Looking for an Armored car?

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jim mccoin

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Ok, just a personal question question before we start, do you wear reading glasses.

I wear reading glasses and use a 1.5 magnifier in my welding hood. For me its a must have to do the tiny parts.

Jim
 
Z

Zathros

Are you tigging these small parts? Any information you give, in any way you wish will be more than I had before. So I would be happy with whatever you post. :)
 

jim mccoin

New Member
A majority of the welding I do is with .035 wire at about 35 amps. It is critical that you have a "tight metal to metal fit", then no filler wire is needed. Over the years I have collected dozens of clamps, small C clamps, spring loaded clamps and medical clamps. I even use paper masking tape when needed.

My suggestion is to turn the amperage down to lower than you think you will need and strike an arc on some thin sheetmetal and see what kind of puddle you get, then increase the amperage till you're happy with the puddle, remember you cant add wire till you have a molten puddle.

If you are going to use weld wire to simulate wire on a motor, use scotchbrite to remove the copper wash, its easier to do it before weldin than after.

Please feel free to ask any question that comes to mind. In my world there are no stupid questions.

Jim
 

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Zathros

Well, I started working on my MG Midget this weekend. I got the whole nose off. Going to have to cut off a lot of metal, but under the front end it is all just flat sheets and straight bends, so it should be easy. (The MG is full size,not a model). :)
 

jim mccoin

New Member
Hey, some day we'll drink a few beers and swap car stories. My problem is being 6'4" has kept me out of the cars I like.

In high school a friends father was selling his MG TC, I loved that car, with the top down all I could do was shoehorn my self into the passenger side. There was no way I could drive it.:cry:

The same thing in '74 with a friends 1965 AC Cobra, I thought I could move some sheetmetal around so I could move the seat back, but no, there was a large frame tube there:eek:

Have fun

Jim
 
Z

Zathros

I have been thinking of getting a smaller steering wheel, if you know what I mean! :)
 

jim mccoin

New Member
Hey, how is the real car project going? Last Friday the PC board in my welder died, as it turns out to replace it would coast almost as much as I paid for the welder.

I ordered a new one and just got it this morning, its quite an up-grade, any for a week I had no welder. I normaly weld every day and I was walking around like a junky looking for a fix.

I did cut up some metal for the RR AC and took some photos of it. The Brough Alpine and the Harley with Sidecar were shipped off to a gallery and the Morgan Trike was sent to a Morgan collector. I didn't think it would bother me to get rid of them but it did and it bothered my wife to see the Brough leave.

Talk to you later.

Jim
 

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Zathros

I wish I had seen some pic of the welder, I was an electronic technician for years, sometimes those things are quite fixable. That being said, you do seem to get a lot for your money these days for welders What kind did you get?

As far as my M.G., I tore out the Heater box/Battery support assembly and it turns out that there was no rust under that sub-assembly. I ground out the spot welds, and I am going to fabricate a new one, but use a modern Heater core/fan unit, as the old heater left much to be desired. I do not ever plan to sell this car, and in a car of this pedigree, this kind of change is not be an issue. It will be done that if someone wanted to suffer the tribulations of the old assembly, they could bolt it back in. A bigger problem is the capillary tube from the water temperature gauge broke, and the Ether instantly leaked out. This will be a "joy" to fix. It's funny how many forums say they can't be fixed, as it is impossible to put in the Ether in without it evaporating. I wonder how they think the unit was made in the first place, by magic? :)
 

jim mccoin

New Member
Just thinking out loud, do you have a spotweld drill. When I worked on real cars it was one of the handiest tools in the box, I worked on a lot of Alfa Romeos then and the battery tray rusting away was common, Jaguars also had the same problem.

You must know by now guy's like us have an unfair advantage over the average tinkerer.

The welder was a Miller Maxstar 150, it was all I needed to do my sculptures, the one I bought is one step up, the Maxstar 200. They are both 120 volt inverter machines, but the new one goes from 1 to 200 amps.

Jim
 
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Zathros

I do but to be honest, I find the die grinder, with a thing cutting wheel to be much quicker. Since there wasn't enough of the battery box left to warrant trying to save it, I just cut it out with a Sawz-all, the hit the spots with the die grinder and the strip left pops off. I screw driver helps if the end is hard to find.

I know people who spend a large amount of their income on the one car they owwn. I spend a little on 5 cars and motorhome my wife and I own. I don't keep all of these cars on the road, but usually three are (the motorhome always is ready to go). So, yeah, knowing and having the tools really helps. I have a tubing notcher which is excellent for making your own exhaust pipes. I think I am going to make a sheet metal bending brake this week. The cheap ones they sell are fine, but for less money, I can make a really nice heavy duty one. :)
 

jim mccoin

New Member
Rr ac

I finaly finished the RR AC impression, no more large, it's 25" long, complex projects for me. Unless there's money involved.

Jim
 

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Zathros

I think you could get a small fortune for this if you tried to sell it It's fantastic! :)
 
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