Gas is MUCH MUCH cleaner! Less splatter, and dust/dirt.

Looks good TinMan

 

75/25 is 75% argon and 25% CO2. Solid wire is a bit cheaper than flux core also. Once you start welding with a cover gas you will never go back.

Later

 

I welded with gas back in high school when I took auto body votec classes. It also seemed that it wasn't as hot as the flux core. I could weld regular autoboday thickness sheet metal all day and not burn it up. Flux core is a different story. What's a bottle typical run of the 75/25 you have?

 

I bought a bottle(3ft) from AirGas here in MD, i think it was 160$ filled. You can rent bottles, i don't go thru enough gas to warrant renting. Call around to your local welding supply shops for quotes. I could be off about the price, but i remember it was more then i thought it would be.
You will also need the gauge set-up if you don't already have one, and a cart.

 

I get my 75/25 from national welders. I have a 160cu/ft bottle. The last time i switched them out it was $38.00. The 160cu/ft bottles are between the smaller 3ft bottles and the larger industrial size. Becareful buying one of the large ones off craigs list. You can get them cheap, but a lot of distributers wont switch them out without a contract. My 160cu/ft bottle new filled was $180.00. Flux core does tend to burn in hotter.

Later

 

Thanks for the info. I might go pick one up here shortly to play around with. What size wire are you using? .030?

 

Yeah man, .030 is a good all around size. Esab makes some good wire.

Later

 

Is this why it seems to 'sizzle' more?

Thanks

 

Been a while, but finally got a few minutes on the runner the past few days. Got my Wabfab bling on.




Hopefully I will be able to front axle for the last time and paint around the front spring hanger and shackle mounts this week. Then put it all back together for the last time.

 

Looks good. Thanks for sending some business my way!

:wabbit2:

 

Nice build, subscribed

 

Just found your build thread...been through alot of this myself recently. Painted mine a little over a yr ago w/ the same POR 15 & Chassis Black & it turned out great! I sprayed both & was happy w/ it.
Subscribing so I can keep tabs on your progress, keep up the good work!

 

Thanks, I thought about spraying it, but was worried about the over spray all over the garage.

I dropped the front axle last night and cleaned what left to paint. hopefully throw the paint on tonight.

 

You do good work...really like the clean build.

 

awsome build man wanna do the same to my pickup someday

 

Thanks guys. The front axle and all the frame has been painted and completely back together now. But that has been about all I have gotten done in the last month. Work and home life has been crazy. Add to that we have put our selves on a tight budget it is going to be tough to get her done the way I want by the end of summer. Now its time to see how cheap I can produce some quality. Things like under coating and internal frame coat may have wait. I spent yesterday sand blasting a lot of the little bits from the engine bay. Plan for this week is get the old 22re/tranny out, then start to detail the engine bay.

Later

 

I understand that. It's hard for me to get anything done unless I plan ahead to dedicate time to the truck. What all are you going to do to your engine bay? Where's the pics?

 

Plan for this week is to get the engine and tranny out. Then finish cleaning the under body. I am going to get rid of any surface rust under it, then hit the areas that need it with seam sealer, etch prime the bare metal, and shoot it all with low gloss black tractor paint. If I can afford it I wil then undercoat it real good. On the engine bay I want take it all down to just the sheet metal, fix any surface rust, and again hit it with a good coat of paint. And repaint some of the bits to make it all last a little longer. Nothing good to take pictures of yet. I tell you though, I really like the low gloss black tractor paint from car quest. It goes on easy, it is really tough, and things don't have to perfectly clean for it to stick. Did I mention it is also cheap.

Later

 

very much nice work here, I like the way you take care of the runner!
Installed highsteer myself 2-3 years ago, with 2"ome lift.
It did hit the oil pan, but since the vehicle authorities in Norway are real strickt i won't lift my 85 pu more, I solved it anotherway subscribed to your thread!


Installed to engine



just filling a bit more oil and change it more frequently

 

Hey all, been a while since I had a chance to post. But I have gotten a little more done on the old runner.

Old engine and tranny are out. And I whipped up a little cart for the engine. I figure I will probably always have an extra 22re around so I did not want it just laying on its side and in the way.


I decided not to cheap out on the engine bay and under body, by using the tractor paint. Just way to much work has went into it. I started by removing the hood, fenders and cowl. Then went to work removing about 15 layers of old spray on undercoating. I am glad it was there. It most likely keep the truck in the shape that it is in. But man that stuff is a job to get off. The best way I found was to take a heat gun, scrapper, to it. Then soak the area in kerosene to remove the residue. After that I took some xylene on a rag and removed the kerosene and the remainder of the residue. seemed to work pretty well. Just took a long time. Sorry no pictures as they were not saved on my phone for some reason.

After that I took scotch bright cookies on my air grinder to all the paint I could get to. Mainly to just ruff up the paint, and revile any problem areas. What I found was that any were the the paint was chipped a little, the surface rust under it went pretty far under what looked like good paint. So there again, lots more time in prep work to get it all clean.

On the under body, I had applied por15 in a lot of areas thinking it would protect it. Wrong and cost me a lot of time to get the por15 off. Lesson learned from here on out it only goes over rusted areas. Even though I followed the directions to the letter. It was still coming off in sheets. And getting it out of every little crack and crevice took forever. After about two week of sanding and chipping I got mad, made a tent over the truck and went to sand blasting under it.

Once that was all done and everything was cleaned with dawn original dish liquid several times. I had to decide on what I was going to paint it with. I was originally going to use PPG DPLF epoxy primer from my local jobber. But after many post about it being crap since they removed the lead. I decided to use epoxy primer from SPI. I am glad I did. It is cheaper, goes on nice, has a 7 day recoat window. and their customer service is awesome. I even called the owner of the company on his cell phone, on the saturday of memorial day weekend. Try that with PPG. Well again no pictures of the strip down process. But here are some of the finished process.











All the tape is for new seam sealer. I went to put the 3m ultra pro on yesterday to find out it expired in 07, and had set up in the tube. I will pick up some more on Monday. Then hopefully get the body back down on the frame and start putting parts back on.

All the spraying was done with the famous Harbor Freight purple gun. It can spray better than I can. And I used devilbiss bags inside it. They are awsome, you can spray at any angle with them in your gun.




And just for reference the SPI epoxy I used.



And one last shot of the fender and cowl.



Well time to get ready for church.

Later