I know the projects are expensive but compared to German or jap a 300tdi disco is a cheap build. It’s the welding, panels and metal that cost. You can get a brand new head for 350 lol. I’d like to have mine both as daily’s and make the disco a comfy place to be. I’ll probably sell off the winch bumper etc and return it to standard height to be honest!
Yours makes a bit more sense as it’s a range. It’s classy. Rangey is more country estate whereas disco is hare coursing on private land lol
I’ve been leaving little lips when boxing stuff off. I pool into the angle the lip makes as in inner fillet weld and as the pool pushes it melts away the lip and leaves you with a nice weld. Makes more sense than trying to weld at 1 o clock on your back! Happy with the result - new tank cradle bracket beam boxed in, double skinned bracket top and the longest runs I’ve ever done. Don’t know how the welder didn’t give up.
Please don't take this the wrong way but I used to think I was a completely sh!t welder, however mine is no worse than this! So being as it is on here and not attracting criticism I have just realised I was probably trying too hard to get it absolutely right first time. i.e. enough penetration and metal welded in, without needing to grind back much.
So thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Cheers mate!
The welding above of the pillar brace is ugly. I was filling gaps between bodywork joints. I find it much easier now welding up chassis steel than bodywork. If you have fresh metal with both sides clean it’s easy. It’s when the impurities from rust/paint/seam sealer start getting in my welds that causes pain.
That pillar outer welding is tidy welding I thought lol! My welding always looks agricultural unless running beads on fresh stuff. It’s quite easy to make a cold weld look good - I’ve done it and chopped it back out before!
That pillar outer welding is tidy welding I thought lol! My welding always looks agricultural unless running beads on fresh stuff. It’s quite easy to make a cold weld look good - I’ve done it and chopped it back out before!
I'd be careful with that jacket, I had a knock off leather jacket that went up like a fire cracker when I was welding lol
We will have to see eh! I didn’t use it today as was happily welding from above! Not much left from below on d1!
I feel much the same. i first bought a stick welder secondhand, £10 lol, but it works fine so for thick stuff I still prefer it, which no one understands. but thin stuff is much harder for me and, as you say, when the metal is not brand new it is much harder. I once welded new repair plates into the foot wells of an old style mini, afterwards it looked like a forest or a hedghog, the number of times i burnt through and a bit of wire shot through the hole then got welded into place! but it ground back OK and passed the MOT!
Filling holes in exhausts is my nightmare. i have done it, especially on my ex son in laws Rangie as a new stainless system is a grand! He'd found one crack and sensibly drilled holes at each end, but once we got it off the car there was a whole other load of cracks. So I hadn't much choice but to build up and build up and build up until all the holes were filled and the cracks mended. It looked like sh!t but it held. Thank god it wasn't body work!
mind you then you can use filler and paint!
Anyway I'm not knocking your welding, even the more agricultural stuff!
I'm just so glad to find that peeps on here are not snotty if amateurs like you and me do workmanlike stuff that does the job but doesn't look like it is up to nuclear welding standard!
I used to run a kit car club and there were some pro welders in there including one nuclear guy. I never dared show them anything I'd done!
So all power to you, keep it up!
And what you don't know is that I have a 1998 Anniversary disco 300tdi, and it too needs sills and pillar welding, hence my vivid interest in this very long thread which I've only really discovered! I bought the kit to do it a few years ago but l;ife has gotten int he way so it is just sitting there waiting for my attention. and yes it does have the tan leather seats.
All the best!
Stan
These Clarke welders can be setup quite nicely in that provided there’s not a big gap, you can run an inch without burning through. If there is a gap - you will burn through for sure. Switch up to 2mm on the chassis, and I purposely gap it and run nice long beads. Bodywork welding is just sensitive lol.
Don’t think anyone is out to knock on here to be honest. I’ve had so much help from people both with this and the 90. Each time I get stuck I know which members I need to tag in to make sense of it for me!
Ooo sounds like you have another project to start then!! This was so bad but it’s not far off now! I’ve seen the odd anniversary but they’ve all been dead! I also wanted standard leather but prices were silly so got some Volvo ones to go in.
Yes this threads been going far too long and I couldn’t actually mig before I started it
Don’t think anyone is out to knock on here to be honest. I’ve had so much help from people both with this and the 90. Each time I get stuck I know which members I need to tag in to make sense of it for me!
Ooo sounds like you have another project to start then!! This was so bad but it’s not far off now! I’ve seen the odd anniversary but they’ve all been dead! I also wanted standard leather but prices were silly so got some Volvo ones to go in.
Yes this threads been going far too long and I couldn’t actually mig before I started it
My welder was a present from a whole load of members of my family so I really couldn't get rid of it to just replace it
, but it only has 4 power settings. So often I seem to need a setting between two of them. Yet my other son in law, who is a whizz at welding, still manages to weld well with it and cannot understand why I suffer! But he lives miles away in Worcestershire.I agree about the help you get on here. I have had tons of help with my TD5, which is sadly a pain compared to the 300tdi, which is so old skool. As you say, you soon get to know who knows what, and there are so many experts on here who give brilliant advice.
On Anything Goes you will find there are some people you wouldn't want to meet in real life, but then you don't have to go there! But again there are some real good laughs to be had and with CV19 it means you still have mates you can have a laugh with, like down the pub without the beer!
jamesmartin
Well-Known Member
4 or so settings is going to be a poor transformer, obviously at times its just right but not often, i bought a parweld and the difference between that and the sealy is remakableMy welder was a present from a whole load of members of my family so I really couldn't get rid of it to just replace it
I agree about the help you get on here. I have had tons of help with my TD5, which is sadly a pain compared to the 300tdi, which is so old skool. As you say, you soon get to know who knows what, and there are so many experts on here who give brilliant advice.
On Anything Goes you will find there are some people you wouldn't want to meet in real life, but then you don't have to go there! But again there are some real good laughs to be had and with CV19 it means you still have mates you can have a laugh with, like down the pub without the beer!
I have been looking around recently and decent welders seem to have come down a bit in price. When I eventually get around to welding up the anniversary Disco I'll see how I get on with the old one and if I get too frustrated, Ill bite the bullet and buy a new one. Can't remember the make of mine, but I don't think it is even a Sealey. Will check out Parweld, since you mention them.
LincolnSteve
Well-Known Member
Talking about settings between the settings on your welder. I've been watching this fella on youtube https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=trevs+blog and he talks about altering the distance from the torch to the workpiece to vary the amount of heat going into the weld. So say setting 3 on the welder with the torch close to the weld is true 3 and setting 3 with the torch a bit further out is 3 and a half. Seems to work for him and he does some lovely stuff. Worth a look on these dark boring winter nights.
My s-i-l also says adjusting the wire speed can make a difference too, but then he says stuff like, "you might just have to weld a bit faster"
On the thicker stuff do you never get the urge to do it with an arc welder? I have to admit that I prefer it, and once you get a bit good, getting the slag off isn't a problem.
