Time for an overhaul of my 1.9 '98 BMW Z3 Individual

[Matt Barnes]

@IainP ... FINALLY ordered a welder !!... (coming at the weekend) it's a STATICARC 130A one for domestic supplies...amazon special but at least it gets me into welding. So once I become a little bit proficient I can have a crack at my sill and try welding some nuts on the broken bolts in the trailing arms !

 

[Matt Barnes]

so all my welding stuff turned up.... got it out the box, set it all up... set my brand new helmet up.... and this ..... is my my first EVER weld !

don't think I'll be attacking the sills just yet !!!..... but... might be able to weld a nut onto the broken bolts on the trailing arm !

 

[t-tony]

Reminds me of a song from a few years back, "Things can only get better"
Trying to weld something that thick you need the power almost fully up. And don't be surprised if the machine cuts out. If I were you I would start by practicing on car body thickness steel, as that's your ultimate aim? Clamp it tight together too.

Tony.

 

[Matt Barnes]

Reminds me of a dog from a few years back, "Things can only get better"
Trying to weld something that thick you need the power almost fully up. And don't be surprised if the machine cuts out. If I were you I would start by practicing on car body thickness steel, as that's your ultimate aim? Clamp it tight together too.

Tony.

cheers mate....yeah it was just to get a feel of welding having never done it before. I wanted to make sure I could hold the torch, that my helmet screen would work, that I didn't end up in a fireball ! .. I'm not going anywhere near the car until I can tack properly, do the odd butt weld.. then try welding a nut to the broken bolt on the trailing arm... if that all works, then I might brave thinner gauge stuff in readiness for the sill...

 

[Matt Barnes]

second day...second attempt...... took my time this time... made sure the metal was clean and played around with the settings a bit more

and managed to win an Award !! *cough*... *ahem*

 

[Duncodin]

Actually, that doesn't look bad. Well, the first one looked a bit rough but once you got the hang of it it's OK. Mig welding isn't rocket science. What does need a bit of skill is cutting out the rot and making up new panels to fit.

I like that your welder has separate power and wire speed knobs. Mine is an old Sip Migmate around 30 years old with just two power settings and the feed rate is fixed based on whatever power settings is chosen. It was OK when it was new but it struggles now. On the low power setting the feed rate is too low. On the high power setting the feed rate is almost OK but if you're not quick it burns through anything thinner than 1mm.

Be sure to post pictures of your sills when you're done to review that welder for me.

Thanks
Ian

 

[Matt Barnes]

Actually, that doesn't look bad. Well, the first one looked a bit rough but once you got the hang of it it's OK. Mig welding isn't rocket science. What does need a bit of skill is cutting out the rot and making up new panels to fit.

I like that your welder has separate power and wire speed knobs. Mine is an old Sip Migmate around 30 years old with just two power settings and the feed rate is fixed based on whatever power settings is chosen. It was OK when it was new but it struggles now. On the low power setting the feed rate is too low. On the high power setting the feed rate is almost OK but if you're not quick it burns through anything thinner than 1mm.

Be sure to post pictures of your sills when you're done to review that welder for me.

Thanks
Ian

Thank you mate.. as you can imagine....and see !... I'd never even touched a welder before yesterday afternoon... it's also a flux core welder and apparently they're prone to "spit"... and I will use that as an excuse !... ...for the 3mm stuff (the right angle weld) I had the voltage nearly all the way up...and "pushed" in circles....I have read that for flux core you should drag, so I might try that on my next outing....

 

[Althulas]

A bit more practice and you’ll be there, not too shabby for day 2 attempt.

 

[Matt Barnes]

A bit more practice and you’ll be there, not too shabby for day 2 attempt.

Thank you mate..... guess it helps there's only two control knobs (voltage and wire feed) and it's quite forgiving.... I'm not going anywhere near the car until I have a decent technique down

 

[t-tony]

The main things to consider are clean metal to be welded a keeping the joints as tight as you can. Plenty of tack welds and tap the joints with a small hammer. A big hammer will only make the joint close up then bounce open again. My favourite welding hammer is a flat pain carpenters hammer of about 12oz weight.

Tony.

ps. 2 controls are all you need, and practice. Looking good 2nd time around Matt.

 

[Duncodin]

Welding car body panels isn't the same as thick 3mm steel. Most car panels are 0.8 or 0.9 mm BMW inner sills are a bit thicker I think but do some practise with thin mild steel

 

[Matt Barnes]

The main things to consider are clean metal to be welded a keeping the joints as tight as you can. Plenty of tack welds and tap the joints with a small hammer. A big hammer will only make the joint close up then bounce open again. My favourite welding hammer is a flat pain carpenters hammer of about 12oz weight.

Tony.

ps. 2 controls are all you need, and practice. Looking good 2nd time around Matt.

cheers Tony.... yeah I'm learning all the tips and tricks and found out what happens when the joint isn't tight.... it just balls up and falls off !

 

[Matt Barnes]

Welding car body panels isn't the same as thick 3mm steel. Most car panels are 0.8 or 0.9 mm BMW inner sills are a bit thicker I think but do some practise with thin mild steel

yeah I think the Sills are 2mm... luckily I don't have any bodywork holes, just two 50p size ones in the offside sill .. which I'm HOPING, I can fix !

 

[IainP]

@IainP ... FINALLY ordered a welder !!... (coming at the weekend) it's a STATICARC 130A one for domestic supplies...amazon special but at least it gets me into welding. So once I become a little bit proficient I can have a crack at my sill and try welding some nuts on the broken bolts in the trailing arms !
View attachment 281525

That’ll do the job, remember to make your earth connection super clean, easiest mistake even experienced folk make.
Looks like you’re getting there though.

 

[Matt Barnes]

That’ll do the job, remember to make your earth connection super clean, easiest mistake even experienced folk make.
Looks like you’re getting there though.

Thanks Iain !...only meant to play for 30 minutes, ended up doing 3 hours ! ...just playing around with voltage, wire speed and hand technique...it's addictive !

 

[Duncodin]

Is your mask one of those that are see through but then darken automatically (sorry. Dont know what they're called)

 

[Matt Barnes]

Is your mask one of those that are see through but then darken automatically (sorry. Dont know what they're called)

yes, it has a light sensor above the window and you can adjust the sensitivity and darkness. Before you press the trigger it's like looking through a green plastic screen, and when you strike an arc it turns black in milliseconds and you just see a green ball which is the arc...only cost 30 quid

DEKOPRO Auto Darkening Solar Welding Helmet ARC TIG MIG Weld Welder Lens Grinding Mask New Black Design https://amzn.eu/d/5cmGHwF

 

[t-tony]

That’ll do the job, remember to make your earth connection super clean, easiest mistake even experienced folk make.
Looks like you’re getting there though.

I often used to use a pair of old Mole grips and put the earth clamp onto the grips.

Tony.

 

[Matt Barnes]

I often used to use a pair of old Mole grips and put the earth clamp onto the grips.

Tony.

great idea !!!

 

[Matt Barnes]

so another day in the garage with the welder...… found a YouTube channel where an guy from the States broke down different voltages and wire speeds for different thicknesses of steel... though he was using a MIG and I've got a flux core welder. I converted his imperial on the left to metric for my welder. Top left are the stats for my welder...

my welder marked up for reference

with 1mm made sure I had good clean steel and clamped

then had some fun with some 9 mm plate !!....whacked up voltage and wirespeed to the max !!

decided I was then brave enough to try welding a nut onto the trailing arm broken bolt.... quick practice first.... then it was time to brave a welded nut

did it work ????..... no......



ended up trying 4 times.... each one snapped off ....top photo is my practice one...

tried adding weld.. then adding a nut..... but still no Bueno

all I ended up doing was hiding the bolt !

so it looks like I'm resigning myself to taking the hub off... drilling and tapping the hole.....