Welding Tips; House Re-model Update; Thoughts on 356 Restoration Book; Plasma Cutter

A quick note, it is unfortunate I don't have time for more.

I ran across this article on the Web: Expanded Welding - Auto body tips. If you have been MIG welding like me for awhile, but have no formal training, you have probably intuitively figured out many of the things in this article. Even so, it is nice to read it someplace and have some of your "suspicions" confirmed about how things work, and how to do certain actions properly. Check it out.

We are all moved out of our old house, and renovations have started. Demolition of the garage is scheduled for next week. I've moved about half my gear to the rental space, and the car itself is hopefully moving on Thursday. I'll be sure to get some pictures.

I received Jim Kellog's book, Porsche 356: Guide to Do-it-Yourself Restoration, in the mail today. A couple of comments, I guess. Overall, I like the book. It has a nice "conversational style" like most of the material surrounding 356s. Picture quality is usually quite good. However, I found it way too short. Way too short. While I recognize walking the fine line between "too much" detail and too many assumptions may be difficult, I think that the latter is the case in the book. I don't expect to be taught how to weld, but comprehensive descriptions of some basic common repairs for the 356 are lacking, including the battery box area and longitudinals. I mean, they are touched on, but even past Registry articles by Ron Roland are referred to as definitive. Good thing I have read them! I think perhaps Jim and Ron should get together for the 2nd edition, because Ron so often mentioned writing a book in his articles, but never seems to have done so.

There are some good tips for the re-assembly process, new stuff I haven't read before, and I know that it will be valuable during that phase. However, even here the book seems sparse.

All in all, I'm glad I have the book. It just needs to be about 4-5 times as long. 73 pages just isn't enough. Perhaps the biggest thing the book has done so far is convince me to get a plasma cutter. I've been contemplating it for months, but they are expensive, and I wasn't really sure if it would be as useful as my fertile imagination pretended. Jim sure does make it sound essential! I found a small 110 volt model with a built-in compressor on eBay for less than $500. Actually, Harbor Freight sells a similar model under a different name, and this isn't cheap import crap. It is made in the USA by Thermadyne, and by all accounts I have come across it is a quality product. I can't wait to use it, I think doing the rear-seat and firewall repairs will be much easier with it.

On a completely different note, no twins yet...

Posted by pbrown at April 27, 2004 09:08 PM