Restoration equipment

[Mike_NZ]

Right, I'm beginning to plan my upcoming rebuild, and would be interested to know what equipment others have been using on their projects, particularly in terms of body work.
I know Bigelboe used an electric drill to strip at least some of his paint, I was thinking of using air tools for most of my work.

For cutting rust out, would a rotary wheel, a saw and/or shears be what's required?
Welding wise, are you using fluxed or gas shielded mig?

I've got some leave I need to take so should have a good couple of weeks to get stuck into it.

[James]

Ill tell you what I wish I had done when I started.

Buy the biggest compressor you can afford, ideally belt driven, 2 cylinders, like 3HP. This is a seriously good investement, spend like 800-1000 if you can afford to. You will not want to use air tools unless you can use them continuously without waiting for it to charge up all the time, trust me its extremely frustrating.

Get a good die grinder. This will be the most used tool for rust removal. You can fit a cut-off wheel, a burr, a grinding stone, a wire wheel etc.

For paint strippiing it depends what your doing, whether your going all back to bare metal, or just back to solid paint or what. For large panels I would just use a DA air sander with coarse paper for quick removal or if your going back to metal just use paint stripper, its a bit nasty and messy but it saves SOOOOOOOO much time sanding.

Welding wise I have never used a fluxed mig so I can't really offer an opinion but Cols gassed mig has been great for everything automotive. He went for a good brand (BOC) and it cost him about 2k for a complete setup, if you went chinese you could probably get something pretty comparable a lot cheaper.

Get the cheapest angle grinder you can find that takes the 22mm discs, they are much better value than the smaller ones. For colins grinder we just made up a nut thing so his smaller grinder could take the bigger discs, works nicely.

A half decent pair of tin snips will be good for cutting out the panel steel for patches, try to ensure it can handle a decent guage of steel, like 1.2mm or something.

[QikLude]

I work on a lot of various race vehicles and do restoration type work in my spare time and I agree completely with the above!

get a nice phat compressor, very good investment!

One or two things i would add, the little 3" air cutters like http://www.sulco.co.nz/Product?Action=View&Product_id=7531
are so so handy!!!
Little air nibblers arnt a bad thing either, if you get a cheap set though try and get a good replacement nibbler head for when the first one pein's over (not expensive)

DA sander (Dual Action) yip, best thing ever, a couple of manual sanding boards as well, at least one short one long.

As for welding anything post 1980 Gas sheilded mig is your best bet.
If you can afford or can gas weld make the step to TIG if you want.
cost you around $12ish dollars a month to rent a small argosheild bottle from someone like BOC and $70-80ish to fill
The results are worth it for sure!

Otherwise if moneys no object i can list some more things

Cheers

[James]

I work on a lot of various race vehicles and do restoration type work in my spare time and I agree completely with the above!

One or two things i would add, the little 3" air cutters like http://www.sulco.co.nz/Product?Action=View&Product_id=7531
are so so handy!!!

Isn't that just a die grinder with a cut-off wheel? and a guard I spose.

Personally for the first welder I would always buy a MIG, heaps better for panel work. TIG is good for alu work and piping and stuff but I generally find fewer automotive applications for it.

Other than that getting good quality hand tools makes work so much nicer. A good bahco hacksaw, a good panel hammer etc.

EDIT: Also I just cracked 2500 posts

[3GCVC]

If your going to get a air cutoff tool and a electric angle grinder get a 4inch angle grinder the cutting wheels will fit the 3inch air cutoff tool when they are worn down a bit makes things a bit cheaper.

But yes definitely the biggest compressor your budget will allow higher the CFM the better.

I have a decent hopper fed sandblaster this is quite easily the best thing for rust repairs besides that the only tools i use are a 115mm angle grinder, electric drill and a spot welder. very infrequently i use a air and electric die grinders.

Definately a gas MIG for panel repairs mine cost $1200NZ(cost + 10% +GST i think) its Australian made LiquidArc i havent had any problems with it, Instead of hiring a bottle i brought my own 5kg i think for $415 it works out cheaper all i have to do is fill it ($40) and pay the test fee every 5 years.

Before starting i suggest you remove all the interior or most of it just to make things easier specially if you are working with a sandblaster lol

[turbocab]

yep all of the above..
and i recomend a wire brush wheel for the 100mm grinder better than a drill for removing paint and rust.
i went the cheap chino welder and so far ive had no problems.
also get a cheap speed glass type welding helmet soooo mutch better than popping the damn thing up every time you want to see what you are doing.
give it a damn good wash before you start and jet blast the underbody.
matt

[Mike_NZ]

also get a cheap speed glass type welding helmet soooo mutch better than popping the damn thing up every time you want to see what you are doing.

Yeah I think that's the part I'm most excited about, it used to suck welding at school because by the time you'd flicked your helmet down your hands had moved slightly and you'd be starting in the wrong place.
I was looking at them yesterday, the solar powered ones are pretty sweet how they can charge off the welding light. Me like.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, it was all pretty much in line with what I was planning on getting. I suspect I''ll get a cheaper welder than Col, but we'll see.

The interior's mostly stripped now, and the doors are off, I'll start my rebuild thread once I've got something worth taking pictures of.

[QikLude]

Dont forget for doing panel steel you only really need a small mig, so a good second 'handy smaller unit will often do the trick.

Cheers