Ae82 Gokai - It May As Well Be A Wife.

**carbonboy** · April 29, 2011

Awesome work mate.

Thanks mate, I do what I gotta do :happy:

Great stuff. You have inspired me to go out to the shed with my Mig......tomorrow night. Too cold now.

So how'd you go Parrot? Did you make it out into the shed? A little electric heater can make all the difference in a sheds comfort levels. Mind you I didnt need it as I was sweating like a mofo whilst welding :laff:

Gonna start grinding up the welds to smooth things out a bit & to check for any defects. Gotta wait until after 9am (being nice to my mates missus & neighbours) to get going, I've been up since the wee hours acquiring some new bits for the project which I'm gonna keep under my hat until the time is right :wink: Aussie dollar buying $1.09 US...I love this!!

Edited April 29, 2011 by carbonboy

**carbonboy** · May 1, 2011

Got to work on the spare wheel tub, gave it a hit with a grinding disc then a coarse wire brush.

The black circles indicate small holes that needed filling. I just threw a light under the car & a blanket over my head then circled the points of light :wink:

This process had to be repeated a few times, as I'd grind to clean up the last weld only to create/find a new hole :bash: Frustrating but worth the effort in the long term I guess, more metal than metalmend seems a better idea! Shown here getting a good hit of rust converter.

After water wash, metho wash & dry rag (twice!).

Underneath.

Today all this is destined for a hit-up with a fine grade wire brush & a wash with wax/grease remover. Then some metalmend repairs to the worst of it, then sand that back & hit up with some normal filler. If all goes well I might even get some primer on it! *crosses fingers*

Edited May 1, 2011 by carbonboy

**67Rolla-Ken** · May 1, 2011

Great work as always :)

**carbonboy** · May 2, 2011

Great work as always :)

Thanks man, just so long as you're not just blowin smoke up my ass :laff: I don't know too much about strength differences between oxy & MIG, if there are any provided they're both done correctly? :blinks: I've had a few guys who weld for a living tell me that I'd never get it to hold, I'd just blow holes, blah blah blah so I was friggin nervous as hell about doing it. I figured if all went to the pooper I'd just cut another piece to overlap & bronze-solder it. So to get it in like this, to me a is a big

:rob:

to all the people who said I'd have to use a MIG on it!! To me it was: oxy set + gas + consumables = ~$500, MIG set + gas + comsumables = lots more! Then again, I worked out how to spray paint by jumping in the deep end. :greenbounce:

Always knew that I'd end up with buckling/distortion, had expected worse than what I've got which is nothing a hammer, a metal bar, a few nicely shaped blocks of wood & a light touch of filler wont fix! :wink:

I didnt actually get anything done on Sunday, as domestic duties kept me busy & a close friend who recently lost his pride & joy (JZA80 + 1JZ VVTi) wanted to catch up ( :drinks: ) so I couldnt say no. Happy to see him alive & well! :thumbsup:

Edited May 9, 2011 by carbonboy

**carbonboy** · May 7, 2011

Problem: buckling caused by heat from welding process.

Solution: big claw hammer, smaller ball pein hammer, block of hardwood, metal bar, earmuffs.

You can probably guess what happened next :laff: Quite a few love taps later, the bottom was looking much more respectable...still lumpy but about as good as I was going to get it. Its not exactly an area thats HIGHLY visible so just going to blend it in & make the curves/shapes look like they're meant to be there.

Sadly my reshaping caused a few cracks/holes to open up, so out comes the oxy set again & back at it. :(

After another couple of frustrating hours of filling holes, making more holes, filling thoses, grinding the weld back, finding more holes, filling those, grinding them back, finding more, filling them... I got the spare wheel area ground back, rust converter treated again in some small, sketchy areas & washed down ready to roll.

Mmmm...shiny.

We have primer! :yes:

Going to scuff this primer back (figured I'd primer first as its a better water barrier than bog?) then go with the metalmend/bog process....Yay! Sanding!

:party:

**78_7kRolla** · May 8, 2011

Nice work Luke. Keep the updates coming :)

**carbonboy** · May 8, 2011

Nice work Luke. Keep the updates coming :)

Cheers mate! :y: Funny you should mention updates...

I pulled out my (old-ish) digital camera to use, as my phone has a better resolution but has a scratch on the lense that stuffs my shots whenever I use the flash. Upon loading the memory card into my reader, I discovered some shots of the car from March last year :)

As she was..

The original engine bay.

And again.

Interior post sound deadener removal.

Rusty bit in passenger A pillar.

Very rusty bit in spare wheel tub. Thanfully, now gone!!!

Slightly dinged up & rusty front end.

Found some other photos too, mainly reference shots of where the black goes on the pillars etc. I do have the other one sitting in the yard but just in case. :wink:

**parrot** · May 8, 2011

Don't worry. My area was much smaller than yours, and I used my second hand Mig with gas and had pretty much the same experience as you despite lowest possible wire speed and current.

I'm by no means very good with the Mig, but better to practice on the AE86 than my other 2 cars! I did heaps of practice on scrap before trying on the car, but when it is in a difficult spot...... Bloody frustrating when you blow a hole.

I found it better to lay only a few tacks to locate the patch then try to run a line of weld. But still blew holes. That panel steel is bloody thin.

Much respect for you doing it with an oxy!

**carbonboy** · May 9, 2011

Don't worry. My area was much smaller than yours, and I used my second hand Mig with gas and had pretty much the same experience as you despite lowest possible wire speed and current.

I'm by no means very good with the Mig, but better to practice on the AE86 than my other 2 cars! I did heaps of practice on scrap before trying on the car, but when it is in a difficult spot...... Bloody frustrating when you blow a hole.

I found it better to lay only a few tacks to locate the patch then try to run a line of weld. But still blew holes. That panel steel is bloody thin.

Much respect for you doing it with an oxy!

I reckon here's nothing wrong with second hand gear :wink:, if someone doesnt want it & it works fine, cheaper price equals win! :) Plus you don't have to 'baby' it because of it being shiny, new stuff, you can just use it! :laff: Could just be me, I'm a bit of a princess sometimes trying to keep things new, clean & shiny for as long as possible. It ultimately ends in fail, so once it gets scratched etc I'm not so worried.

If the AE86 is the practice mule of the three, the other two must be uber-sexy! :yes: Same as you, lots of practice with scrap, it's the only way to go. In my case about half a bonnet & half a cylinder of acetylene's worth :y: By the way I took GREAT pleasure in making as MUCH noise as I could at home doing the practice to annoy my neighbours who complained to the council about me a ways back, so much so I started grinding scrap bits of steel just for the heck of it :evil: .

A little childish? Yeah but it felt real good when I saw their roller shutters go down :P: They're still $h1tty with me after my dogs semi-mauled their cat, well, just a few bite marks, nothing major. Its vet bills are not my responsibility if it's in my yard (after dusk) & is too fat/slow to get over the fence in time. My old neighbours used to bring my bins in for us, these ones I don't like my chances :lolcry: .

Whereabouts on the car are you welding? Inside a wheel arch wasnt it? I know the frusatration of blowing a hole where you can get to it easily, my prayers to the welding gods are with you in your efforts!

The steel looks quite thick...with paint on it. When I ground it off both sides, threw the verniers on it & read '001.03'mm, I was like "Ooooooooooooohh, this might be trickier than I thought". I was right & then some! :( I found the 'tacking' method to work quite well too, about every 20mm was the go.

The reason why the cat was in some photos was that my mates have just gotten a kitten as well. This one not like kitten :no2: Or my mates since then for that matter, it comes to me for attention. Strange, as I'm not normally a cat-liking person :hmm:. Also dangerous, as I would be welding away & hear a "miaow" right next to me which promptly scared the $h1t out of me & I nearly set the cat on fire. Not cool, as my mates would probably not like me much for that, nor the cat for that matter!

Edited May 9, 2011 by carbonboy

**carbonboy** · May 9, 2011

Righto, progress! Photos coming courtesy of 3.2 megapixel digi-cam as opposed to 5.0 megapixies phone with scratch on lense.

Primer's nice & dry.

:hmm: That's gonna need some lovin'.

This black stuff applied by whoever did the original repairs is a pain to strip off.

Welds looking okay-ish.

This would be the worst of it. :(

Quick scratch up with some sandpaper inside...

...And some MetalMend love!

Not being in the mood for being on my back for too long at this stage, this was all the area I could be bothered doing.

**carbonboy** · May 9, 2011

This was all rust convertered (handy in getting that black stuff off) , washed down then w&g-r (wax & grease-remover) washed a few times. Before getting primer! :)

While that was drying, I sanded up the MetalMend & put on a second lot.

With a smoother finish than before :wink: Less sanding!

Dodgy bit looking better.

Next on the hitlist after I'm done here.

Spent a lot of time at the rear of the car, this annoys me greatly!

This work proudly brought to you by iced coffee & cookies! Motivational foods of champions...maybe! :laff:

**parrot** · May 9, 2011

No mine was at the base of the B pillar. Annoying as the rest of the car is so good. Problem with running a continuous bead is the heat you put into it, but continual little tacks leaves a mess. And mig blebs are hella hard to grind, again especially in a confined area where you have to be ultra careful with a flap wheel on the angle grinder. I ended up having to use a die grinder which was safer but took a while

One thing I learned about welding, don't do it in runners. Took about 5 episodes of hopping and swearing before I changed into boots though.......

**carbonboy** · May 14, 2011

Last nights progress (not much, bloody cold!):

MetalMend sanded back.

The bog-work begins.

The bog-work continues.

Yes the heater was necessary! :)

Onikage · May 14, 2011

Repairs are coming along nicely! Looks like a tidy job.

**carbonboy** · May 15, 2011

Repairs are coming along nicely! Looks like a tidy job.

Cheers man! I'm trying to make it look like nothing ever happened... :D Or at the very least if you don't know the lines of an AE82 you'd never pick it :wink:

I've just looked at the last lot of update pics (taken with phone) versus the new ones (taken with camera)... What happened to the colour of my bog? Yes, its the same lot!