Would you let this happen to your '54

[Bob54]

First shop i took my '54 to. Any comments?

[1954khardtop]

I've seen some good work come out of messy shops, but looking at those welds I'd say not this one!

[pszikszai]

Unlike some critics, he is working hard.

[Bredehoft]

what kind of front suspension is that?

--george

[Alan]

Looks like a Fat Man for some thing else that has been modified to fit. Arc welding is not the prettiest form of welding. Hey, the guy at least is working on it.

[barnlark]

Is this a trick question? My eyes hurt, first of all. More info needed. My guess is that floor has less salt on it than my garage right now...but no black widows.

[gordr]

No wonder it looks bad. They done gone and put all the wrong parts in it!

[BeeJay]

I've built some pretty nice cars in shops that looked as bad. I was more interested in the quality of the work than the neatness of my surroundings. BTW, most of the welds were TIG with the remainder MIG. Not all that much stronger, but much neater.
Bob

[jcluvsu]

I've seen some good work come out of messy shops, but looking at those welds I'd say not this one!

It's called GORILLA WELDING. It's ugly but strong. Mine looked like that when I first started welding back in 1972.

[spokejr]

As for the welding, yeh, he is working hard! At making a damn mess, he isn't getting any penitration. The last photo, those welds are coming gonna be coming apart soon!

[Bo Markham]

Bob,

Looks pretty good for 1st step. From what I can see of the last picture, there is plenty of penetration. But, keep in mind, this looks to me like it will need some more welding in areas, but not all is lost. A little more work and That should allow him to really dress the surface down. If he, or you follow through, the welds should dress up nicely. Once it's dipped, or sandblasted and powdercoated/painted, it should look pretty darn good. You didn't say if you provided the aftermarket parts, or materials, nor did you say how much you paid the fella to do this work? Depending on your answer, I'd say that if you spent around $3 to $4k (including parts) you did all right.

What do you think?

[junior]

As for the welding, yeh, he is working hard! At making a damn mess, he isn't getting any penitration. The last photo, those welds are coming gonna be coming apart soon!

Ok, a welder and engineer I clearly am not, however, in photo one, I was taught a long time ago in a welding course I took (1983) that the cutouts circled in red should never exceed more than 1/3 the height of the tubing. What strength in torsion and bending does the tube retain in this configuration? In the second photo, the red circled joint would have netted me a slap across the back of the head by my instructor. If you dressed these welds, which would take a long time, there would be no strength in the joint. I have to agree with spokejr. The green circle would have earned a second slap on the back of my head by my instructor because the material left between the end of the material and edge of the hole is not equal or greater than the diameter of the hole. Once again, I'm not a professional, but these are the principles I have been taught. I would not feel comfortable with the work performed on this chassis. Bob54, please share the story of what happened with the first shop. BTW, your car is looking awesome. Regards, Junior

[Aussie Hawk]

The welding problem is a common one when trying to weld plate over 1/4" with a domestic power supply, usually with the welder on the end of an extension lead. You just can't wring enough amps out of the welder to get good penetration. However, as the item is box shaped, and inherantly strong he will probably have no problems. That all said, domestic power supply here is 240 volts with 10 amps at the outlets. (by the way our outlets have switches - just a bit of trivia). If I'm using 10# welding rods I try not to use an extension lead, it just looses too much current, and tends to overheat the lead.

Granted it does need dressing up a bit with a grinder, but geeze you guys are a hard audience ;-)

[Bob54]

Thanks everyone for your input. The intention of posting my pics was to educate myself and receive reassurance that others would also be disatified if they had hired this individual. After a nine month association, the car was removed from the shop and frame work restarted. I am extremely pleased with the progress that is being made by the second shop and will be posting more pics next week.

[junior]

Bob, Aussie Hawk has a point that the welds would probably be ok, but I would have to agree with you, this is not professional work, and it is work that I would have a real difficult time paying for. IMO, you made the best choice by looking for someone else to do a better job. I still maintain the cutouts in the tubing pretty much make the extra metal added to the frame useless, and I know my welding instructor would not accept welds like that to be done. I bet you can't wait to get the car on the road. Junior