Bling

Quick question about additional welding to a car body. Restoring mk1 escort at the moment, and to be fair the factory welds are pretty shite. Any reason why i'd be pulled up come WOF time if i've added spot welds here and there to panels to give them more strength? Likewise I see gusset panels available for the car, anything preventing me from adding some DIY ones or is this a no no? Some areas just don't seem all that strong so it would be handy to be able to just add in small sections as I progress. Purely for examples sake: Example Car isn't going to be doing anything than normal driving, so may not be required, but more so asking out of interest if I come across a section I want to strengthen. Yay and nah on that sort of thing? Cheers

Bazda sells that gold shiz on TS

Car is immac, bonnet looks out of place. Haven't seen one that mint before, nice score!

Can never be too careful aye. Bring on the 9th / new garage

I just used a few cans of supercheap degreaser and heaps of rags. Takes a while, but at least you can throw the mess away and not leave it spread out.

Good effort One thing though Ned, the photos show where the garage is/was on google maps, might want to hide that shiz

Cheapest pricing is ALWAYS by requesting a price from their site. Which I gather you have done. Just pointing out for others as even with enthusiastic bargaining in store, online still wins.

Second hand something will be cheaper. But when it starts to leak and you're again looking for a radiator you may regret not doing the recore. Years ago I got a "leak free" second hand one that ended up having more leaks than the one I was replacing. Got refund, then recore and never looked back. Will be doing the same for the escort when I get to that stage.

Can't argue with that, I too had them for the sound. Without a tune to suit that's the only benefit though so switched back to k&n panel filter. You know what... I haven't actually but certainly will do, thanks for the advice Thread really needs pics of said car / engine.

I'd answer your second question with why? I see no point tbh. You want an economical daily, so the answer is don't break what's not broken. Have you considered a pinto/2zz/1uz/2jz/13B/4k?

Was talking about the suspension first, I should have been more clear.

I always thought a cert covered the parts in the car at the time of check. Not whatever you decide to swap in later. Are you saying you can change parts willy nilly and a cert is still fine? Tacking in a silencer and removing it IS the dodgy. If it's too loud you need another muffler not a stack of resonators. Each to their own though. Just don't complain when the cops pick on you/your ride. Doesn't affect me, so i'm not hatin' just trying to help.

Why are you bothering with a cert if you're going to lower it more and change the exhaust? Makes no sense at all as the cert will be worthless. I could say do it properly like above, but it doesn't sound like you're interested in that.

DIY? Can't you buy a kit that will do a few?

Best solution is dry ice, I think it's like ~$6/kg at BOC, take chillibin. Prop it up against the deadening and give it half an hour or so. Free solution is chisel, but i'd never do that again after using dry ice pellets!

I own my CO2 cylinder and reckon it's the cheaper way to do it. Not sure what an Argon cylinder is worth though. I've had it 2 years and paid no rental, makes sense to me. CO2 cylinders seem to be oodles cheaper than argon ones though on trademe. Can't see anything 2nd hand and new is spendy as (argon). I'd give the likes of supergas a call and see what they can source cylinder wise. Just had mine filled this week and asked about pricing. They are around the $500 mark filled with CO2 for 6.8kg. Don't get them in often though. They said the only gases they can't put in my cylinder are oxygen and LPG. Gas change would require fitting of a new valve though. So PERHAPS you could get a CO2 cylinder and get the valve changed to suit argon. Worth asking anyway.

They will now haha

Anyone that knows a thing or two about car electrics has started knowing nothing too. So the more hands on you get the more you'll pick up / know for future problems. I usually learn by breaking things, but fixing them still ends up being cheaper than paying someone else from the start so works out all good. Best way to learn I reckon. Good luck, electrics is one of the more annoying things to have to work out / fix.

That's not bad! Will keep that in mind I think. Jam a tape deck under the seat to play Rick Astley if kill switch is not flicked. It can also trigger the doors to lock and have it play through a loud speaker.

What happens if you leave it running full time?

Would depend on what product you're using. POR15 for example you can paint over rust (also using the other products that go before it, marine clean / metal ready) so should be fine. Rust never dies though, unless you cut it out it's not going to be ideal. So if you're going with the paint over it method, use good shit for the best possible result.

So do both panels have the same number of coats or does one have more now? Could affect it. Though i'll leave it for the in-house paint pros to say either way.

Heaps and heaps of videos on youtube. Best way is to cut out the rust and put new metal in. Not always possible though if you don't have the gear to do so. You can get a paint system called POR15 which is a rust killing type setup. http://www.por15.co.nz This kit is a good start: http://www.por15.co.nz/POR15Prod/superstarterkit.htm Comes with instructions needed on how each step of the job works. Comes with cleaning solution, a rust converter type product and the paint. It is potent shit though and I would recommend grabbing a half face mask + chemical fumes filters from somewhere like NZ Safety. You really don't want to be breathing it in. Grab a bot of nitrile gloves too as if you get it on your hands it takes a while to come off. Safety first, it's not worth taking the risk. Speaking from experience here. Not with bad affects of POR15, just in general of breathing in bad shit. So yeah, if you're after a paint on solution, i'd try the above product. I use it when chopping out isn't an option and it does a mint job. Will be doing my entire Escort floor with it, top and bottom. If you're wanting to get more serious with repairs, youtube. Just don't take everything you see as correct though. There are some pretty bad repair videos out there!

Usually my first stop when wanting to know something about welding. http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/index.php Porjects / advice for Africa, picked up a lot of good info off there when I got my welder and still do now when I have something to weld I check to see how others have done it to save time doing it the wrong way first. Got some 40mm box section i'm itching to chop up and weld

Yeah that's fair enough too, to go easy on them. A puller would be the way to go for sure. Was more so referring to the $10 tool mentioned earlier that I can only assume is a fork. A puller kit is on my list of "tools to buy" as they are handy for all sorts.