TheSamba.com :: View topic - Work im doing on my THING (purists will cringe)

Sun May 13, 2007 6:54 pm

Mines a rust bucket and im cheap so doing the repairs myself welfare style and have no welding experience :P

So purists will cringe at my work

Only metal i have is old computer cases :P

started fixing all the fender wells rot holes :)

Here is the type of rot holes in the place where the fenders mount too.

this is what fabricating welfare repairs look like as we learn welding :p

Ps we use computer cases for metal :P

And for tomorrows projects we have 3 :)

I know i'm learning but thought i would share and see if you all could give any pointers.

Sun May 13, 2007 7:59 pm

It may not be perfect but I give you credit for doing your best to get it done!

Mon May 14, 2007 2:47 pm

Ghetto-tastic!

Mon May 14, 2007 3:00 pm

Much better that duct tape and bondo... That's all that held my '66 bus together... Go for it.

Sun May 20, 2007 12:07 pm

Well here are a few more holes im fixing on mad max.

cOMPARE TOP PHOTOS IN THEAD TO THESE IM GETTING BETTER !!!

that turned into this fixed top hole and bottom in this pic :p

can tell im getting better day 1 i had gas and more time and did a worse job then i did now with no gas and splatter welding :p

Compare the fabricated corner in top of the thread with the one i just did.i CAN SEE THE DIFFERENCE HOW IM LEARNING :P
in the end ill probably have to go back and redo all the bad areas again but such is the price of learning :p practice.
When im done with this job fabricating all this metal since i bought 0 pre made pieces when i do the bus i should be able to weld correct the panels in and wont look bad :p

Mon May 21, 2007 3:13 pm

SWEET! lol.. that things pretty rough! BUT DONT LET IT DIE!@!! where are you located?

Mon May 21, 2007 3:33 pm

I'd say for what you got and have to deal with that's a pretty damn fine job. Just don't lower it and I think you're fine! :wink:

Mon May 21, 2007 3:36 pm

Near san antonio texas i should show a before p[ic it looked perfect :) Course it was all bondo

Mon May 21, 2007 6:46 pm

LOOOWER IT!!!

Fri May 25, 2007 2:42 pm

:shock: Where's the 'vomit' emoticon?
That would make as much sense as this:

Nice work, BTW! We can't all be pros with a huge shop.

Fri May 25, 2007 3:54 pm

I'll add to the kudos.

"Doing it yourself" is becoming a lost art in America. It's more important now than ever. Learn to do it yourself, and you get the satisfaction of having done it, and you do it much cheaper than you could pay someone.

Good on ya' as my Kiwi friends say. New Zealanders are among the most "can do'er" people I've ever met. I guess you grow up on an island at the bottom of the world, you learn.

Fri May 25, 2007 4:18 pm

I want to echo the do it yourself as a lost art. We losing shop in schools and as a educator it scres the shit out of me that we are producing a culutre of hands-off losers. I learned to weld, solder, cast metal, laminate plastic and every phase of the graphic arts profession all while in junior high. WE are losing our interest in fixing stuff. It is a scary direction to move toward. I love to fix anything!!!@

Sat May 26, 2007 4:29 pm

yea, be like everybody else. lift the beast...

Tue May 29, 2007 7:34 am

surferdudedav wrote: LOOOWER IT!!!
yep that's the way.

You are doing well, keep it up.
Practice learns!

Tue May 29, 2007 7:48 am

Good work! I have similar rot in the same places. Hope my first time welding works out as well.

After spending way too much on a ghia, I told myself I would learn
to do the work and save the cash. It doesn't have to be perfect,
and in the end will be more fun than the ghia anyway!

We all learn from our mistakes, and practice makes perfect.

Tue May 29, 2007 9:41 am

An endorsement for the Bug Me video on body removal and floorpan replacement: they have a nice video tutorial on basic welding. It made me "not afraid" to try it myself.

I picked up a wire-fed welder from Harbor Freight for cheap ($200) and have been messing around with scrap before I work on my Thing. I want to do the floors first (doesn't have to be pretty!) and then the fab some seat mounts. Then come the rear rockers. I also also need to install a top reinforment kit on my frame. I think it would be fun to fab some new bumper out of tube.

The worst that could happen (mostly) would be to have to pay someone to undo what I have done. We have Things: we certainly should have fun with them!

Mark

Wed May 30, 2007 10:21 am

I have to fabricate a front bumperAS I LACK ONE NOW.

UNLESS I FIND AN ORIGINAL CHEAP. HATE CAPS LOCK

Also i plan on cutting out my stock elephant feet lights and installing small bus lights from the 60s in the back below where the lights are now.

Give it that euro look.

Ill post pics when i put in the lights wife getting angsty she wants it as a backup car to drive to base in case the gghia goes out :p

Wed May 30, 2007 4:24 pm

Dump it...

Wed May 30, 2007 5:15 pm

Quote: as a educator it scres the shit out of me

K-mann,
I would agree we are losing our hands-on skills as a culture, and that's very sad.
But...........geez lousie........if you are an educator... :-k ......???...could you at least proof read what you type before you press the submit button?

Wed May 30, 2007 6:09 pm

surferdudedav wrote: LOOOWER IT!!!
subybaja wrote: Where's the 'vomit' emoticon?
cubist wrote: Dump it...

Do what you want! Do it as well as you want. Make it nice, and no matter what you did, MOST of us will appreciate it. Stock height, raised, "loooowered" whatever, just do what you want and make it nice. It's your car, all the more because of all the fab work you're doing. Everyone giving this "advice" so far hasn't taken into account what YOU want to do with it - drag race? Dune runner? Backwoods beater? Lawn mower? Teenage babe magnet?

The "lower it" crowd generally seems to be more rowdy than the "raise it" crowd. But I dislike ANY crowd crowding my style or bashing anyone's choices.