modifiedmark said:
Hey man, you need to mellow out, I meant no offense!!
Hmmm..... yes, you're right - I do need to mellow out. I apologize. I was at work yesterday, as I am today, trying to pick up the slack of the people with whom I work. At this point in time I absolutely detest my job, and wasting my weekend here (rather than at home working on my Cougar!) had me feeling bad and seriously pissed off yesterday. But I'm not feeling so bad today, even though I am at work. So, once again, sorry about that Mark.
To answer a couple of your questions: I don't do it on a regular basis, but I consider myself modestly proficient at MIG welding. Most of what I have welded has been agricultural equipment (gates and stalls, animal feeders, conveyor housings, etc). That being said, I have never welded anything in which the structural integrity of my welds has been seriously tested (like shock towers or frame rails). I have never TIG welded. As far as equipment, I don't own, but have access to a MIG welder and a plasma cutter, and I own an array of power and air tools, including grinder, disc cutter and sand blaster. As far as working on cars, I have been monkeying around with various cars, both new and classic since I was a sophomore in high school (1984). By monkeying around, I mean lots and lots of bolt-on performance (at this point my wife's '02 Stang is practically a rolling advertisement for MAC and Steeda bolt-ons); rebuilt 4 engines (Chevy 327, Ford 292 Y-block; Ford 460; and Ford 6-cyl out of '65 'Stang); removed and disassembled a 351C from a '71 Galaxy (but never did anything with it; I still have the damn block, heads and crank in the barn, too). Thus I consider myself mechanically proficient. BUT - I've never done a hardcore strip-it-to-the-frame-and-rebuild-it type project.
My Cougar was to be my first true hardcore "project" car. The engine is out and disassembled, and the transmission is out, and now I'm beginning to look at what I really should do to the car to improve its condition before putting the engine/trans back in. The thing that sticks out as being done most easily while the engine and transmission are out fixing the rust rot in the fender aprons and frame rails. In the original post I mentioned the frame rails. As far as the fender aprons, the problem areas are actually up on the top, just to the engine side of where the fenders bolt on (does that make sense?). There are rusted holes in the fender aprons. Now - that looks to me like one could just weld in a patch, really - but that would be ugly.
I'm losing my train of thought here - I have to keep jumping up and running into my lab. Anyway - what I'm saying here is that I'm into getting the car in really nice shape, and it seems like replacing the fender aprons and at least having the frame rails patched would be a very nice improvement. Now that I have her in the barn - oh yeah, did I mention that...... it's in a barn and has no need to be moved at all. It can sit there 'til Hillary Clinton is elected president for all I care - wait a minute, that may not be that long. Well, like I was saying, I'm into getting this car in nice shape, and I'm not sure I care how long it takes (although I would like to get it done this decade). Anyway, jeez, this is getting long and I'm really losing my train of thought. Sorry again Mark, I was just having a bad day yesterday.:1poke: Any and all thoughts are appreciated.
Lab Rat