Mongolian Rally----Shell rebuild of destiny

[gamble63]

haha cheers, 90% welder 10% skill

[Anton]

My mate has a welder that "senses" metal thickness etc and adjusts to suit, so it actually becomes kinda difficult to get a weld wrong. We tried deliberately blowing holes through stuff and had a tough time - on pieces that I found hard *not* blowing holes through with my dodgy £35 mig...

And knowing what that thing can do, I would still say by looking at your welds that it's a lot more than 10% skill.

Weld porn it is!

[ScottieJ]

haha cheers, 90% welder 10% skill

I'm sure it's not. What MIG are you using?

[gamble63]

haha thanks guys im using this one and its the best i could afford but would now not change it for anything:

http://welduk.com/product/sip-05168-mig ... elder-t194

remember commenting on a thread on hear about buying a welder, you defiantly get what you pay for. The months of saving paid off

[ScottieJ]

Inverter Migs are lovely bits of kit, been having a play with one of my mates inverter Migs and I'm almost tempted to sell the old snap on and buy one.

I'm intrigued Anton, what is this MIG your mate has?

[Anton]

It's Hilux Scottie's new MIG, Scottie. I can't remember the name of it, but I'm sure I can find out. It cost him about a grand, but he had to spend his tax break on equipment, and he didn't need anything else - so since the tax man was going to take the money anyway, he bought himself a tax write-off MIG.

It's a little bit better than mine, but it wasn't the best one available - just the best one within budget.

[gamble63]

one footwell pretty much done just got to finish the other side and then carry on the virtual lift to the front, easy said than done when the shell is on its arse sitting tall lol

[Anton]

I'm intrigued Anton, what is this MIG your mate has?

Thermal Arc Fabricator 181i



I've looked for info online about this MIG - it's actually not just a MIG, it's a welding inverter that can be used for MIG, TIG and Arc welding. Couldn't find any info on the "auto metal thickness sensing" feature that Scottie told me about, I believe it is supposed to tweak your settings based on the electrical impulses coming back through the negative.
But I can't find any official info on the web about that, so it might have been a mistake - although like I said earlier, I found it hard to get a weld wrong with this MIG, even when I was trying to cock up deliberately.

Scottie isn't actually the biggest fan of the thing because it doesn't make a very bright arc, and therefore he has trouble seeing the work. He was going to get a prescription welding mask, can't tell you if he did in the end.

So I think I might have been wrong about the "auto sensing" thing, but that doesn't change the fact that it makes utterly gorgeous welds when compared to the crappy (but much loved) welder I have under the stairs.

[gamble63]

update, stripped and painted the whole chassie which is now ready for parts to be put back on:



also been rebuilding both the front and rear axles, the rear has been converted to disc breaks now and will upload some pics later, spent 6 hours stripping down the front axle and rebuilding it with all new parts. was interesting.

When i restored the fuel tank i decided i wanted to try and beef up the tank guard as any bump would bend it inwards, added some side panels to help this and have also added some cross braces.



next step is still to finish the welding on the shell and then to put it back on the chassie.

still looking for some caliper banjo bolts and a jimny interior to go in it.

cheers

[gamble63]

finally started the chassie rebuild today:



all axels re built and everything all shiny. Needed to build it back up and also bring the body down level so i could finish the welding on the inside:









getting there slowly