Hello from Mississippi

[swalters]

Hi,

I've been on this site a couple of months now and have learned a ton. I have a '67 Fairlane that I bought a few years ago and it has a lot more rust than advertised.

So far, I've got to :

1. Patch the cowl - not a fun job
2. patch or replace the front torque boxes
3. Redo the butchery that some idiot did to the floor pans. Leaving a one inch, non-welded gap on the bottom of them is guaranteeing that they will rust out again.
4. replace lower rear quarter - I've already got a donor piece
5. Patch a few rusted places in the door corners.

After all of that, i should have have a solid car - at least for a few years

I can stick weld a bit and butcher something with a conventional cutting torch, but I've never done any sheet-metal work. I bought David Gardiner's DVD (great work David!) a few months ago and just bought a Henrob/DHC 2000/Cobra torch.

I'm now working on my fusion welding skills and it's slow go. When I don't blow through, it's a beautiful thing and the weld almost disappears so I'm convinced that it's the way to go. But I'm blowing through more often than not. I'm practicing on 22 gauge and I think it might be a bit thin for my lack of skills. Also, I think my gaps have got to be tighter. Once I get it mastered, I'll then tear into that cowl patch.

Thanks to all that have contributed so far. I've really enjoyed reading the discussions and will hopefully start posting some questions soon to help me get my car in shape for painting.

-Shane
Ovett, MS