Thread: Rust.....we meet again....

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Hey guys! I started pulling underlayment from the cab of my 63' pick-up, I'm getting ready to start the interior restore. I found some rust and attached some images of it. My question is whether or not anyone here has any experience with the Harbor freight arc welder. I've heard the mig welders there are the suck and I believe it but I'm thinking it would be harder to build a crappy arc welder since they don't really have any moving parts. I'd like to cut it out and weld in some fresh steel asap so what do you guys think?



Roadtrip to the closest rat rod meet we can find Just kidding guys. I'll put the seats in before I take it to work on Monday.

The best "low-buck" mig is the Lincoln 110 mig-pack. Less than $500 out the door. Lots of folks don't like it because it doesn't have the amps to do heavier metal... but it's perfect for sheet metal and exhaust work (and I prefer it over my Hobart for thin tin).

I have a mig-pack and a Hobart 220 mig for frame work.

I agree, home depot and lowes sell them, also check ebay theres lots of good deals on them floating around, i would recommend against the cambel hausfeild boxes

If thats all the rust you need to fix,I'm jealous, and a job that small is hardly worth what you'll spend for even the cheapest mig. Don't have any buddies nearby? Check around,but if you do buy a mig,the little Lincoln is good,and you will always have it. Hope this helps you,Hank

Harbor freight is a good place for what it is, but most of what they sell is foreign made. why not look around and invest in an American made product. I know I may sound like a typical union worker talking, but think about it. Let's take care of our own men and women working hard to make this country and its families prosper. Ebay does have some good buys, and is worth a look into.

I just looked at your photos and my God, you need to be drinking an American brew my friend! With so many good beers made here, why drink one where you need to stick a lime wedge into it thats made in a place where you're not suppose to drink the water.

You gatta think global tbird,global ,its a big place and were not the only water sacks walking around
As far as the rust,click on the camera next to my name and look thru my pics of my 64-66 chevy truck,hopefully your rust is only on the surface.Mine looked like normal rust untill I tore the top layer out. under the outer rocker is where it all hides and works it corrosive magic.That small hole in your floor lines right up with the a-pillar and the body mount ,which is a nasty water trap spot.Good thing is rockers are cheap about 40 bucks a piece.

Holy cow thats a lot of rust shawn, i'll dive underneath today and take another look. I hope mine isn't that bad.

your right tbird, what am I thinking, but on the other hand-if they didn't have corona's what would they drink? Like you said, don't drink the water. As far as the welder goes I'm planning on buying a miller 135 or a hobart even though i'm leaning towards the miller. It runs about $500-$600 and I want a shiny new one because i'm planning on keeping it until I die, I was thinking a cheap arc welder might do the job until i have the cash though. I'll think about it some more then I guess. You know....my decision really wouldn't be that hard if Visa/mastercard didn't exsist...then i just wouldn't have the money if you know what I mean I think i'll check out the lincoln 110 too. Thanks guys!

I do like the cooler as a seat, kinda handy and refreshing in a way. I have heard of heated seats in cars, but a nice cooler seat......might be good for the roids! HEEEE HEEEE

I have a lincoln 130 and its a pretty good home deal.It was less than 500.I only poped the reset on the welder one time with it on high,but I exceeded the 30 percent duty cycle by about 90 percent .

Yeah, it's not nearly as bad as shawns underneath, thats good for me. So, how much should I cut out guys? Its rotten on both sides right above the crossmember that goes underneath the cab, should I just grind it back from above and then weld in some patches or should I cut and replace more? I can take more pictures if you guys want. Thanks. A cooler in the cab would be cool Maybe I can figure something out when I pick the seats I want later.

I would say get the panels first before you do any cutting.If the bottom of the weather striping lip is still on the floor by the bottom of the door ,you could just get the floor panels.Your rust holes are small enuff to just use pieces to patch,rather than buying an actuall patch panel.If the lip is gone on the floor for the door weatherstriping ,you will need new outer rockers.You can look thru my pics ,I have one pic with all the patch panels in the shot so you can see the approx size of them.I think the floor panels are about 27 bucks and the rockers were 40 buck a piece ,inner rockers were 10 bucks a piece and the cowel panels were like 10 buck a shot.LMC truck is a good source for parts and they have a free catalog.

I have a little lincoln weld pac and have done quite a bit of sheetmetal welding with it with nothing going wrong with it. Probably 15 years since I bought it now Something are just worth paying a little more for. I bought all the regulators to convert it to gas, but still have never went and bought the tanks and gas to do that yet. Using the nice big miller at work reminds me how much nicer gas is and how much cleaner weld. I would like to get a bigger welder, but for normal sheetmetal work the little lincoln around $300 does a good job. Really dying to buy myself some victor torches also. Ohh an iwata spray gun. So many tools I want, so little time and money. Santa, are you listening?. Some good brands of tools I have, milwaukee, viking, ect will last a lifetime if taken care of, even used regularily. The cheap tools just may not stand up to much continous use without breaking. Some guys that did some contract work for a place I use to work at bought all there grinders from harbor freight. They were getting new ones every week, as they burnt up quick doing production work. I do love going to harbor freight for stuff like cutoff disks at like 10 for a few bucks, and tools I will probably only be needing once or use very little. I think its a little tacky for floors and wouldn't be the way the factory did it, but think some people put them in with panel adhesive on a frame car. It should be okay if its not a big structural part of the car. But you don't have much worry about burning off corrosion protection somewhere. Manufacturers are using adhesives in more in more applications these days. But I still wouldn't go replaceing a structural part of a car with adhesive, such as floors in a unibody car. But the adhesive is $30 a tube and the guns to apply are a little pricey if you can't get a loaner. Here is a link I found in a search where they use panel adhesive.
http://www.theautoist.com/fusor.htm
P.S. Is it okay if I rate your photos as offensive? Rust is pretty offensive to look at and makes me think of work. Do see enough of it around here though.

I have the HF Mig 100 which is a flux wire welder. for the $120 I paid for it, it's great, the wire does stick sometimes but just release tension, back out wire a bit and put the tension back on and volia, fixed. people may say they suck, only because the torch is hot at all times, and with true MIG, gas flow is controlled with the feed trigger, you could start a weld with no gas and get a mess.

I have the Campfield Housend MIG welder, flux core. It does an excellent job on sheet metal, but it does splatter a LOT. If you really want a CLEAN weld, TIG is the way to go. But, a MIG with gas shield is certainly cleaner than a flux core. But the flux core is very economical, and it will weld up to 1/8" if you really burn it in hot.