<VV> mig welding

[Tony Underwood]

At 02:30 hours 06/02/2005, Thomas Stingl wrote:

> > Man this floor pan thing is out of hand here,
>...
> > I'm with the group that favors welding.
>
>I am quite sure, the first time we would show up at local TUEV with a
>riveted floor pan, the guy would get a heart attack.
>But it seems to work, based on the many cars imported from USA with
>riveted floor pans, using coke can sheet metal ;-)




At least it was metal...

I've seen more than one Corvair with front floors made of wood.   One in 
particular was especially outrageous... boards were held in with NAILS 
driven through the remains of the original floors and bent over 
underneath.   I'm talking boards, NOT plywood.   I saw another one with 
front floors repaired with a piece of street sign.   Yet another had no 
floor at all under the back seat.    The foot area was OK, but the area 
*under* the back seat bench was rotted away, gone, MIA.

The crowning  glory of rear floors was in a Vair at Richard Durham's place 
(Vair junkyard) a few years ago.    No interior, but the floors were still 
intact somehow... and there were TADPOLES swimming around in the back floor 
area normally under the back seat.    I guess they were feeding on the 
mosquito larva that were everywhere.   By the way...  Richard's junkyard 
area is a tad bit damp in places seeing as how it's alongside a small 
stream.   He tried to pull one early model coupe out of the mud and up the 
bank and the car pulled in half... broke in the middle where the 
rotted-away floors gave up the ghost and the rest of the car separated at 
the rusted windshield pillars (windshield already gone) and left its back 
half in the mud.   The exterior sheet metal wasn't half-bad...  but the 
floors were entirely shot to Hell along with the rockers.    Moral of 
story, don't store a parts car on swampy ground.

There is a 1960 4-door (NOT mine, which has good steel floors) 700 that has 
rear floors made from old license plates.   A bunch of them.   Go 
figger.    I once saw a '61 Vair with floors made from chicken wire and 
fiberglass mat.   They were lumpy but they seemed strong enough and they 
kept the weather out...

Since having a MIG welder, my floors are all steel.    They were steel 
*before* I got a MIG welder... having borrowed one before buying one.


I love the MIG welder... it makes me happy just knowing it's there.


This is strange stuff.


tony..