!979 Rabbit Diesel Need help!

[745 turbogreasel]

Welding  thin rusted panels using the HF rig will be  a *** without voltage control. Neither will run .024 wire which would be my first choice.
In CA non rusty floor pans should be pretty easy to find in the junk yard still.  i'd expect that to go faster than forming a bunch of patches, and all the rippling in the floor  actually does do something for the feel of the car.  the HF autodark  welding helmet sucks monkeyball, but is good enough to help with the learning curve.

[CarlosA]

I agree on the hood ^ it's not exactly a good bet for your eyes. And since you are learning a auto dark hood will help you a whole lot. I don`t use an auto dark hood except for TIG. What I do is get a big bright halogen style light shining on the work, it will reflect enough light to see what you are doing between welds. This is more of a suggestion to save money also. A decent hood is around $100 at a supplier like AirGas.

[vw-tim]

so im thinking of getting one of these helmets reviews seem good and price seems right. also i think i might just have to go for the HF and patch these holes up i cant spend the $ for the mig welder with gas right now gotta keep on a budget ha also going with the HF with no gas just using the flux core what size sheet metal should i be looking at to patch up these holes? and any tips on how i should go about welding them on with not burning threw the metal i read about drilling holes and then filling the holds plug welding i wanna say? what do you guys suggest?

[CarlosA]

if you drill holes and plug weld them you`ll be creating a layer of metal that rust will quickly form inside of. Also, you can plug weld without drilling holes if ever needed, you just heat up a real hot puddle and the two layers will weld together.

As for burning holes - you won`t have much trouble with that welder, turn it down to start and gradually go up as you practice. Ultimately you want your tack welds to be as hot as you are able to control without burn through. Use 16 ga steel for the patch panels, its thicker than stock and will help you out a bit with this patch job.

Cut up a bunch of strips and practice welding on those - you wont be running beads, more like a lot of tack welds moving around your work as the prior welds cool. Think like 1-3 seconds per tack, long enough for it to get hot and puddle then move on.

[damac]

I got a harbor freight welder and mask a couple weeks ago and its been kind of rough for me as a newbie.  I clean everything to get good connections and try and look at their video guides but the darn thing just seems so jumpy and I don't feel in control at all.  Also I bet my inexperience shows in that I have got pieces red hot only to find my weld chunks fall off, lol.

I think practicing on scrap is definately the way to go, I melted through a spot on the front core support.  Eventually I got some stuff I was doing to stick after smacking things around with a hammer to make sure they were holding ok but I'm not confident.  My stuff isn't as critical as yours.

I should have practiced myself before jumping in, no better way than to get the feel yourself I guess.  I also bought lincoln wire like others have said to.

If you hunt online you can beat your local sales I think for both mask and welder by searching google for national coupons to print out.  I got the welder for $89.99 and mask for $39.99

[vw-tim]

I got a harbor freight welder and mask a couple weeks ago and its been kind of rough for me as a newbie.  I clean everything to get good connections and try and look at their video guides but the darn thing just seems so jumpy and I don't feel in control at all.  Also I bet my inexperience shows in that I have got pieces red hot only to find my weld chunks fall off, lol.

I think practicing on scrap is definately the way to go, I melted through a spot on the front core support.  Eventually I got some stuff I was doing to stick after smacking things around with a hammer to make sure they were holding ok but I'm not confident.  My stuff isn't as critical as yours.

I should have practiced myself before jumping in, no better way than to get the feel yourself I guess.  I also bought lincoln wire like others have said to.

If you hunt online you can beat your local sales I think for both mask and welder by searching google for national coupons to print out.  I got the welder for $89.99 and mask for $39.99

right on man yeah im not going into this purchase thinking its gonna be easy and a great welder i just need to get these holes patched as affordable as i can. and okay ill practice a ton before i just dive in thank you for the advice I appreciate it

[745 turbogreasel]

Not having an analog voltage control is like trying to paint in handcuffs.
Or driving with a Nintendo64 controller.

[R.O.R-2.0]

Not having an analog voltage control is like trying to paint in handcuffs.
Or driving with a Nintendo64 controller.

the 100A HF welder will BLOW right thru rusted sheet metal..

dont waste your money. you need a heat control. the HF machine only has wire speed control..

i have to turn my miller ALMOST ALL THE WAY DOWN to be able to weld sheet metal without much hassle..

you will be cursing more than welding, if you try and use the HF machine without heat control, trust us on this one..

you would be money ahead buying a refurbed, or used 110v lincoln/miller/hobart/esab machine... you NEED something with voltage control to do sheet metal work..

even a BIGGER HF machine will do the trick.. ive done lots of exhaust and body work with a 180 amp chicago electric (harbor freight) welding machine..

dont waste your money on the 100 amp HF machine.. its only good for welding certain metal thicknesses, and it doesnt even do that very good.

[vw-tim]

so i guess ill throw in the extra money and pick up this one

http://www.harborfreight.com/170-amp-migflux-wire-welder-22-volts-110-amps-68885.html

[vw-tim]

Okay so the time has come to spend some $ on a welder and I was thinking is it really gonna be worth it to spend atleast $500 on a welder and learn which I do want to learn how to weld and I figure it would be fun but is it worth it to get this shell fixed up? I'm thinking maybe I should just scrap the shell cuz it does have other problem areas that bug me. I was thinking of trying to pick up another shell one that hasn't had another clip welded up to it and one with not a ton of rust. I found this one.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5864410-FT-80-Rabbit-for-parts-wheels-etc....

So I do pick it up would it be all that hard to get my little Diesel engine running in it? Can I do a gas car and turn it into a diesel Fairly easy? Thoughts please

[ORCoaster]

But it still has a ton of rust.  Going to leak on you soon. 

[vw-tim]

But it still has a ton of rust.  Going to leak on you soon. 

yeah thats true...

[srgtlord]

Find a clean shell and call it a day. You will be driving your car A lot quicker than performing constant rust repairs.

[RabbitJockey]

I love seeing them get saved but a new shell is the easiest route

[vw-tim]

yeah i guess ill be on the hunt for somthing rust free it just seems like everyone is selling somthing with alittle bit of rust but on a better note.

I'm happy to say i got the engine in the car and rigged it up so i could start it!It worked all though it didn't run great it ran! i did notice some issues though and just wondering what could they be like whats best way to fix this.

I figure the IP is not timed so i plan to get a gauge for that also when it was running i pulled on the thottle level part and it didnt effect the engine at all it didnt seem to work would that be because the IP isnt in time?

the other thing was i noticed on the first and second injector that they were bubbling with fuel like there isnt a good seal does that mean its a bad injector?