How much is too much welding?

[shane_s1993]

Hi
So i have owned my Morris for around 6 years and now it has become a bit of a restoration project. I recently took it to my local mechanic for what i thought was a little bit of welding but it turns out that the actual amount needed is rather more substantial.

I have been quoted around £1500 to put it all right.

I was just wondering what sort of welding bills has anyone else paid during a restoration? Is £1500 a fairly modest amount or should I forget it and say its gone too far?

[alexandermclaren]

Get yourself to the local college and take up a welding course , its not magic.......just learn like most other guys and girls on here

[Redmoggy]

The question you should be asking is what sort of welding job your getting. If your local mechanic is simply patching it up for an MOT you are unlikely to get a job that will last. If the job is being done right it should be a permanent repair that lasts as long as the original has. If the mechanic makes coments like, it may need doing again in a couple of years, walk away.

I'll add an example. Some years ago I was asked to price a repair on a very tidy convertible. The drivers door would pop open every time it went over a pot hole. From memory I told the chap (a garage owner doing the job for a customer) 500 pound for me to cut out and replace the inner sill structure and any related repairs to the floor. This included any replacement panels, finishing, sealing and painting. He ended up having it repaired by a chap who patched the inner sill structure with 1mm plate for 50 quid. Strangely the door still popped open with the slightest hint of a bump in the road.

Rod

[ManyMinors]

I don't think owners spending £1500 on the underside is unusual nowadays. After all, you're not going to buy a replacement rust-free Minor for that sum. What IS important, as already said, is that your £1500 is spent on a good quality, long lasting job, cutting out all the rot/previous patches and replacing with proper repair sections. Then, protecting it all against further rust.

[shane_s1993]

A welding course is actually on my 'things to do' list. But I think the amount of welding required seems a bit daunting for a total newby.

I've had work done by the same guy before and he's always done a great job in the past. So I've no reason to doubt the quality of his work. The price is inclusive of undersealing and I've already bought a lot of the repair panels needed. I'm pretty sure it will be a long lasting repair.

Thanks for the replys guy

[Redmoggy]

With respect Shane, how would you know? There are several aspects when judging the quality of a welded repair, how it looks when lathered up in layers of bitumen is only one of them. All I am saying is that if your spending that sort of money it would pay to educate yourself on what you want when the job is done.

Rod

[shane_s1993]

That's fair enough. I've made my expectations of the quality of the work clear to my mechanic. He says that the repairs will be of top quality standards. Based on the work I've had done in the past on other vehicles I've owned and from what other people have told me, I've no reason to doubt him.

[robandsophie]

I spent around that figure on my morris. For that, repaired both inner and outer sills, front crossmember, chassis leg N/S, central cross member. Took off O/S back hanger and repaired with proper plate. All old over welding (yep they had just welded new parts over old rusted ones) cut out and properly spot or butt welded to really high standard to clean metal (I went and had a look as work progressed). Also tidied up floor areas, treated with Raptor and they also wax oiled everything inside and out. They had the car for 2 weeks.
Sorted out interior boot with small amount of patching and sound proof paint and original trafalgar blue over coat. I had cleared the car of all the tacky horrible stuff to get a really good look.

Also replaced brake lines where had to be removed.

I had been caught out by welding/repair done at a certain well know 'specialist' centre who had done a really good job of hiding all this work!
Anyone in devon area; I cannot recommend T&T coachwork's (Feniton) highly enough. Tony and Roger did fab job.
I will to place some pictures of completed work when I can remember how.
Some may say was was it worth it? Well yes... it was a big ouch, but when I bought the car I had a contingency fund for replacement bits over time. Just wasn't expecting quite so much so soon. Also the main body of the car is spot on and interior is great. Previous owner had spent good money, but let down by 'specialist' centre when they had bought it, time had done the rest.

[Johnny]

Hi Shane,

I used to ask my uncle to do small patch repairs on my traveller, he uses oxy-acetylene and it always used to fascinate me as a kid watching him. I was just checking the trav over before an MOT last year and realised that the work needed would be just far too much of an ask. Now, I've never welded before but got myself a mig welder, watched countless you tube videos and read countless online articles and just went for it. It's a steep learning curve but, very well worth doing it yourself. As long as you have the time, patience and garage space for it. I would say its at least 90% prep work, cleaning back, fitting the panels etc. I have gone for a new panel rebuild instead of patch work.

Below is what I managed to achieve as a first timer. As I said, it's a steep learning curve but well worth it. I now have much more confidence to attack the other side.

[frame][/frame]

[les]

Full marks for sticking at it!

[rreems]

Hi just read your post on welding, I'd like to purchase a mig welder but with so many choices, what would be the most affordable for the home hobbyist and at what cost?

Thanks

Richard

[biomed32uk]

I have just done the same thing, and purchased myself a MIG, mainly for the car but I am sure it will find many other uses in the workshop and for what I do will replace my arc welder.

I bought a Clarke 135TE, which is a gas only setup. Very happy with it, seems well made and has done some very good welds, and I am no expert welder. Half hour with a bit 0f 0.8mm sheet and you will be getting there, very easy to learn and get some nice looking welds.

The only downside to all these hobby welders is the stupid cylinder of gas, if you do lots then the small cylinders will work out expensive, so will be worth sourcing a full size decent gas cylinder and regulator.

The face sheild supplied with it is useless, that did go straight in the bin. If you are serious then you need a proper auto darkening helmet that gives you both hands to sort the job out.

[Fingolfin]

I went through a similar thing with my own Minor - quoted $3500ish to make everything right, and didn't have near that much money to spend. Got a little off-brand MIG (no trouble with it almost a decade later), learned the basics with a retired welder friend of the family, and took off on my own. It took years, but I did almost all of the work myself.

Don't know that I saved much money in the end - but knowing how to weld (and other car knowledge) has gotten me all three "adult" jobs I've had, so it's certainly paid for itself.

I'm quite fond of your name, by the way. (It's mine too. )