Back on the car

In an attempt to do the whole work/life balance thing, I've decided to take work home less, and make a serious attempt to get back on the car. This isn't the first time I've tried to get back on the car, but I think this is the most earnest that I've made. Usually as I make the decision to get back on the car, I'm under the delusion that "as soon as project XYZ is finished, I'll have much more time to myself, and I'll start back on the car" - but I've finally come to the realisation, that there's always something else that will take up my time, and the only way to get it done is to devote regular time on the car - at least twice a week. So this is what I've been doing...

So, I've been practising welding. It took me a while to get cracking with welding, but am getting there. At first, the trigger on the MIG I was using leaked gas constantly (very expensive), so I ordered a replacement from the manufacturer, Sealey. The replacement part they sent was completely wrong, so I sent it back. Then they said that the correct replacement part was obsolete, but they could send me a full torch assembly for £100 - I declined. Lucky for me, MogMad56 on the Morris Minor Owners forum kindly offered an old Murex torch assembly, for nothing. It's way better quality than the original Sealey torch, and I'm well chuffed with it.

It took a tiny bit of fettling to get it wired/plumbed into the Sealey welding unit, but nothing too complicated. Once I got it wired in, I then got cracking again but found out how easy it was to get through one of the disposable gas bottles - costing me about £13 for every evening of welding.

Still, I persevered, but then I was lucky enough to get a large, full argon cylinder - free! This has been a massive help. I've also bought a solar-powered automatic dim welding helmet, to replace the crappy hand-held fixed filter that comes with the weld set.

Blah blah blah - where I'm up to...

Over the past fortnight, I've been practising welding. First, doing runs in sheet metal, then welding pieces together. I'm not saying its perfect, but I'm definitely seeing improvements in my welding...

Look at the middle one - ignore the other two

Plenty of room for improvement, but it's penetrating well, and not blowing through

alot of practices, on one of the many, many, many test pieces

Spot the "good weld" - don't think it would look bad once it was dressed with a flap disc

The next thing is to practice a bit more, and then put my welding to use on a simple repair to the inner wing. Simple because the inner wing is almost sheet steel (a slight shape to it) and will hopefully be an easy introduction to begin actually repairing the car.