What do you think is causing the clunking in my rear...

If I was as bad of a doctor as I was a welder I wouldn't have any patients alive for follow up appointments. So you are basically saying for me NOT to quit my day job!

 

So I tried doing the bracket but I had to tuck the 1x1 bar really far up to keep it from hitting the 9" housing....in these pics I'm actually using bryant's comet to mock things up . . .



The cardboard is wedged between the frame and the plate that holds the top of the shock in place. I need to figure out how to weld that up there.





Here again I tried using the angle bracket but I had to cut one side off in order to push it way up there in the corner.


This is what it looks like


Some of the welds (ok, most of the welds) look bad because I moved too quickly. But with the highest setting on this 110V welder and increasing the wire speed really got me some decent penetration.




I cleaned the metal with the grinder but I still see all that brown soot, maybe I should have cleaned it more. Maybe the wire I have isn't the right wire?

 

Moving the staggered shock to the rear of the housing will give you room for a beefier mounting solution

 

I was talking to Bry about that. How would I move them and still keep the geometry intact?

 

Ive got some pictures of mine, i just matched the angle of the other rear shock on mine

 

I'd like to take a look at your setup. Where do you have a pic?

 

Whats your email and ill send you some tommorow

 

I sent you a PM, thanks for the pics in advance.

 

mo, i think that new roll of wire you put in the welder was flux core. that would explain the brown powder.

 

Why didn't I just push the broken metal up and weld it up?? Dang it.... that would have been so much easier.

 

I put the rod up today on the maverick. Took a plate and cut the proper holes similar to the shock bracket. I did all the mockup work on the comet.... it fit on my mav really nicely.
I made some cuts with a die grinder which worked out well.

 

I put down some spot welds to keep the plate on.... problem was I couldn't get the rod out with the exhaust in the way

 

Looks like a better solution for a car that will be pushed hard.

These cars came with tiny tires, so a big axle with a lot of meaty tire hanging off it really ups the loads that the shocks have to deal with, and those get upgraded too. Add 40 year old metal to mix ... no wonder these spots fail.

Important .... when reading welding tips as I was starting to MIG, I know I saw a caution about welding galvanized metal ... the process combines badly and make fumes that can give you flu-like symptoms later.

Also .... an interesting article about what NOT to use to clean metal up for welding ... talking permanent lung damage here (if you live.... ) ....http://www.centralstreetscene.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-35574.html Just putting it out there because as a beginner, I had no supervision ....just read a lot .... be safe.

When I was putting patches in the passenger side floor, I am pretty sure the rocker itself is galvanized. Took it slow ... tack, tack, tack .... walk away ... had a fan blowing through there too.

 

thanks for the tip...I gotta be better about that. I've been cleaning the metal with a 36 grit sander which helps, but I gotta put the fan on full blast to get the air circulating....it will probably also blow away my shielding gas but that's better than messing up my lungs...I could go back to flux-core wires. . .

 

How about setting the fan to pull the fumes away, and not too close? Not too hard to hold your breath for up to a minute if you relax, too, short burst, walk away.... I think the shielding gas may have more of a chance to do the job.

If you do get the symptoms from welding galvanized steel, it is only temporary and won't do long term hurt ... unlike the cleaners that they talk about. Those can be BAD.