TED_fiestaHP said:
A feature of the 914, a soft brake pedal is partly due to the master not solidly mounted. That area looks a little rusty, so it might need some work anyhow. The stronger pedal assembly should include mounting for the master, but it doesn't.
You really do want to upgrade to MIG, you will like that a lot better than flux core. Getting Argon refills is a little annoying, but the welding results are so much better. TIG is a much different skill, better for parts that can be welded on the bench.
Looks like a lot of work, keep us updated.
I think co2 is more appropriate for mig. Or one of the mix gasses.
I think Argon is kind of general use, but to make better welds on some materials, there are other shielding gases. The welding supply shop told me for welding stainless the argon will work, but other gases would be better, but then going back to carbon steel the argon would be better. I don't feel like getting a second tank, most of the stainless I weld is for exhaust.
If you have gotten good with a flux core welder, you will really like how much better the MIG works.
A spot welder is also handy, but often that is only practical for parts, but welding on the car, the car tends to get in the way.
On thin metal try to avoid excess welding, it will shrink and warp. The car was originally built with just spot welds.
I'll probably pull out all of my MIG kit to make sure I still have everything I need. Can't remember if there were bottle gauges or not. It's been years since I've used MIG or TIG but never had an issue with them when I did. I catch on to that stuff pretty quick.
I really need to re-organize the garage since I currently can only take up one bay. I can make it work as is, but this car isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so it makes sense to plan accordingly. Also need to figure out storage for the few interior pieces I have.
Lot's of cleaning, vacuuming, and scraping away chunks of floor deadening material. So far only found one rust spot near the rear corner of the firewall floor pan junction. Did some hammering in some sections to bring it all back closer to the shape it should be in. Only a couple spots really to work on but glad they all had memory to snap back into place.
Unfortunately I have some chassis wonkyness. I'm not quite square so it may need to be taken to a shop to pull on the driver side front corner a bit. In a cross directional measurement I'm shorter on that side by a whole centimeter.
I've stabbed around aggressively and only have the one hole in the passenger rear corner near the firewall. The other areas just need a wire brush and some sort of rust inhibitor. Really pleased with what I see so far. Need to track down some dry ice to remove the rest of the floor deadening material.
Nothing crazy to report. I planned to remove the gas tank and everything in that general area to assess any possible rust or repair work. Decided to take the day off so Wednesday will be my next chance to poke around.
However I did splurge on a part. I ended up finding both window cranks but not the screws. After seeing older Beetles share the same cranks I ordered up some $16 ones that I thought looked the part. So I officially have bolted on a new part. Unfortunately the driver side doesn't work so I'll have to pull the panel to investigate.
