Bonemaro's '73 Ghia

[crazy tarzan]

You'll start to rub if you go too big. Somewhere on here or TOS there is a whole thread devoted to what tires/wheels/offsets you can fit on a ghia, and what mods to get bigger tires on.

Also, bigger tires will increase your turning radius. AND since there is no power steering, the bigger the tires the more elbow grease it will take to turn the car. I had a fiero once (no power steering) that I went from 195 series up to 215 series on the front and it was noticeably more difficult to turn the wheel afterwards.

[helowrench]

The rear is your limitation. And, usually the two sides are not the same.
Look at the aft top side of the rear tire.

[Bonemaro]

I'm not necessarily looking for a wide wheel. I'm more so just looking for some that look decent.

[Bonemaro]

Perhaps redrilling would be the way to go.

[crazy tarzan]

lots of great vw/porsche wheels in the 4.5-6" range for width, and up to 17"+ as well. Most other aftermarket wheels you have to be careful with backspacing and offset. If your replacing brakes, buy brakes with the pattern to match the wheels you get.

I'm still a fan of wide 5 lug pattern, by 17" rims.

[Bonemaro]

Where do you find these rims? Everywhere I'm looking they have the same eight spoke style. I'd love to see a 4 lug 16x6.

[Bonemaro]

I use to borrow my buddy's Lincoln welder when I worked on my truck. He has since sold it, so I'm going to need to buy one before I start ripping this body off.

Does anyone have any experience with Eastwood MIGs? I'm looking at them and the prices seem very reasonable. Thoughts on this or other brands for light GA body repair?

[Piledriver]

Eastwood is great for a lot of things.
... but they have no idea how a welder works or how to fix it.
Eastwoods version of "support" means you mail it back (at your cost) and they send you another one.
(and they do try very hard to do the right thing)

I really, really like my Thermal Arc 181i.

If you are going to buy a chinese welder, buy a TA 181i or Everlast that you can get warranty service for at your local Airgas.
(The TA uses Tweco guns/consumables available ~anywhere, Tweco and TA are both divisions of Thermadyne)

A used Miller is still usually a better bet if you are trying to go low budget, but there are some tools it really does not pay to cheap out on.

BUT: If you buy a used Miller, you can probably use it for years and resell it for the same price or more when done.
The same is also likely true of a US (or older) Japanese made TA unit.

For MIG, Firepower is another Thermadyne brand, I love my Firepower spoolgun and I adapted my 181i and spool gun to work together, via a few parts from the European version of the 181i (mine has a euro connector, but actually also supports a spool gun... unlike the european version).

The lift TIG works very nice, and it will all merrily run at full rated power+ at the end of a 100' 10 ga extension cord.
(220v)

AC/DC TIG/MIG/stick units that really work are no longer mythical beasts, and can be had for ~sane $$.

[dcstinger]

I have a Lincoln mig that I bought from Home Depot. Second one actually. The first was a 110v mig set up for flux cored wire off the shelf. It worked pretty good with steel up to about 3/16. I did have an experience where the fumes from the flux made me very sick and I was using the machine outside so there was adequate ventilation. I did go on to add the Argon kit to that welder which made even nicer welds with far less worries from noxious fumes. I used that machine so much that I wore it slam out! I replaced it with the 220v version Lincoln mig from Home Depot. More volts = better weld penetration. It used the same Argon kit so I just swapped it from the old welder. Excellent machine for the price. I have used it to replace the frame head, floor pans, weld the frame horn seams and frame head seams plus 100 fabrication projects unrelated to my bug. If you need to weld thinner metals you just change to a smaller gun tip & wire. Then change to the thicker wire & matching tip for thicker materials. It's a breeze. After using 220v and Argon shield I would never go back to 110v or fluxed wire.

[Bonemaro]

I got the welder today and it was doa. They are sending me out a new motor.

[dcstinger]

What did you wind up purchasing?

[Bonemaro]

Just some little cheapy Eastwood MIG 135. I don't expect it to do much more than patch panels and small household stuff, but for welder, auto darkening helmet and gloves $290 shipped, it was hard to pass up.

[Bonemaro]

Got my cart built and ready for some bodywork action.

[dcstinger]

Looking Good

[Bonemaro]

Out from her winters slumber.