What type of welder should I use?

Either stick, MIG or TIG can be used to assemble and install Welder Series parts. The machine has to have the capacity to weld the material thickness (most Welder Series brackets are 3/16” mild steel).

Stick welders don’t need a tank of shielding gas because the electrode is coated. This coating burns and keeps the air from the weld during the fusion process. Stick welders are more forgiving than TIG if the material being welded is dirty. A good weld made with a stick welder is… a good weld.

MIG welders are convenient because the wire feeds as long as the trigger is pulled (until the spool is emptied). It is easier to get the gun in position to weld because the arc will only be created when the trigger is pulled. MIG offers greater control than stick because the arc is closer to your hand, the arc is always the same distance from your hand (a new stick electrode starts out 12” to 14” long and burns down to the holder), and it’s easy to use two hands to steady the gun. MIG welders are more forgiving than TIG if the material being welded is dirty.

TIG welding gives the greatest power control of the three types being discussed. Often a foot pedal or thumb control is used to adjust the intensity of the arc while welding. TIG requires co-ordination between both hands and, with a foot control, one foot. TIG is not tolerant of dirty material. Rust or carbon scale will “jump” from the material to the tungsten electrode and change the arc pattern. Often it’s necessary to stop welding and replace or sharpen the tungsten when this happens. TIG does produce the dainty, “etched” pattern often seen in street rod and race car products. These are made by highly skilled welders.

A Welder Series tig weld.

Welder Series Mustang II upper towers, showing a mig bead (foreground) and tig bead (around the shock cone).

Welder Series ’32 Update: E-brake linkage revisited

As I’m reassembling the car, there are some things that I think I should have explained a little better at the time of the first article. The emergency brake handle mount is a neat little piece, but I don’t think I explained how it attaches to the floor.

See that little bung at the button end of the ‘canoe’? The bottom of that bung sits on the top surface of the bottom floor panel. Get that? I think you will. I used the Lokar ratchet mechanism and incorporated it into the canoe, which drops the handle into the floor.

The canoe was made from the outside section of a bent 1-5/8″ tube.

This is the hole where the canoe sits.

Below the 2″ thick floor, the linkage fits through a slot in the bottom floor panel. I bent up a linkage rod required to clear the center section tube and threaded it on both ends.

I drilled and tapped the Lokar brass block so it would work with my threaded linkage rod.

I used a 3/8″ heim joint (or “rod end”) to support the linkage rod and also to serve double duty as the upper bolt for the transmission mount.

A little out of place, but an update nonetheless. I put heat shrink on the wires as they exit from the frame rail and tuck in to the grille shell so they won’t stand out like… wires.

A Little Horton Hot Rod History

I came across these scans tonight and thought it would be fun to post them, just for you to see some of what the family’s been up to for the past 30+ years.

One of “the twins”, a pair of trick hiboy roadsters built in the 80′s by Paul Horton and Lloyd Stewart. This ’32 is still seen at Louisville.

Paul & Dorothy Horton with me in the ’29 in the mid 80′s.

The same ’29 on hand formed 2×4 rails matching the contour of the body. This car had an unfortunate end in a cemetery after being T-boned during a poker run. You can call it luck if you must, but for some reason my brother and I (who ALWAYS rode in the rumble seat) asked to ride in a ’46 sedan with friends. After the accident, the battery (strapped down in the floor of the rumble seat) was found way down the road. I don’t call it luck.

A ’23 T Bucket that kind of started the whole parts business. This car was built in a Montreal garage by Paul and Dorothy Horton. There are tonnes of trick parts on this car!

The current (well, it hasn’t been on the road in three years) ’40 Sedan is the car I remember traveling to events in as a kid. With over 90 000 miles, we made quite a few!

The 1935 Chev built between the cherry tree and the apple tree in Paul Horton’s parents back yard.

My brother and I before we were made redundant by pin-ups ;)  I’m the cute blond making the bird face.

Dear Welder Series… four link, sway bar, tig welder

Fabrication, Welding and how-to’s for your home built hot rod from WelderSeries.com

Dear Welder Series…

I have a 1956 Chev truck and want to put a 4 link in the back .was thinking of a triangulated one. would that work? the frame is 34 inches wide.or should i use a parallel 4 bar and a panhard bar and which kit # do you recommend ? thank you Dave

Dave, this is a good question… There are several considerations when choosing a rear suspension system.
An important one is frame width.
A typical triangulated rear 4-link has the upper bars mounting off of the frame boxing plates and angling back to each side of the differential housing. The narrower the frame, the less triangulation is possible unless the upper bars get shorter. Shorter upper bars cause greater pinion angle change. The upper bars could be angled from wide apart on the axle tubes to close together off of a crossmember to get more triangulation.

A parallel 4-link and Panhard bar is not as sensitive to frame width. The bars should be mounted as wide apart as practical to stabilize the rear end.

The triangulated system requires more precise installation. It costs less because there is no Panhard kit

The parallel 4-link/Panhard system allows adjustment in any direction with a minimal effect on other settings.

Both systems can cause problems with exhaust routing.

I recommend the parallel kit because it’s easier to install and easier to set up.

Thanks for writing. I hope we can help with your project.

Paul Horton

Dear Welder Series…

Do you make your universay sway bar in 0500 inch diameter. The 48 Plymouth Conv I’m working on never had a rear sway bar and I may not be able to use anything greater than .750 on the front.

Bob, all of our sway bars are .75″ diameter. The outer tube, which serves as a bearing (urethane bushing) holder and a place for the mounting tabs, is 1-3/8″ O.D.

Dear Welder Series…

Specifically I’m looking to get into a tig setup for the first time. Would a Miller Maxstar 150 be powerful enough to do the nice (and quick, I might add!) tig welding I see being done on your videos?

Thanks, Scott

Thanks for asking me about this welder, Peter. I’m not familiar with it, but it seems light. Here is a forum thread that I’ve been following that might be helpful: http://canadianrodder.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3206

I know Mike (Oldman) and respect his knowledge. (He’s a heck of a good guy, too.)

I hope this helps.

Paul Horton.

How-To: Custom Bumper Guards on a 1950 Merc

All Ways Hot Rods, located near downtown Phoenix, was founded in 1999 by the Way brothers Mike and Randy. They help hot rodders build their dream cars. One of those dream cars you may be familiar with is a flawless 1932 3 Window Coupe that won the 2008 Goodguys “America’s Most Beautiful Hot Rod” award.

In this shoebox how-to we’ll take a look at how Gregg Grisham, a long time member of the All Ways team gives the custom touch to a ’50 Merc’s front and rear bumper by adding ’51 Merc’ bumper guards. Let’s listen in to the how-to instructions from Gregg: “This method will work for most combinations.

I need to mention that it is important to clean off the chrome and copper from where you are welding, and to make the surfaces of your welds as pit free as possible, and a good chrome shop like Kerr West can do wonders to finish off the parts.

Here’s a list of the Chop Shop Tools All Ways Hot Rods used: Rolloc grinder with various pads to clean chrome and grind for fit, 45 degree with cutoff wheel and burrs, as well as a reversable cut off wheel. The hammer and T dolly were used to adjust fit of sections when welding, and to tap out some of the dents in the guards.

Here’s a finished look at the front bumper. “No Way” these bumper guards are NOT originals, you say? Way dude! All Ways Hot Rods that is.

Check the gallery below for more of the finished and in progress photos, along with the tools used.

Go check out the All Ways Hot Rods website for more of their beautiful craftsmanship. Maybe you’ve got a project they can turn into your dream car too!

 

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