You're doing a fantastic job but a little tip. when cutting into two panel like the back seat area you did, it's always best to remove layer by layer cutting the first layer bigger than the last layer. That way when you weld in the bottom layer you have space to grind down the weld so the top fits flat to the bottom. Also instead of running your welds try spot tacking stacking them 50% over each other and that way you will not blow through the thin sheet metal. When you run the welds you are creating more heat into the panel and it is easy to blow hole in the panel. Hope this helps. Another tip I forgot to mention is when grinding in corner or tight spaces, use a small cut off wheel on the die grinder and gently grind the welds off with the edge of the wheel.
Man, everybody was there. I was there. Welding is the most simple, yet most delicate craft one can only learn. If you obtain skills necessary to do it properly, it will be nothing but fun. 😁💪🏻
Great job! I like your videos because they are more "real life" than the videos from other restoration channels I watch... Some of them make me think I could never be anywhere near their league, but when I watch your videos, I realize that anyone, with the proper tools and the will to do it, can really start restoring stuff and do a nice job!
So pleased to see someone fixing what they have and trying to improve themselves or a car they really like. So tired of all these people that think that if you don’t have the latest model of car well you’re not as good a person as I am. Good luck and keep up the good work. 👍🏼👍🏼👏🏻👏🏻
So glad Norway reached out to you. I know you are still learning, but pieces 6 pieces together to make a small panel... It looked like a mud dobber building a house. Gotta say, You have sticktoitiveness!
I brought a welder at the weekend as it was roughly the same price as buying a whole new exhaust as every section needed touching up, Watching your previous videos gave me the inspiration to 'bodge not buy'. I'm currently practising on a section of new pipe by cutting off a piece and welding it back into place, I'm really pleased with the steady improvement each time i practice this, My plan is to start on the exhaust tomorrow.
Try angling the torch to the thick metal. When butt welding i set the mig higher and give each tack a double hit allowing to momentarily cool before moving along. it makes for a flatter weld and less grinding.
I did a rocker panel and wheel well repair about just over 2 years ago in a small garage with a flux core and cheap tools. Some places the inner rocker and rocker and rear fender were so close to each other I made tools out of copper tubing to put behind so I would not weld together pieces that were not ment to be stuck together in that area. Some of the metal I had to replace I had to shape and cut and weld on a bunch of times some of the panels I made ended in the scrap because I wasn't happy with how they looked next to the original metal (shape was a little bit off or something). In the end of it I had learned some new skills and managed to make the jacking point on the rocker stronger than factory. It's fun watching your videos and the detail you show is awesome.
great to see and hear that your welding process itself is now properly working, nice short arc! the white residue on your small plates is still burned zinc from the coating. if you weld zinc plates the zinc burns and build fumes that can lift your shielding gas and your liquid metal pool. so the best would be using not coated metal.
I am, by no means, a good welder, but I do have a couple of suggestions when using a MIG welder: I think it would be better not to weld perpendicularly to the spot, but with a small angle; when welding light gauge metal is better to make a number of welds, spaced in between, and then come back and do it again between the spaces, until 100% filled; the latter will prevent warping the metal, and possibly have less weld thru holes. It is great that you have good tools to work with. It will be a great looking car once you finish with it. That you did it yourself is the best part.
I once saw a rectangular repair section in a Jensen floor. The welder was clearly very competent and had got that beautiful "stack of dimes" look. It was so good he didn't grind it back. He just cleaned it up, painted and undersealed. I don't blame him, beautiful work.
Doing much better on the welds! For your comment in the video about thinking you need to turn up the welder, you need the opposite. Turn down the amperage (heat) just a touch, and turn the wire feed down a good bit. If you’re still blowing holes through the metal after this, turn the heat down more.
Welding thin metal at weird angles is hard no matter your length of experience. I think your doing great. I stitch weld body panels to keep heat warpage down, stitching is just a series of tack welds that in the end look like a tig weld.
hey man, just a tip on your welding, turn your voltage up around 10 to 20 volts and turn your wire speed down a little. Remember as a very general rule voltage dictates weld penetration while wire speed dictates weld penetration and weld deposit quantity. also as you are using shielding gas there is no flux going to be formed during welding so there is no need to wire brush between welds. finally only weld in maximum 1 inch steps and move to another area to keep the heat down and help in stop burning through. hope this helps. keep the vids coming and best of luck with it
Sorry 1 more thing after reading a few of the comments below, there are a good few comments talking about tack welding all around the patch instead of a weld bead, as you are using what looks like 1.5mm plate there is no need for tacking as the metal is thick enough to take the heat.
Thanks for all of the advice Simon. I'm using 1.2mm and will be going down to 1mm in some places so I guess some tacking will be in order. Thanks again.
welding is an art form that takes time to learn, I can remember the first time I tried to weld it looked a lot worse than your welds! keep practising and keep up the good work
As someone once said. Grinder and paint makes me the welder i ain't. Your first patch panel welds look really cold. More heat needed. Your skills improved over the course of the video.
You should tack weld . Put some tack , wait for about 1 sec , for heat to go into metal , and cool weld , then put wire on end of previous tack , and repeat process . Do this 4-5 times and move to next spot . Do not try to continuously weld tin sheet metal. Another thing , first make patch , use grinder for cutting ( strait cuts ) , then put path over hole , and use it as template for cutting . Go for strait lines , cos its much easier to cut with grinder . Gap shouldnt exceed thickness of wire . If you have holes to fill , use some heavy piece of metal , like old hammer ,to make bottom of hole. Wire wont stick to heavy piece , if you do short weld . Good luck
It helps when the person in the video freely admit their inexperience ..... when you get someone who thinks they are the best of all time it makes people who are better want to shit on them
Don't turn the welder up hoping for flat welds, you are more likely to start blowing holes through the metal! Trying to do welding runs with sheet steel will make the metal warp and it will make a mess of a good repair. Just do spot welds and that should be better for you. The repair you have done to the top of the sill and the seat base are really good for someone who has just started welding. And one last comment. I wouldn't replace a full panel just for some small holes. I would use some of the panel to do the repair but not all of it. You are doing good work, keep it up.
Love to see your learning process. It's even better to watch than the pro's doing it perfectly who make it look way too easy. Maybe a tip for grinding down the welds is to use a finger sander. Looks like it's easier to use and more precise than a grinder.
those tack welds looks very good tbf, some people do runs like you tried to do, i prefer to tack one by one all the way round the panel, tack in all corners to hold it then tack and tack and tack one right next to the other (best to try and overlap a tiny bit) also im glad to see you resting the gun on your hand or with your fingers against the panel, welding in mid air is very difficult and annoying, but i can definitely see your progress keep going!!
I Think if you go for TIG welding you use half the Flapdiscs and save alot time grinding, the welds look better too. If done correctly also less heat in the material that may cause warping the metal. I use Mig also, but its not for restoring cars. Just make cars passsing MOT or weld an exhaust :P I did see alot improvement!
Thanks Jan! Sunday posting was never my plan. I was just always so late trying to post Thursday. My new goal believe it or not is to post every 3 or 4 days. Hopefully I can do this soon :)
@@RestoreIt that sounds great. The sunday posts were pretty chill though, like the last thing i do before i go to bed and head to work next morning. Thank you for the content by the way.
Nice job. Thats how my welding looked too in the beginning. I needed to Grind them down to. I really recommend you to buy a small 9mm Belt sander like Makita 9032 or an air driven Alternative. The angle grinder is not precise enough so you grind down a Lot of Material of your healthy 0.8mm sheet metal so they it gets thin and hot. For getting rid of the undercoating i recommend using a fein Multimaster or comparable Tools. Using a wire brush on the angle grinder is a really dirty process, but it works too.
Hey dude, try running a bit longer welds. I know when i was first welding my e36 that i was scared that i'll burn through the panel and i didn't see shit through the mask so i made the same mistake as you did. Then i took 2 pieces of scrap sheet metal and practiced, attempted to burn through on purpose, etc.. and that let me get a feel for it and not be as nervous when i'm working blind. Also that e36 was hella rusty and i didn't have money for replacement panels so i made a lot of welds, i even chopped off rear shock mount and put in another one from a wrecked car lol.
Problem is that you warp your panels the more heat you put into them, thats why you mostly just spotweld. He also should try lowering the wire speed instead of turning up the power, as he is already burning through the metal.
I must disagree, with longer beads you introduce much mote heat and then you have to deal with warping, letting the heat spread to a part with short tacks is much better imo
@@oxygenium92 It depends to be honest, you are introducing a same amount of heat in both cases, it is just the amount of time you introduce it in. A small weld like this on a well heatsinked surface would have 0 problems from warping, i guarantee you that, especially since these e30's were built like tanks compared to today's cars. The problem with a lot of spot welds is that you much more run the risk of structurally weak welds, and god forbid he crashes this e30 this weld point is a very nice weak point. How weak you want to make it depends on integrity of your welds and your filler material, the sheet metal in this case. Also, tack welding like that all around makes the weld a lot harder to clean up and often leaves a lot of tiny holes which are dream come true for rust. Everything has it's own limits tho, so don't go out and run 20cm beads just because i told you to, i suggest you experiment on your own a bit and also look at some professional bodywork repair videos, you will see how they do it. Cheers!
@@FetteMacke Both are true, if you look at professional bodywork videos, you'll see them section the weld into smaller chunks, about 5-8cm in lenght, which they weld in one go and then swap to doing another spot to let this one cool down a bit. Plus, you are not welding paper man, it does not warp that easily, and if it does warp, it's still better than having porous welds in structurally important areas. Cheers!
Where you can, for instance the door sill edge, use mole grips to clamp the piece down, you'll get flusher bits welded in nicely. For a beginner in welding I think you're doing great. We all make mistakes but that's the beauty in doing so, you learn from past mistakes. I appreciate the effort that goes into your videos. Keep up the good work! Edit: Also perhaps consider using a die grinder to clean your welds rather than the bulky but trusty grinder.
Welding, seems so hard to get consistent results, unless you count bad welds as consistent! Nice work, I usually just keep throwing weld at my car till the holes mostly disappear then slap underseal over it with a trowel!
It’s great to see your skills progressing. I took a welding course years ago at evening class and found Mig difficult on thin metal. I found Tig a lot more controllable, but that was on college kit worth thousands. Keep up the brilliant work. Looking forward to your next video.
You sure are getting better and better! Congrats! I have some unsolicited advice: the top of the sill is a flat pannel with a 90° bend; you had 3 rust holes lined up, it would have been better to make only one patch pannel, less welding, les pannel weakening. Also, I would recommend getting a spot weld drill bit, will make your life easier and you won't have to dill through both pannels. Finally, for a perfect finnish and minimum use of filler, I would advice you to use tin to fill the welds on your patches. Hope this helps! You are doing awesome.
Your videos are so incredible because you are a soon to be professional. With every passing video, we (and hopefully you!) can see the progress! A few episodes ago, you were doing "single point welds", now you are doing those traditional "line" welds (I have no idea how to call them). You are incredibly motivating to watch! Gives me hope that one day Ill also manage to try ot new things! Keep up the very hard and good work.
Never bad to practice when you have the opportunity like you did. I'd keep all those panels on and use em to teach yourself then just slap on those new ones when you are done messing around. Love watching the progression. You are a smart guy and very talented. Thank you for sharing the journey with us.
I'm no professional welder but I think you should try making more tacks and less beads, since you are putting much more heat in your panel and you could warp it, also, you won't get the annoying weld-through holes at the end of the bead. I also heard someone suggested tig welding, from what I heard it's not a very common welding process in body work, but there is someone on youtube called "Garage Time - Restomod" who managed to make it work on in porsche, and you won't be deceived by his OCD levels as well :)
You turn the temperature up, then find you blow through more... so you grind back, which thins the metal, and when you weld the holes you blow through even easier! It's frustrating but as you say, it's just down to practice. And everyone has to start somewhere 👍🏻 Keep it up! BTW finger sanders a great for carefully grinding back just the welds, not thinning the surrounding metal. Oh suggestions for the rear bench near the fuel filler pipe, getting started, maybe a cutting disc? Appreciated you may not have the room and angle there...
Hey CookRacing, thanks for the comment dude. I apprecaite the advice. I should have use the bloody air finger sander I have! I won't forget next time. Thanks man.
For grinding I recommend a pneumatic 90° die grinder with the grinding disk attachment. Works a lot better to get into tight areas for grinding down welds. Also the white residue you see next to the welds is the galvanizing burning. It can make you very sick so just make sure you get all of the galvanizing off, or even better buy the right metal for future patches. Your welds are improving, and that's the thing about welding... Years from now you look back at your original welds you'll be embarrassed. But take each improvement as a step in the right direction. We all started somewhere. Good job waiting for cooling between welds and doing small spots then move to a different area. Too much heat in an area will just cause burn back at the edges of the panels that you then have to fill. Also I might recommend using a hand file to get nice straight edges in the cutouts making it easier to make filler panels. Making odd-shaped panels for odd-shaped holes is always more difficult than squaring it off from the start. Keep up the good work. Love the videos and watching you learn new skills. It takes me back to my youth :)
as you have an airline and a 2 inch roll lock, you should get an angled die grinder. you can used 2 inch flap discs and sanding pads and will produce easier cleaning than your electric die grinder and wire wheels...
You are doing very well for a newbie. As for setup, get a smaller dia. Mig (GMAW) wire (.023 inch - .025 inch - basically the smallest wire you can find). On thin gauge material like these panels it works much better. This will also allow you to lower your voltage (no more holes) and wire speed, resulting in less material (weld) build up. But it will provide the proper penetration for this application. However, on structural components 1/8" (3mm) and above you need to use a larger dia. wire (.030" or even .035").
Don’t beat yourself up too much. I’ve seen much worse. Nice to see you removing the galvanising, had me worried last week! I always reckon on the underlying rust being double what you can see. I always found bigger patches were easier to weld in too. You’re doing a great job and not afraid to learn, I think you’ve a bright future!
Hi mate, another great stuff from you. I think you need to experiment with the voltage and wire feed speed. And also, pay your attention, if during welding metal is easily burned, then perhaps this is a signal that next to this place it has become thinner due to rust that you did not see. Weld small pieces with dots, rather than a solid seam, so you overheat the metal less. The fact that you switched to a mix for welding is the right choice. Don't hurry and stay cool, everything will be fine. Good luck man.
Looking much-much better on the welds! Hope it felt better too with the right core and gas ;) One thing I found helpful since starting (motivated by watching your channel for one) is keeping the nozzle over the weld for another second or so, especially if you can keep the gas flowing independently. It usually should keep the gas on longer, but even if it doesn't the gas in the cable and nozzle will help the weld cool properly. Seems like you did find the good settings on the welder for the materials you are using =)
Thank you Honey! Amazing to hear I have motivated you :D My gas is not independently controlled. This is something I want to look into getting. Thanks for reminding me! And thanks for a lovely comment.
When welding cars I find it good to use small tacks next to each other, leave the weld burn into the metal as well hold lance there for a little bit longer. Keep up the good work tho we all start somewhere.
For the welding you need to tack every 35mm ish then stack 5 tacks at a time not full welds it puts less heat in also have a wet cloth to hold on after tacks
Don't know if you found out yet, but there are hand operated (and air operated) punches for making holes for plug welds. Makes a cleaner hole than the drill bits, and goes a lot quicker. My air operated one is also a flanger.
Your welding looks good to me I cannot weld myself but practice makes perfect just remember nobody was born a welder keep it up it’s coming on really well
I follow two channels that you might find useful, Trev's Blog and Aaron Unknown both of them are doing similar restoration work to you and both of them are very good at what they do. Who knows they might even give you some tips and support if you contacted them. Keep up the good work, I am thoroughly enjoying your progress.
When you have welds sticking up like that a true grinding disk will knock them down faster, use it on it's edge so you can keep it away from the base metal. Once you get the bulk of the weld knocked down switch the the flap wheel and blend it the rest of the way down. It will go quicker and your consumables will last longer. Also don't concern yourself with making the gaps too tight, a nice consistent gap of about 1mm will give some space for the weld to go into and they will lay flatter. You are getting the hang of it and by the time you are done you will be an expert.
I used to do what you do but them by accident I made a patch too big for the piece I'd cut out. SO I used the patch for the template to mark the metal that was to be cut out. I now use this method 90% of the time and all my patches fit perfectly. Hope that helps. It improved my welding by at least 50%. In summery cut the patch first and then the hole.
20:58 use a dremel tool to cut the corners, then finish the long cuts with the pneumatic metal saw. It might take a little longer but your corners cuts will look great
Turn the welder up, do some practice tacks on some spare sheets butted against each other. You're not getting good penetration on the backside. Do one tack at a time, instead of a line. While welding, check if you patches stay flush with the original panel, adjust as necessary. What thickness of sheet metal are you using? Looks quite thick. Try some 0.8 or 1mm sheet instead like original for non structural stuff, 1.2-1.5mm for chassis rails. Use zinc primer between two panels when plug welding. If it welds not as good, just scrape the primer away in the hole. Again not getting the best of penetration on the plugwelds, turn your welder up a bit. Are you going to replace the whole wheel well? I would rather cut patches out of the new panel than replacing the old one completely.
Some people say turn it down some say turn it up. I will have to do some experiementing. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the wheel arch. I'll think about it when the panel arrives.
@@RestoreIt I find it's better to turn it up and do a short quick tack, than putting a long bead at a low setting. You'll also see that with a quick tack on a higher amperage will result in a lower weld. What wire thickness are you using? I would suggest practicing on some extra sheet metal than on your E30. Easier to trow out some "test metal" than having to cut it out of your car..
I like your approached to cleanliness, wire brushing between short runs of weld. I also like that you snip off every time so that you're starting with fresh, clean wire instead of a blob that will cause a momentary poor arc.
Sheet metal is a tricky thing to mig. Looks like you're coming along. Getting flatter welds sometimes isn't about upping the power. You might need a hair bit more wire speed or you might need to dwell on those spot welds a little longer to get the heat into them. Someone with a better ear for mig than me could tell you if your wire speed is right.
You should spray that zink spray between those overlap sheets, you cant paint them later. You should allso cut longer hole in those overlapjoints that are rusted, rust is hiding inside of the joint. Welding completely rusted e30 chassis call nerves, I know what im talkin cause i has been there done that 😅
Don't try to run beads on sheet metal. Turn the welder up a bit more and/or the wire speed down and do overlapping tacks instead. Wait until the weld goes red then do the next with a 50% overlap. Do about 1-2cm at a time and then move somewhere else or cool with a damp rag to prevent warping and blowout. You can also use a dirty finger to rub your paper to get the pattern. That white fuzz you are getting is zinc from the coating and makes for a poor weld. A 1mm or so gap will also lead to a flatter weld but more risk of blowout and a bit more warping. Good luck, it's pretty satisfying once you get the hang of it.
@@RestoreIt It's all about heat management and patience! Also, what size wire are you running? 0.023" or so is better than 0.030". I've had very little luck with the weld through primer as well. It was ok on the back side of the part but it did absolutely awful when actually trying to weld through it!
Hello, nice video You forgot to drill that little hole. Don't Weld a line, stitch one point after the other so it can cool down a little bit. Sorry for the English
Props for doing the work yourself! Sheet metal welding is difficult as it’s easy to get blow through and end up chasing holes. You could try using a air nozzle to cool down each individual weld before moving to the next weld. Good luck my friend.
Nice work as always dude! Just make sure you kinda prime those spots where they overlap before your weld the piece on top of it. It just take ab bit of moisture and time before it starts to corrode again. Looking forward to the next video!
loved the vid mate. good to see your welds have improved since the last ep. some of them look better than mine. especially your tacks. also at college i was told to always do a few test welds on scrap metal to make sure your amp's, gas and line speed are correct. cant wait you see how much more your welds improve over the next few episodes.
Hi, first off I believe that even though you can always improve your work is very thorough and good. 1. In terms of leaving the sill piece low - yes, lazy people do that to avoid having to level it, then they fill it with body filler. 2. In terms of making holes for a reciprocating saw when cutting - I tend to use a larger drill bit after a pilot hole (which is slightly inboard of the edge)- does the job for me. 3. Have you thought about chassis reinforcement? I recently purchased a kit for that. It should come in tomorrow and I can take the measurements and send them to you. They are quite pricey but give the age of the cars I see them as a "must". 4. To build on point 3 - since you are taking all that time to have a stripped car to the bare metal and build it back up how about "seam welding" it - once again, to improve structural rigidity? The bodies of 40 YO cars are tired and this will improve the feeling in my mind, at least I would at this level of restoration. 5. I have seen many strut braces - front and rear, have you though of installing such? What do you think about them? I guess the comment ended up longer than expected. I hope it helps and keep up the excellent work!
23:00 I believe that with MIG welding you're supposed to "push" the torch rather than "pull" it?? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how I was taught.
Pulling is right when you use low powered Short Arc Process as on thin plates like Cars . If you increase Power to Spray Arc (more than 26V) and you want to weld a fillet Weld for example then you need to Push slightly around 10 to 20 degrees to get a nice flat seam.
Well it is not really my place to advice as i a not welder but i would think asking someone who does welding for profession or is good at it to show how to get started would help you get a bit of confidence and right tecniques. Thx for the videos.
You’re doing a great job young man. You have a bright future ahead of you as a professional paint and body man, if that’s what you’re looking for. Practice, Practice, Practice. I look forward to seeing your videos.
Nice work and learning. One tip for you: dont do "patchwork". Use bigger plates, now you weld 3 small plates near each other and there was old fix plate near also. You shoud grind near old weld and change at least 30cm new plate.
as a wise man named Uncle Bumblef***k said
"Grinders and paint makes me the welder I ain't"
Haha too true Fila!
He also said "I'm not a good welder, but a hell of a grinder"
That man loves his magic pixies.
Preaching AvE's gospel, I see...
@@exec4ever the sacred texts!
We never stop learning, keep at it buddy
Too true, thanks man.
Glad to hear you’ve found a supplier for the panels. Cheers!
Cheers Alan!
Learning to mig weld is easy, leading to weld well takes time and experience, it'll come
You're doing a fantastic job but a little tip. when cutting into two panel like the back seat area you did, it's always best to remove layer by layer cutting the first layer bigger than the last layer. That way when you weld in the bottom layer you have space to grind down the weld so the top fits flat to the bottom. Also instead of running your welds try spot tacking stacking them 50% over each other and that way you will not blow through the thin sheet metal. When you run the welds you are creating more heat into the panel and it is easy to blow hole in the panel. Hope this helps. Another tip I forgot to mention is when grinding in corner or tight spaces, use a small cut off wheel on the die grinder and gently grind the welds off with the edge of the wheel.
Thank you AS28g! Great adivce. I will keep this comment somewhere for help!
so relaxing to watch this before going to sleep
Glad to hear it Juck :)
Same here..love it
Man, everybody was there. I was there. Welding is the most simple, yet most delicate craft one can only learn. If you obtain skills necessary to do it properly, it will be nothing but fun. 😁💪🏻
Thanks Konrad! I can't wait to imporve more and enjoy it more :D
Great job! I like your videos because they are more "real life" than the videos from other restoration channels I watch... Some of them make me think I could never be anywhere near their league, but when I watch your videos, I realize that anyone, with the proper tools and the will to do it, can really start restoring stuff and do a nice job!
Thanks Fernando! This is exacltly what I wanted to achieve :)
So pleased to see someone fixing what they have and trying to improve themselves or a car they really like. So tired of all these people that think that if you don’t have the latest model of car well you’re not as good a person as I am. Good luck and keep up the good work. 👍🏼👍🏼👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you Dan! Lovely comment.
The reason these are so good is you keep all the mistakes in. Great content keep it up!
So glad Norway reached out to you. I know you are still learning, but pieces 6 pieces together to make a small panel... It looked like a mud dobber building a house. Gotta say, You have sticktoitiveness!
I brought a welder at the weekend as it was roughly the same price as buying a whole new exhaust as every section needed touching up, Watching your previous videos gave me the inspiration to 'bodge not buy'.
I'm currently practising on a section of new pipe by cutting off a piece and welding it back into place, I'm really pleased with the steady improvement each time i practice this, My plan is to start on the exhaust tomorrow.
Keep up the good work lad restoration is like everything else in life it takes time and practice to get right. Don't let the naysayers get you down
Thank you Richard! Much appreciated
Try angling the torch to the thick metal. When butt welding i set the mig higher and give each tack a double hit allowing to momentarily cool before moving along. it makes for a flatter weld and less grinding.
I did a rocker panel and wheel well repair about just over 2 years ago in a small garage with a flux core and cheap tools.
Some places the inner rocker and rocker and rear fender were so close to each other I made tools out of copper tubing to put behind so I would not weld together pieces that were not ment to be stuck together in that area.
Some of the metal I had to replace I had to shape and cut and weld on a bunch of times some of the panels I made ended in the scrap because I wasn't happy with how they looked next to the original metal (shape was a little bit off or something).
In the end of it I had learned some new skills and managed to make the jacking point on the rocker stronger than factory.
It's fun watching your videos and the detail you show is awesome.
great to see and hear that your welding process itself is now properly working, nice short arc! the white residue on your small plates is still burned zinc from the coating. if you weld zinc plates the zinc burns and build fumes that can lift your shielding gas and your liquid metal pool. so the best would be using not coated metal.
Thanks for the advice Kus!
I am, by no means, a good welder, but I do have a couple of suggestions when using a MIG welder: I think it would be better not to weld perpendicularly to the spot, but with a small angle; when welding light gauge metal is better to make a number of welds, spaced in between, and then come back and do it again between the spaces, until 100% filled; the latter will prevent warping the metal, and possibly have less weld thru holes.
It is great that you have good tools to work with. It will be a great looking car once you finish with it. That you did it yourself is the best part.
You are so determined old son...it's addictive...great to watch..can't wait for the finished product...god bless.
Loving the journey so far. Learning new things about the hobby you love is the best feeling
I once saw a rectangular repair section in a Jensen floor. The welder was clearly very competent and had got that beautiful "stack of dimes" look. It was so good he didn't grind it back. He just cleaned it up, painted and undersealed. I don't blame him, beautiful work.
Doing much better on the welds! For your comment in the video about thinking you need to turn up the welder, you need the opposite. Turn down the amperage (heat) just a touch, and turn the wire feed down a good bit. If you’re still blowing holes through the metal after this, turn the heat down more.
Welding thin metal at weird angles is hard no matter your length of experience. I think your doing great. I stitch weld body panels to keep heat warpage down, stitching is just a series of tack welds that in the end look like a tig weld.
Thanks Sunny! I will try some stitch welding next epsiode for sure!
hey man, just a tip on your welding, turn your voltage up around 10 to 20 volts and turn your wire speed down a little. Remember as a very general rule voltage dictates weld penetration while wire speed dictates weld penetration and weld deposit quantity. also as you are using shielding gas there is no flux going to be formed during welding so there is no need to wire brush between welds. finally only weld in maximum 1 inch steps and move to another area to keep the heat down and help in stop burning through.
hope this helps. keep the vids coming and best of luck with it
Sorry 1 more thing after reading a few of the comments below, there are a good few comments talking about tack welding all around the patch instead of a weld bead, as you are using what looks like 1.5mm plate there is no need for tacking as the metal is thick enough to take the heat.
Thanks for all of the advice Simon. I'm using 1.2mm and will be going down to 1mm in some places so I guess some tacking will be in order. Thanks again.
Amazing series, i can watch these all day
welding is an art form that takes time to learn, I can remember the first time I tried to weld it looked a lot worse than your welds! keep practising and keep up the good work
As someone once said. Grinder and paint makes me the welder i ain't.
Your first patch panel welds look really cold. More heat needed. Your skills improved over the course of the video.
Too true Zoidverg!
I watch your work on BMW from beginning. You are better in every video... I enjoyed every one video.
You should tack weld . Put some tack , wait for about 1 sec , for heat to go into metal , and cool weld , then put wire on end of previous tack , and repeat process . Do this 4-5 times and move to next spot . Do not try to continuously weld tin sheet metal. Another thing , first make patch , use grinder for cutting ( strait cuts ) , then put path over hole , and use it as template for cutting . Go for strait lines , cos its much easier to cut with grinder . Gap shouldnt exceed thickness of wire . If you have holes to fill , use some heavy piece of metal , like old hammer ,to make bottom of hole. Wire wont stick to heavy piece , if you do short weld . Good luck
Thank you Stevan! Great advice.
Your welds should look like CCCCCC
I love the comments on This channel! People are just amazing at giving great tips!
It helps when the person in the video freely admit their inexperience ..... when you get someone who thinks they are the best of all time it makes people who are better want to shit on them
Bro as long as you're learning and developing your skill, that's all that matters, keep up the good work man, love your vids
so nice that you found the guys with the panels, i am waiting for the new clips .keep up the good work!
Thanks Alex!
Don't turn the welder up hoping for flat welds, you are more likely to start blowing holes through the metal! Trying to do welding runs with sheet steel will make the metal warp and it will make a mess of a good repair. Just do spot welds and that should be better for you. The repair you have done to the top of the sill and the seat base are really good for someone who has just started welding. And one last comment. I wouldn't replace a full panel just for some small holes. I would use some of the panel to do the repair but not all of it. You are doing good work, keep it up.
Thank you Ian. Solid advice. I really appreciate it and will keep it in mind.
Love to see your learning process. It's even better to watch than the pro's doing it perfectly who make it look way too easy. Maybe a tip for grinding down the welds is to use a finger sander. Looks like it's easier to use and more precise than a grinder.
Thanks dude and thank you for the advice.
those tack welds looks very good tbf, some people do runs like you tried to do, i prefer to tack one by one all the way round the panel, tack in all corners to hold it then tack and tack and tack one right next to the other (best to try and overlap a tiny bit) also im glad to see you resting the gun on your hand or with your fingers against the panel, welding in mid air is very difficult and annoying, but i can definitely see your progress keep going!!
Thank you Kezza! I'll try it next episode :D
Thanks for showing your learning process.
My pleasure Cheshire!
I Think if you go for TIG welding you use half the Flapdiscs and save alot time grinding, the welds look better too. If done correctly also less heat in the material that may cause warping the metal. I use Mig also, but its not for restoring cars. Just make cars passsing MOT or weld an exhaust :P I did see alot improvement!
Thanks William! I really want a TIG. I'm going to get one!
Oh yes. I miss the weekly uploads every sunday. Glad to see you getting the panels needed.
Thanks Jan! Sunday posting was never my plan. I was just always so late trying to post Thursday. My new goal believe it or not is to post every 3 or 4 days. Hopefully I can do this soon :)
@@RestoreIt that sounds great. The sunday posts were pretty chill though, like the last thing i do before i go to bed and head to work next morning. Thank you for the content by the way.
Nice job. Thats how my welding looked too in the beginning.
I needed to Grind them down to. I really recommend you to buy a small 9mm Belt sander like Makita 9032 or an air driven Alternative. The angle grinder is not precise enough so you grind down a Lot of Material of your healthy 0.8mm sheet metal so they it gets thin and hot.
For getting rid of the undercoating i recommend using a fein Multimaster or comparable Tools. Using a wire brush on the angle grinder is a really dirty process, but it works too.
Thanks Joe! Great advice. I'll try the belt sander and get the fein multimaster out for the undercoating.
Hey dude, try running a bit longer welds.
I know when i was first welding my e36 that i was scared that i'll burn through the panel and i didn't see shit through the mask so i made the same mistake as you did.
Then i took 2 pieces of scrap sheet metal and practiced, attempted to burn through on purpose, etc.. and that let me get a feel for it and not be as nervous when i'm working blind.
Also that e36 was hella rusty and i didn't have money for replacement panels so i made a lot of welds, i even chopped off rear shock mount and put in another one from a wrecked car lol.
Thanks CME! Damn you've been through it! Thanks for the advice man!
Problem is that you warp your panels the more heat you put into them, thats why you mostly just spotweld. He also should try lowering the wire speed instead of turning up the power, as he is already burning through the metal.
I must disagree, with longer beads you introduce much mote heat and then you have to deal with warping, letting the heat spread to a part with short tacks is much better imo
@@oxygenium92 It depends to be honest, you are introducing a same amount of heat in both cases, it is just the amount of time you introduce it in.
A small weld like this on a well heatsinked surface would have 0 problems from warping, i guarantee you that, especially since these e30's were built like tanks compared to today's cars.
The problem with a lot of spot welds is that you much more run the risk of structurally weak welds, and god forbid he crashes this e30 this weld point is a very nice weak point. How weak you want to make it depends on integrity of your welds and your filler material, the sheet metal in this case.
Also, tack welding like that all around makes the weld a lot harder to clean up and often leaves a lot of tiny holes which are dream come true for rust.
Everything has it's own limits tho, so don't go out and run 20cm beads just because i told you to, i suggest you experiment on your own a bit and also look at some professional bodywork repair videos, you will see how they do it.
Cheers!
@@FetteMacke Both are true, if you look at professional bodywork videos, you'll see them section the weld into smaller chunks, about 5-8cm in lenght, which they weld in one go and then swap to doing another spot to let this one cool down a bit.
Plus, you are not welding paper man, it does not warp that easily, and if it does warp, it's still better than having porous welds in structurally important areas.
Cheers!
Where you can, for instance the door sill edge, use mole grips to clamp the piece down, you'll get flusher bits welded in nicely.
For a beginner in welding I think you're doing great. We all make mistakes but that's the beauty in doing so, you learn from past mistakes.
I appreciate the effort that goes into your videos. Keep up the good work!
Edit: Also perhaps consider using a die grinder to clean your welds rather than the bulky but trusty grinder.
Welding, seems so hard to get consistent results, unless you count bad welds as consistent!
Nice work, I usually just keep throwing weld at my car till the holes mostly disappear then slap underseal over it with a trowel!
Haha thanks Leigh!
It’s great to see your skills progressing. I took a welding course years ago at evening class and found Mig difficult on thin metal. I found Tig a lot more controllable, but that was on college kit worth thousands. Keep up the brilliant work. Looking forward to your next video.
Thanks Qwerty! Yeah I really want to try TIG welding on this chassis. Hopefully I'll get a cheapish one soon and see how it goes in comparison.
I absolutely abhor mig welding thin sheet metal
Anything less than 12G is tig only for me, but in quite the novice myself
You sure are getting better and better! Congrats! I have some unsolicited advice: the top of the sill is a flat pannel with a 90° bend; you had 3 rust holes lined up, it would have been better to make only one patch pannel, less welding, les pannel weakening. Also, I would recommend getting a spot weld drill bit, will make your life easier and you won't have to dill through both pannels. Finally, for a perfect finnish and minimum use of filler, I would advice you to use tin to fill the welds on your patches. Hope this helps! You are doing awesome.
Your videos are so incredible because you are a soon to be professional. With every passing video, we (and hopefully you!) can see the progress! A few episodes ago, you were doing "single point welds", now you are doing those traditional "line" welds (I have no idea how to call them). You are incredibly motivating to watch! Gives me hope that one day Ill also manage to try ot new things! Keep up the very hard and good work.
Thank you so much Farseer! Lovely comment. It's comments like this that keep me motivated. I really appreciate it.
Never bad to practice when you have the opportunity like you did. I'd keep all those panels on and use em to teach yourself then just slap on those new ones when you are done messing around. Love watching the progression. You are a smart guy and very talented. Thank you for sharing the journey with us.
I'm no professional welder but I think you should try making more tacks and less beads, since you are putting much more heat in your panel and you could warp it, also, you won't get the annoying weld-through holes at the end of the bead. I also heard someone suggested tig welding, from what I heard it's not a very common welding process in body work, but there is someone on youtube called "Garage Time - Restomod" who managed to make it work on in porsche, and you won't be deceived by his OCD levels as well :)
Thanks Eliaz! And thanks for the suggestion I'll check him out :)
You are not afraid of trying/ learning.
Thats your power.
Thank you arnhemseptember, you are spot on here :)
It is enjoyable watching your learning process.
You turn the temperature up, then find you blow through more... so you grind back, which thins the metal, and when you weld the holes you blow through even easier! It's frustrating but as you say, it's just down to practice. And everyone has to start somewhere 👍🏻 Keep it up!
BTW finger sanders a great for carefully grinding back just the welds, not thinning the surrounding metal.
Oh suggestions for the rear bench near the fuel filler pipe, getting started, maybe a cutting disc? Appreciated you may not have the room and angle there...
Hey CookRacing, thanks for the comment dude. I apprecaite the advice. I should have use the bloody air finger sander I have! I won't forget next time. Thanks man.
@@RestoreIt I know how it is - you get to a point where you have such a big range of tools and forget you have something more suitable for the job :D
That's a sweet comment ! constructive, delicate, and helpful. cheers
Finally a new video your welding skills have improved
Thanks dude! I'm going to speed up I promise!
For grinding I recommend a pneumatic 90° die grinder with the grinding disk attachment. Works a lot better to get into tight areas for grinding down welds. Also the white residue you see next to the welds is the galvanizing burning. It can make you very sick so just make sure you get all of the galvanizing off, or even better buy the right metal for future patches.
Your welds are improving, and that's the thing about welding... Years from now you look back at your original welds you'll be embarrassed. But take each improvement as a step in the right direction. We all started somewhere. Good job waiting for cooling between welds and doing small spots then move to a different area. Too much heat in an area will just cause burn back at the edges of the panels that you then have to fill. Also I might recommend using a hand file to get nice straight edges in the cutouts making it easier to make filler panels. Making odd-shaped panels for odd-shaped holes is always more difficult than squaring it off from the start.
Keep up the good work. Love the videos and watching you learn new skills. It takes me back to my youth :)
Love your car love the way you edit videos can't wait to see the next one
Thank you dude. I'm going to being picking up the pace don't worry!
as you have an airline and a 2 inch roll lock, you should get an angled die grinder. you can used 2 inch flap discs and sanding pads and will produce easier cleaning than your electric die grinder and wire wheels...
Thanks Antony I will look into this.
I use grinder discs for the welds with great results but it needs a steady hand
Thanks dude, I did start with those but a lot of people said I should use flap discs. I'll go back to them if I need a fine grind I think.
You are doing very well for a newbie.
As for setup, get a smaller dia. Mig (GMAW) wire (.023 inch - .025 inch - basically the smallest wire you can find). On thin gauge material like these panels it works much better. This will also allow you to lower your voltage (no more holes) and wire speed, resulting in less material (weld) build up. But it will provide the proper penetration for this application.
However, on structural components 1/8" (3mm) and above you need to use a larger dia. wire (.030" or even .035").
Don’t beat yourself up too much. I’ve seen much worse. Nice to see you removing the galvanising, had me worried last week! I always reckon on the underlying rust being double what you can see. I always found bigger patches were easier to weld in too. You’re doing a great job and not afraid to learn, I think you’ve a bright future!
Hi mate, another great stuff from you. I think you need to experiment with the voltage and wire feed speed.
And also, pay your attention, if during welding metal is easily burned, then perhaps this is a signal that next to this place it has become thinner due to rust that you did not see.
Weld small pieces with dots, rather than a solid seam, so you overheat the metal less. The fact that you switched to a mix for welding is the right choice. Don't hurry and stay cool, everything will be fine. Good luck man.
Thank you Ozzy! Great advice.
Long waited video. Thanks mate
Thanks dude. I'm picking up the pace don't worry!
You should also do what they call stitch welding which is a series of tack welds around and around and around so you don’t overheat and warp the panel
Thank you ben I will try this next episode.
Looking much-much better on the welds! Hope it felt better too with the right core and gas ;)
One thing I found helpful since starting (motivated by watching your channel for one) is keeping the nozzle over the weld for another second or so, especially if you can keep the gas flowing independently. It usually should keep the gas on longer, but even if it doesn't the gas in the cable and nozzle will help the weld cool properly.
Seems like you did find the good settings on the welder for the materials you are using =)
Thank you Honey! Amazing to hear I have motivated you :D My gas is not independently controlled. This is something I want to look into getting. Thanks for reminding me! And thanks for a lovely comment.
When welding cars I find it good to use small tacks next to each other, leave the weld burn into the metal as well hold lance there for a little bit longer. Keep up the good work tho we all start somewhere.
Thanks Josh, great adivce!
Your Videos are amazing!
I am restoring a BMW E31 850I from 1990 with my uncle. :)
Thank you Sid! Good luck with your resto :D
@@RestoreIt Thanks,same to you. :D
For the welding you need to tack every 35mm ish then stack 5 tacks at a time not full welds it puts less heat in also have a wet cloth to hold on after tacks
I will try this next time thanks Nicholas!
you did a great job dude, nothing to worry about
Thanks dude!
Great work! Love watching this progress.
some good progress with the welding.
but put some copper behind the gap that your welding it makes it more easy to fill the gap.
Thanks man. I keep forgetting to do this!
Don't know if you found out yet, but there are hand operated (and air operated) punches for making holes for plug welds. Makes a cleaner hole than the drill bits, and goes a lot quicker. My air operated one is also a flanger.
Your welding looks good to me I cannot weld myself but practice makes perfect just remember nobody was born a welder keep it up it’s coming on really well
Thank you William! Means a lot.
I follow two channels that you might find useful, Trev's Blog and Aaron Unknown both of them are doing similar restoration work to you and both of them are very good at what they do. Who knows they might even give you some tips and support if you contacted them. Keep up the good work, I am thoroughly enjoying your progress.
I'm sure trev or matt from urchfab channel would be happy to help.
When you have welds sticking up like that a true grinding disk will knock them down faster, use it on it's edge so you can keep it away from the base metal. Once you get the bulk of the weld knocked down switch the the flap wheel and blend it the rest of the way down. It will go quicker and your consumables will last longer. Also don't concern yourself with making the gaps too tight, a nice consistent gap of about 1mm will give some space for the weld to go into and they will lay flatter. You are getting the hang of it and by the time you are done you will be an expert.
I used to do what you do but them by accident I made a patch too big for the piece I'd cut out. SO I used the patch for the template to mark the metal that was to be cut out. I now use this method 90% of the time and all my patches fit perfectly. Hope that helps. It improved my welding by at least 50%. In summery cut the patch first and then the hole.
for a rookie ....you did a good job !!! Nice restoration
20:58 use a dremel tool to cut the corners, then finish the long cuts with the pneumatic metal saw.
It might take a little longer but your corners cuts will look great
Turn the welder up, do some practice tacks on some spare sheets butted against each other. You're not getting good penetration on the backside. Do one tack at a time, instead of a line.
While welding, check if you patches stay flush with the original panel, adjust as necessary.
What thickness of sheet metal are you using? Looks quite thick. Try some 0.8 or 1mm sheet instead like original for non structural stuff, 1.2-1.5mm for chassis rails.
Use zinc primer between two panels when plug welding. If it welds not as good, just scrape the primer away in the hole. Again not getting the best of penetration on the plugwelds, turn your welder up a bit.
Are you going to replace the whole wheel well? I would rather cut patches out of the new panel than replacing the old one completely.
Some people say turn it down some say turn it up. I will have to do some experiementing.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the wheel arch. I'll think about it when the panel arrives.
@@RestoreIt I find it's better to turn it up and do a short quick tack, than putting a long bead at a low setting. You'll also see that with a quick tack on a higher amperage will result in a lower weld.
What wire thickness are you using?
I would suggest practicing on some extra sheet metal than on your E30. Easier to trow out some "test metal" than having to cut it out of your car..
I like your approached to cleanliness, wire brushing between short runs of weld. I also like that you snip off every time so that you're starting with fresh, clean wire instead of a blob that will cause a momentary poor arc.
Sheet metal is a tricky thing to mig. Looks like you're coming along.
Getting flatter welds sometimes isn't about upping the power. You might need a hair bit more wire speed or you might need to dwell on those spot welds a little longer to get the heat into them.
Someone with a better ear for mig than me could tell you if your wire speed is right.
Thanks dude, I'll keep this in mind.
You should spray that zink spray between those overlap sheets, you cant paint them later. You should allso cut longer hole in those overlapjoints that are rusted, rust is hiding inside of the joint. Welding completely rusted e30 chassis call nerves, I know what im talkin cause i has been there done that 😅
Thanks dude!
good work man i really do see a lot of improvement in your welding in this video. keep practicing man u did some good work here
Thank you CJ appreciate it.
Hi nice video new sub this guy is a expert in the making practice makes perfect till next time
Don't try to run beads on sheet metal. Turn the welder up a bit more and/or the wire speed down and do overlapping tacks instead. Wait until the weld goes red then do the next with a 50% overlap. Do about 1-2cm at a time and then move somewhere else or cool with a damp rag to prevent warping and blowout. You can also use a dirty finger to rub your paper to get the pattern. That white fuzz you are getting is zinc from the coating and makes for a poor weld. A 1mm or so gap will also lead to a flatter weld but more risk of blowout and a bit more warping. Good luck, it's pretty satisfying once you get the hang of it.
Thank you Aallwwkk! Great adivce. I will save this comment and read it again before I weld again. thank you.
@@RestoreIt It's all about heat management and patience! Also, what size wire are you running? 0.023" or so is better than 0.030". I've had very little luck with the weld through primer as well. It was ok on the back side of the part but it did absolutely awful when actually trying to weld through it!
Hello, nice video
You forgot to drill that little hole. Don't Weld a line, stitch one point after the other so it can cool down a little bit. Sorry for the English
Thanks Hubert. I did indeed. I will get this done next episode.
Very good 👍
Thanks dude, good to see you.
All a learning curve mate, new panels will save so much time though 😃
Thanks Rob! You're not wrong. I was unaware such company existed. Bloody amazing stuff.
Props for doing the work yourself! Sheet metal welding is difficult as it’s easy to get blow through and end up chasing holes. You could try using a air nozzle to cool down each individual weld before moving to the next weld. Good luck my friend.
Nice work as always dude! Just make sure you kinda prime those spots where they overlap before your weld the piece on top of it.
It just take ab bit of moisture and time before it starts to corrode again.
Looking forward to the next video!
loved the vid mate. good to see your welds have improved since the last ep. some of them look better than mine. especially your tacks. also at college i was told to always do a few test welds on scrap metal to make sure your amp's, gas and line speed are correct. cant wait you see how much more your welds improve over the next few episodes.
Thank you Jordi! Good adivce, I'll do more practice off the car next time. Thanks!
I was half expecting for you to get the funk out!
Doing a great job. Keep going.
You doing a great job bro !💪🏼
Thank you Matthias!
Yeaah! Norway :-) we sure do love the E30
This definitely shows how easy Bad Obsession Motorsports makes it look. Had no idea all this was involved.
Hi, first off I believe that even though you can always improve your work is very thorough and good.
1. In terms of leaving the sill piece low - yes, lazy people do that to avoid having to level it, then they fill it with body filler.
2. In terms of making holes for a reciprocating saw when cutting - I tend to use a larger drill bit after a pilot hole (which is slightly inboard of the edge)- does the job for me.
3. Have you thought about chassis reinforcement? I recently purchased a kit for that. It should come in tomorrow and I can take the measurements and send them to you. They are quite pricey but give the age of the cars I see them as a "must".
4. To build on point 3 - since you are taking all that time to have a stripped car to the bare metal and build it back up how about "seam welding" it - once again, to improve structural rigidity? The bodies of 40 YO cars are tired and this will improve the feeling in my mind, at least I would at this level of restoration.
5. I have seen many strut braces - front and rear, have you though of installing such? What do you think about them?
I guess the comment ended up longer than expected. I hope it helps and keep up the excellent work!
23:00 I believe that with MIG welding you're supposed to "push" the torch rather than "pull" it?? Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how I was taught.
Someone else has said this so think you're right SlapHappy :) I will push it from now on.
Pulling is right when you use low powered Short Arc Process as on thin plates like Cars . If you increase Power to Spray Arc (more than 26V) and you want to weld a fillet Weld for example then you need to Push slightly around 10 to 20 degrees to get a nice flat seam.
You should also do what they call stitch welding which is a series of tack welds around and around and around so you don’t overheat and warp the panel
Well it is not really my place to advice as i a not welder but i would think asking someone who does welding for profession or is good at it to show how to get started would help you get a bit of confidence and right tecniques. Thx for the videos.
Because of the shield gas, pulling it makes it escape. Pushing it protects it.
Wonderful to see. If you can do it, so can I!
Thanks Christian! That is too true!
Love your videos
Thank you EJK!
IamEJK me too man
+1 :D
You’re doing a great job young man. You have a bright future ahead of you as a professional paint and body man, if that’s what you’re looking for. Practice, Practice, Practice. I look forward to seeing your videos.
My e30 has a lot of rust, but not in places like yours, my rust is on more accessible places
Great work, keep it up
Thanks you dude!
very good work
Thank you Ulmanito!
The only way you're going to get better is to weld more. I'm happy to see you're learning.
Вот теперь сварка very well! 👍
Thanks!
Nice work and learning. One tip for you: dont do "patchwork". Use bigger plates, now you weld 3 small plates near each other and there was old fix plate near also. You shoud grind near old weld and change at least 30cm new plate.