damn, that's good progress for getting started late.

Nice!!! I hope that door fits.

So neighbor Jimmy came over with one pair of brake pads. He ruined the rotor already with the backing plates he had me put on there yesterday, so he spun it while I hit it with the flap wheel on the 4" grinder until it was "flat". He didn't bring any terminals, and had his oil changed somewhere today. I told him to go bed in the one side and to come back if it felt like crap. He didn't, so... success? ish?

Back to the truck.

Before test fitting the door, I cut this section and bent it to fit the contour of the A pillar.

And then I realized that the music was off. If anyone can identify the band of this CD without looking it up, I'll buy you dinner if we meet in person sometime.

And now to put the door on.

Did it fit?

Did it?

Well?

No.

It most certainly did not.

Somewhat reasonable at the back

but WAAAAAAY off at the front.

Ignore the thick filler at the leading edge of the door. I'll ask for help tackling that later.

So I wanted to find out if it was one of the rough edges that was holding the door at the wrong spot, or if it was just the rocker panel itself. I didn't have any paint I wanted to sand back off. I couldn't find any clay. Chalk wouldn't work. So I waxed the truck!

It's hitting there!

Some adjusting, fitting, playing, hitting, and retack the rocker. Now I get this:

So that;s easily within what I can adjust to given some shims, some patience, and a hammer and dolly, but I want to test fit the fender before final welding the rocker or the cab corner. First I needed to tackle the rot on the bottom of the cowl.

There.

Tomorrow a fender goes on this thing.

dude, i may not eat oatmeal in the mornings, but that was a good start to my day today.

i also use neversieze sometimes for stuff like that. or grease. but then again, i dont do bodywork.

and your project inspired me to get moving on customer stuff. got the caddy done last night thanks to you.

thanks for the motivation

It was 65+ degrees here last night, and I took the opportunity to knock out a bunch of niggling details that I've been letting stack up on the truck. Heater fan wouldn't work (fuse was burned out), a family of mice had moved into and died in my heater box, dash lights were dim (bulbs were burned out), temp gauge has been a little sketchy (looks like the sensor's bad), same deal with the gas gauge (crappy sender).

So now I've got a truck that has (almost) all of the dash lights its supposed to, heat and defrost that aren't speed-dependent, and a good idea what's wrong with my temp and fuel gauges. Not a bad day at all.

Awesome progress last night, tuna.

I'm staying home with the kiddo this morning, and even her oatmeal was better with that post! Nice fitment finagling tuna!!!

Well Done dude.

In reply to JohnInKansas:

Yeah, I've been knocking items off my '67 Volvo 122's list bit by bit. It now has functioning windshield squirters, heater, electric fan, rear window defroster, CHMSL...about the only thing left is the radio that once in a blue moon just decides to not work. shrug well, that, and all the rust...

It's all about the custom made panel #9. Way to go.