Guest Anonymous Posted June 21, 2001 Share Posted June 21, 2001 ok folks, was considering, halfheartedly, striping my current Z, and looking for another, without rust....Heh, then i took a look at Drax240z's website, and the pics of what he thought was repairable...Think I don't have it so bad after all...Anyways, how much will a decent body shop charge to weld in some floor pans, and framerails for me? Not too much time, with work and whatnot. That and i'm a mere 18, and not that great with a welder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted June 21, 2001 Share Posted June 21, 2001 I don't think the floorplans will be so expensive, but the framerails might be. You'll have to call up the shops in your area to see what they charge. Another idea is to check with the local high school auto shop and talk to the teacher about getting some of the students to do it for a project or even some $$$. I've found that the high school auto shops in my area are great. Also, you could try the local junior college auto shop classes. Take a class and do it yourself at night. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted June 21, 2001 Share Posted June 21, 2001 Wow, someone looked at my page. Honestly I would say anything is repairable. The question is whether its worth the time and money to repair, over just starting fresh with a clean shell. I chose to start with the "rust-freeist" car I could find, and part out the rustier car I had. Looking back, I think it was a good move. Floor pans by themselves shouldn't be that hard or expensive to replace. Front frame rails are a heck of a lot more work, because of the importance of getting them perfectly parallel, and in all the right places. If you were going with a fully adjustable suspension design you could get away with being less exact on the front rails, but with the stock Z design, there is almost ZERO adjustability, so you must be perfect. I was quoted 16 hours labour for each of the front rails from a very good body shop. They told me when they were done I wouldn't know the difference from stock by looking at it, and neither would anyone else. They were also willing to throw a guarentee behind their work. Too rich for my blood though. Personally I would buy a wire feed welder, and do the floorpans myself, and learn. Then after you should have a better idea whether you are up to the task of doing the rails or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Locutus Posted June 21, 2001 Share Posted June 21, 2001 Don't go to a body shop. There are many professional welders that will come to your house and weld up sub frame connectors in a couple hours if you fab them first. As far as welding floor pans in they don't have to be beautiful just solid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted June 21, 2001 Share Posted June 21, 2001 Welding with a wirefeed (Mig with gas or flux core wire) is dead easy to learn. The average one armed circus monkey can be laying down a bead with one in less than an hour. The metal is on the thin side so you need to keep the heat down a bit (amperage) and the fill material (wire speed)down or you end up blowing through the metal to be welded or having the gun jerking away from the weld with the wire speed to high. If you can't make the investment of the welder, rent one. I urge anyone that is doing the conversion to consider having a small wirefeed welder around for those one off brackets and such that are so much easier to fabricate if you can weld it. There's no mystery, welding is just heating up both sides and putting more molten metal between them to cool as one. (it only gets tricky with alloys and such) You do want to tack weld everything before you lay down long welds, and only weld a inch or two and then move to another part of the panel preferable opposite where you just welded, excessive warpage is probable otherwise. Good luck with the project. Regards, Lone [ June 21, 2001: Message edited by: lonehdrider ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted June 22, 2001 Share Posted June 22, 2001 thanks a bunch, very helpful...Think I'm gonna finish up suspension, get some tires, and start working on brakes. Nothing's too rusted to worry about right now, and as I'm in Arizona, not too much moisture to worry about. Probably get all the chassis stuff done after that...then I can think about building my small block... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted June 22, 2001 Share Posted June 22, 2001 I agree, do it yourself. Age has nothing to do with it, I'm 10 years older than you and took a junior college class part way, dropped out, and learned the rest at home cuz they didn't teach MIG. Did the floors, subframe connectors, rollcage, coilovers, etc. myself. There are also cheap books, even at hardware stores where they sell welders. Don't cheap out and get the flux only though, once you start welding, you'll wanna do more and more and having a gas setup is definitely better. Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Locutus Posted June 22, 2001 Share Posted June 22, 2001 I agree 100% with Owen on getting the wire feed. I hade a flux core welder it worked great welding on my race truck, adding pieces to the cage etc, but I hated having to chip slag off every time I stopped. By some strange reason my welder got stolen when my nieghbor borrowed it. So when I replaced it I went all the way with the gas, and I am much happier. I would recommend getting the Tri gas or the CO2 Argon mix. You can go with straight CO2 as well but it doesn't make the pretty mig welds. If it is gonna be covered up then no biggie. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted June 22, 2001 Share Posted June 22, 2001 Guys, I agree, get a gas setup. Anybody know how hard it is to get the MIG set up to do Stainless and Aluminum? I know I need different gasses. But is a gun reel feeder really needed for AL? Can't you just use larger wire to keep it from buckling between the feeder wheels in the welder and the gun? What gasses and equipment do I need for Stainless and AL? Thanks, Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeromio Posted June 22, 2001 Share Posted June 22, 2001 Well, I wasted $12 on a roll of 030 Al wire. I'd say you definately need a gun feeder. Also, for Al I think you need straight Argon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted June 22, 2001 Share Posted June 22, 2001 I was told the same, that Al wire is really thin and can get easily creased or bent. Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted June 22, 2001 Share Posted June 22, 2001 Yeah, if you have the dollars get the gas mig, it is cleaner and makes nicer welds. I was under a tight budget on tools to get my car budget in line, so I had to get the flux core Lincoln. Its not as pretty, and by comparison it has more slag on it than mig (which has little if any) but much less than a stick arc welder, now that is chipping dude! But its not a problem, another 100.00 and I can get the conversion for gas from lincoln, its all setup for it, I just need to put it in. Aluminum can and does Mig very well, but as they said you need a Spool gun to really do it right. They do sell the rollers and such to do it with a regular gun and if you have lived your life very well and keep the gun's cable very straight and don't foul the tip by getting it to close to your work and you hold your mouth the right way and say a few hail (put in your religious deity here)'s you MIGHT be able to make it work that way. The problem comes as you guys probably know that trying to push 6 - 10' of aluminum wire through a inner cable regardless if its Teflon or whatever is at best iffy. Spool guns feed the wire right from the gun, real short path to push the wire and work pretty good. Most of your aluminum boats are welded this way as TIG is gorgeous but way to slow for large welds in a mass production shop. Yeah as was mention Argon only, no mixes please. And yes, I'd very much like a spool gun thank you. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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