My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”

[Kronald_70GMC]

I went out in the garage again for a bit after work and tried my hand at some more welding. The results are very discouraging, I had a few small pin holes to weld up but when I try to weld them, my welds just seem to sit on top and and not get good penetration then the next one I try just burns a hole without even changing the settings. I dont know if it is my lack of skill or my welder or both but now I dont know what to do. I would like to get a tig welder but I cannot afford it. Maybe I should try practicing on some scraps and see if I can come up with some better results. Until then I dont really want to touch my cab again because Im just making things worse. If anybody knows of any good welding how to's, I'd greatly appreciate it. Here is what my welds are looking like now.

[ryans69chevy]

Kyle spend some time on YouTube checking out "how to's" it might be worth it and it's free. You can always search this site for some welding tips as well.

I can't see your picture that well, but if it's not sticking, either the metal isn't clean enough or your settings are a little bit off. Like you said maybe you want to just practice on some scrap. You could even weld some of the metal you cut out of your cab which would be able to dial in exactly the right thickness.

Just play around with it until you feel comfortable. Also what size wire are you using? .023 is what I use for anything smaller than my frame basically. I use .030 on my frame. If you are using too big of wire it could cause either too much heat which would burn through thin metal since it requires more heat to melt or its not enough heat to fully melt and penetrate into the metal. Try even tilting your gun at a little angle - this might prevent the blow throughs. Btw I wish I had a tig welder too! What kinda mig welded are you using?

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by ryans69chevy

Kyle spend some time on YouTube checking out "how to's" it might be worth it and it's free. You can always search this site for some welding tips as well.

I can't see your picture that well, but if it's not sticking, either the metal isn't clean enough or your settings are a little bit off. Like you said maybe you want to just practice on some scrap. You could even weld some of the metal you cut out of your cab which would be able to dial in exactly the right thickness.

Just play around with it until you feel comfortable. Also what size wire are you using? .023 is what I use for anything smaller than my frame basically. I use .030 on my frame. If you are using too big of wire it could cause either too much heat which would burn through thin metal since it requires more heat to melt or its not enough heat to fully melt and penetrate into the metal. Try even tilting your gun at a little angle - this might prevent the blow throughs. Btw I wish I had a tig welder too! What kinda mig welded are you using?

Thanks for your feedback. I will definatly have to do my reasearch now lol. I am using .030 as that is the smallest size flux core wire you can get to the best of my knowledge (which isnt very good when it comes to welding...yet lol). My welder is an ancient hobart 140 handler but I do not have the gas hookup. There is the place for the hookup but I dont have the tank or gauges. Might be more worth it to spend some money on a newer welder before I get the gas. As far as tilting my gun goes, I've tried so many diffrent angles but it almost seems like my wire speed fluctuates while I am welding so it is very difficult to be consistent. I have had a few very nice tacks but they are far and few between. I am also going to be picking up a new auto darkening helmet because mine is in very bad shape (my dads old one lol) It probably is not helping that I cant see very well. Im not giving up, I will figure this out!

[ryans69chevy]

Yea I hear ya! Man if I was you I would try to swing some new equipment. It makes the job a lot easier. I think I spent a little over 1000 on all my stuff for welding - welder, tank, cart, helmet, jacket, wire, tips, and some random tools with it. So it's definitely an investment, but it sure is a cool one!

You wouldn't have to buy everything I did so it wouldn't be that much. You could get by with just the bare essentials for now and slowly get more tools/equipment that will help you get the job done easier. You could save some coin by just putting a spot light on the area that your welding and you should be able to see good enough. It is nice to have an auto helmet though!

I guess as far as flux core and all that I don't know a lot about it, but the wire size seems like an issue to me... I think that is one of your problems, but again I don't know a whole lot. I would search the internet on the how thin of metal to weld with .030. Good luck! Hurry up though so you can post more pics!

[Kronald_70GMC]

Well I have done some research and found some solutions to my welding problems. Firstly, I put a new plug end on my welder because the one that was there was missing the ground pin (Thanks to Scott aka OriginalThor for pointing this out) then I got a new wire feed roller for the thing because it had a v groove .045 roller, which was the wrong size for the wire and the wrong type. It is supposed to be a knurled flux core roller so I got that sorted. The next thing I did was head down to my local Princess Auto and pick up an auto darkening helmet on sale for $70. And with all that I was able to make some good progress. Now that Ive made a disaterous mess of my welds it is a very tedious process. lol I still have a bit of welding to do on this piece yet.... ok a lot but now that I have an idea of what Im doing, I can accomplish anything. anyway, here are some pictures.

[chewychevy67]

Looking good!

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by chewychevy67

Looking good!

Thanks uncle! I finally got the welder all dialed in and working nice.



I was finally able to finish my lower firewall piece off today. I did end up having to cut out a section in the middle and replace it due to warping from my poopy welds, but I managed to get it completed. I also got started on my foot well. I was able to clean out the inside of my front pillar quite nicely but I don't have any weld through primer. So I figure that's ok, Ill go raid my dads shop. Turns out he only had a quarter of a can and I could not get it to spray. More or less just spits out so I was not able to weld in my piece. Haha oh well, hopefully I can find some tomorrow. Anyways I will get to the part of my post that keeps this site going! PICTURES!

[Kronald_70GMC]

More progress today. I did some measuring from my exsisting passenger floor pan up to underside of dash and when compared to the new pice of the drivers side it was 3/8" higher so Im pretty happy I caught that before I started welding. I cut 3/8" of of my new foot well piece but then it wouldn't line up by the door jamb. So now I have cut 1/4" out of that piece and tacked in a filler piece. Now I've got alot of tack welding to do but im ok with that, gives me some practice on a piece that is out and easy to access Here are the pictures:

[nuke1]

Looking good so far, I remember the days of starting out. We may have a how to weld series at the shop here soon.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by nuke1

Looking good so far, I remember the days of starting out. We may have a how to weld series at the shop here soon.

That would be pretty awesome! I am slowly getting the hang of it here. It would probably be a huge help if I had gas for my welder but Im not sure I can afford it right now. We will see what happens here.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Ok so I was welding again tonight and trying to figure out why my welds seemed to be piling up on the surface rather that melting in. So I figured I would give it a little more heat and cranked that sucker up to 2 And next thing you know, BINGO now the welds are heating up and laying much flatter and geting much nicer penetration. I know, I know thats what she said. So Im sure by now you guys are getting sick of looking at my crap welds so after these couple, I wont post anymore till this thing is in!

[Kronald_70GMC]

Well I just found out tonight that I clearly didnt do enough research on flux core welding. If I had, I would have know that the polarity needs to be switched. So I have that done now but before I could grind down my mess that Ive created to try out the welder, my compressor started to sound a little off. So I glance over to see this mess. (Picture 1) So then I decided to do a little investigation which lead me to this mess. (Picture 2) Which in the end lead me to this beauty. (Picture 3)

[Kronald_70GMC]

We have some welds that Im finally pround of OriginalThor was out for the evening and we tried the thing out with the reverse polarity and what a DIFFERENCE! I cant believe how much nicer it works, Id have to say that was the vast majority of my problems this whole time. Just goes to show that doing your homework pays off, but you should probably do it before you start I know I said I wasnt going to bore you guys with any more weld pictures but I just have to show the diffrence so here it goes.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Now that I am sure that this is a good welder and that I want to use it, I cant just have the heavy beast sitting on my work bench. Mostly because I cannot always get the thing to reach what Im trying to weld but also, I need my work bench clear for other activities. So I decided that tonight I would build a little platform with wheels to keep it on. Pretty happy with my results and I will throw in a close up on the welds on this thing. I know you guys must really be getting sick of all the pictures of welds that Ive posted but this one really shows what a difference switching the polarity makes when working with flux core. Also you will have to excuse my mess, I am in the process of hanging as many tools as I can for quick access. Hoping to weld in my footwell next week. Thanks to everyone who has posted and the ones who have been watching silently, I know theres gotta be some you out there based on my views and you guys are keeping me inspired on this rust repair.

[72 tigger]

Nice welds- looking good!

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by 72 tigger

Nice welds- looking good!

Thanks!

[ryans69chevy]

How much of that cab are you going to have to fix to make it right? Is there a supplier up there that you get patches for pretty cheap?

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by ryans69chevy

How much of that cab are you going to have to fix to make it right? Is there a supplier up there that you get patches for pretty cheap?

Im basically doing lower firewall patches made by me, then Im replacing footwells, front floor patch panels, rear floor patch panels, inner rockers. Then I have a whole used cab support that I got off my grandpa that only has 1 small rust hole. Then it will be lower front and rear pillars, cab corners, and rockers. Then its on to mods from there. Haha its alot of work but I enjoy it. All my panels came from lmc truck. They are so-so, some slight mods required so far.

[ryans69chevy]

I gotcha. Yea it's a lot of work! When I'm working on my stuff I'm trying to figure out how body shops do it so much quicker... and how people could afford that! Good gosh I spent all weekend shaving my drivers side cowl vent and I'm about half done. Unbelievable!

I have to replace all that stuff on my cab, plus some. I finally called a distributor in MN last week and got talked into a complete floor since it was basically like $75 more than all the patches added up. I was gonna suggest something like that for you too. There is still time to reconsider! Lol

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by ryans69chevy

I gotcha. Yea it's a lot of work! When I'm working on my stuff I'm trying to figure out how body shops do it so much quicker... and how people could afford that! Good gosh I spent all weekend shaving my drivers side cowl vent and I'm about half done. Unbelievable!

I have to replace all that stuff on my cab, plus some. I finally called a distributor in MN last week and got talked into a complete floor since it was basically like $75 more than all the patches added up. I was gonna suggest something like that for you too. There is still time to reconsider! Lol

I was planning to do that as well but when I bought the truck it already had all the panels for the repair. So I cant really justify buying a whole floor pan now. Plus Ive got more time than money right now.

[ryans69chevy]

I'm in the same boat as you man... more time than money. That's why I'm doing all these odds and ends on the cab that don't cost me anything except grinder discs.

Get going on that thing then!!

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by ryans69chevy

I'm in the same boat as you man... more time than money. That's why I'm doing all these odds and ends on the cab that don't cost me anything except grinder discs.

Get going on that thing then!!

Haha thanks man! Hopefully Ill have my footwell panel in this week!

[Kronald_70GMC]

Well I'm thinking that it is time for an update on here, even if it doesnt exactly pertain to the truck. I got a little busy for a while there with a sidejob. Now that it is all wrapped up, Im back in the shop. Im not quite to the point of working on the truck again yet. Ive decided that the shop needs a few upgrades. I now have my old compressor tank hooked up to the new compressor to double my air capacity. Ive also been working on putting up a fume extractor. Also I was fortunate enough to find a metal frame on wheels at work that will be perfect for a cab cart so Ive been modifying that the last couple days. Here are some pics of the progress.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Tonight I finished up my cab cart! SO much nicer working at a sitting height. I built it so that once I have the cab support replaced, I will be able to flip it right side up and bolt it on. I also did a test fit on my footwell panel and I am pretty happy with it. Just needs some small adjustments to make it right. Hoping that I will be ready to weld it in soon!

[Kronald_70GMC]

Today was a good day I got my footwell panel cleaned up, shot it and surrounding area with weld through coating and welded the sucker in! Im happy with the results, only ended up with two pinholes in my weld.