In preparation for the rust repairs I bought a cheapo Fluxcore MIG welder. I cannot afford a good welder it is just out of my budget.
I know that TIG or gas/MIG is best for sheet metal but the Fluxcore will have to do until the next Datsun comes along. So far it has been tedious work. Lots of blow outs, lots of welds that look like boogers. I made a copper heat sink out of some pipe pounded flat and that seems to help alot
Here is the start of rust repairs.
Damage from rust
Preparing a patch panel
Cutting out the rust
To be continued.
I also took the opportunity with my new welder to make some cross braces for the seat rails that I fabricated. Hopefully this will make the sliding operation a bit more smooth and give them overall strength.
The passenger seat rails had a few extra holes drilled in them where I mis-calcuated the 1/2" shim. So with the welder I was able to fill the figure eight shaped holes and redrill just one circular hole. Maybe a little pedantic but it was bothering me. OCD kicking in.
So far for my third time welding anything in my life it turned out okay.
Next I pulled the dashboard out of the car. Had to buy a steering wheel puller tool to get the cracked and worn steering wheel out. Can't figure out why but someone epoxied the screws for the horn pad onto the steering wheel so I had to drill the screws out. Then pull out the horn pad, then use my steering wheel tool and remove the steering wheel.
Dissassembled the heater controls. Removed a few wires and taped them with labels.
Observations so far.
Speedometer was disassembled. Seems a bit dodgy.
Tacho wiring is a bit weird. Is this the reason that the tacho lights did not work?
What in the hell is this jumper with a white cube?
Some other mystery wires. What do these go to?
Welding patch panels for floor ongoing....update soon.