More practice welding! I had mentioned last time that welding thin sheet metal isn't a piece of cake like angle iron. Still isn't, but I'm a bunch better. I'm still not ready to tackle the car, but I'm close.

I was having a bunch of trouble making successful "plug" or "button-hole" welds to join two overlapping sheets. This is the method described extensively in 356 Porsche: Technical and Restoration Guide. They simulate the appearance of factory spot welds, and the localized and brief heat required reduces panel warping. After asking for suggestions on 356talk, the general concensus was to turn up the voltage. I ended up turning the MIG to about twice as much power as I have been using when running a butt-weld bead, and that did the trick. Whereas my first several attempts a few days ago resulted in a nice looking "plugs" but poor penetration to the layer underneath (I could shear the two panels apart quite easily by bending along the weld line), my new attempts aren't letting go at all, and the panels bend in half along the line of the weld with none of the welds giving up. Just make sure you don't turn the power up too high without increasing wire feed rate a bit, or you will surely just be burning holes in the metal.

I was going to remove the gas tank today, but I got side-tracked removing external body parts instead. The tail lights, head lights, and directional signals have all been removed and individually labeled and bagged (and important tip drove home by all the literature!). The rear bumper has also been removed. Unfortunately, I was a bit clumsy removing the reverse-light lens, and it broke. It isn't plastic like the tail lights, and I wasn't anticipating it breaking when it hit the garage floor. I also removed the two upper horn grilles, which look saveable, i.e. undamaged from the accident.

I'll give Amick Motors a call soon to see where I stand "in line" for getting the car in for the nose-job.