what to do

[kingfisher]

Took the fronty for its mot yesterday. It failed. It failed the inner and outer sills needs welding both sides near and offside suspension spring mountings excessive corrosion. Seatbelt anchorage points on both sides excessive corroded.both sides both headlights loose due to corrosion around them. Nearside and offside front brake plpes excessively. Corroded. Reg plate light not working nearside and offside rear brakes binding. Advisory. Item oil light on. He also had a look around it and found a petrol leak. The filler hose neefd replacing and i still can't find the water leak. Now i cant weld so basically.the brakes i can do everything else its a garage jpb the mot bloke refused to do the work on it as he said it. Would be robbing me he's looked after the family s cars for years. It worth getting done or is it time to say goodbye its been in the family since it was. 2 yrs old so im very attached to it.
Thanks in advance

[gregster]

As brutal as this may seem, you would probably be better just buying a solid one with mot if you are going to have to pay someone to do the work on yours, and then sell yours for spares/repairs, minus any goodies you want to keep for your new one. Is there anyone near you that could help, maybe spanner party to get it fixed?

[gregster]

Most of it isnt big bucks to fix, if you arent paying garage hourly rates to repair it...

[kingfisher]

Thanks greg what i was thinking was getting. Another fronty and keeping this one and having a go at doing it learning to weld etc if it didn't. Work. Out well i aint really losing anything could still spare or repair it mechanical im sort of okish its just the welding thanks again greg

[horses45]

That's not a bad idea and if you got a similar fronty you have some spares on tap so to say

[gregster]

I would try another good leafer if you are going down that route, as then your running gear would be more interchangable...the coil sprung version has a lot of differences engine, axles, suspension, interior wise, such that there wouldnt be that much useful stuff that would be usable off your old car.

[kingfisher]

Thanks for the replys. Im going to start it the weekend. Looking at grinders. And welders. At the moment. I got s arc welder bit that sort of burns holes in the metal by the way what year did they stop makong the leafers was it m reg
Thanks

[fudge]

you will be wanting a good mig welder. and dont go gasless... boc are doing an offer on gas for private use too! if you want more info on that i can get it
you want at least a 150a or higher.

and yea the leafers stoped in 95. but you do find some leafers in 96, just depends on when it was registered.

there is a nice white leafer on ebay at the mo..

[kingfisher]

Thanks for the replys guys ive been looking at welders the type you plug in not the gas type i dont fancy useing a flame yep saw that one on ebay also saw one on preloved.thanks again

[gregster]

When we say a mig with gas, it means a MIG welder that uses a bottle of inert gas (argon/co2) to provide a shield for the arc, sooner than one that uses a flux coated wire.
What kind of budget do you have for a welder, because we can then maybe give you some pointers as to what to go for.

[kingfisher]

To be honest i was looking at second hand greg.

[fudge]

that is what my nice little mig welder was...
got it from ebay.. was listed as spairs and repairs and since the torch needed some work (missing a little spring)

and be careful as some cheep ones have a always live (so the torch is always live. and it will arc out if you touch it down on a plate that is connected.

[4x4 bobby]

Bought a mig from e-bay for £25 and it is the live torch type that fudge has told you about. Thay are ok but do take a bit of getting used to. A gas/gasless mig is the way to go then you have the best of both!

[Fadpasser]

Had the same problem a few years back when my Fronty had had its day, I woulda loved to keep it as a project/donor for my new one but just didnt have the space once its tax ran out so was forced to scrap it. my advice would be if at all possible if you can get the dead one off the road somewhere then do it.

[kingfisher]

I got my drive so im deffinetly going for it. Bought a grinder today from aldi £20 plus £4 for discs read the reviews an it seems ok for the money. You get what ya pay for i suppose. Thanks for the replys

[Fadpasser]

on the up side you know you will get all the help and knowledge you need from the guys on this site

[kingfisher]

Yep i know that from the past few years it would have gone years ago if it wasnt for everyone on here thanks

[snapper]

Re Migs,

I was using a SIP Handymate Gasless thing that came from fleabay some years ago. For the money it was sort of okay for doing bodywork patches and sills although the duty cycle really sucked, I think it had been around a bit before I got hold of it and tbh it didnt take long to work why it was on the bay in the first place! (It now lives in the naughty corner of the shed)

Initially I upgraded welding masks, going from one of the old stylee masks to a battery powered Arc Activated Mask, it really, really makes the job easier.

Having recently found the need (winch bumper project) to upgrade to something that will actually weld stuff together I upgraded to this baby here.

Apart from the mask it was the best move I've made welding wise, okay it wasnt the cheapest on the range and the leccy hook up had to be sorted (15A socket rather than a 13A, so it needed it's own supply) but the annual works bonus sorted the bill and being an electrician came in handy with the 15A Socket. Oh and I already had the Gas Kit in the corner of the shed so that was sorted too. It does exactly what it says on the tin as they say.

Think what I'm trying to say is to try and put the investment into a reasonable machine that has a good duty cycle for what you want it for and is not going to be hanging out of it's backside doing the jobs you want it to do. If your buying from fleabay try and get some idea of the life/use the welder has had which will give you some idea if the transformers been cooked or not. And as your eyes are pretty important get a good mask to go with it (same goes for the Goggles to go with your nice new grinder). Machine Marts welders arent top of the range, but they're not junk either.

[4x4 bobby]

[kingfisher]

Couple more questions (sorry) ive been looking at the sealey mighty 100 mig welder are these ok for what i mref ive read the info on them and to be honest it may as well be in chinese and the plate i have to use. Is it 2 mm thick thanks in advance