Well, I just bought 2 spools from our local welding supply store. HOPE its good quality. But, you make a good point. I'll store it inside, not in the garage.
If you got the wire from a welding supply shop its most likely pretty good stuff.They dont like customers bringing back stuff and complaining about quality.
Apron Repair Finished the rust repair on the area under the battery. First pic is "before". Cut the rusty metal out with a cut off wheel on an angle grinder. Then cut a pattern from a piece of poster board. (Pic 2) Laid the pattern in place and marked it where relief cuts were necessary to make the bends. Used the pattern to cut a piece of 22 gauge mild steel. Made the bends, put it in place (pursuasion required), welded, ground, and applied Eastwood's Brushable Seam Sealer (covers up my welds. ). Pic 3 is "after". Now paint, bolt in my new battery tray, install a battery and not much of the repair will be visible.
More Progress I've finished the repair of the floor of the cowl vent plenum and preped the cover to go on. Also started welding it on but hit a snag in that I drilled too deeply when removing one spot weld and, while tapping the panel down, the drilled out slug fell out leaving a hole thru to the cabin. Have to figure out how to plug the hole tomorrow. I did something I didn't see in any of the threads on cowl repair. Maybe the others didn't damage the panel am much as I did. I reinforced the underside of the cowl cover at the points where the apron attaching brace welds to the cover. I had holes in the cover and the sheet metal in the cover is really thin. Hope its clear in the pictures. Pictures 1-3 are looking at the top of the cover. You can see the patches on the under side thru the holes. Pic 4 shows the bottom side where the patches are welded on. I now have something to weld to when I put the brace between the cowl and the apron. Seemed important to make this area strong. I suppose those welds help keep the front end out of the cabin in a crash. Jim
All done with this job. :bananaman Welding is going OK. Actually kind of pleased with the plug welds where I filled the holes left by the the spot weld drill. Maybe I'll do some yard work before I go at the rear quarters.
Im in the process of doing the same thing. Except I plan on taking the entire car down to metal, and every bolt is coming off. May not look like much but I have only had the car 5 days.
That certainly looks familiar! Looks like you cut out about the same area. Good luck with it and keep the pictures coming.
