More info on years of hand brake and part numbers of cables please. those of us doing five speed swaps need a hand brake and this look nice even without a console. Can you make a new thread in the tech section about the ebrake setup?
Nice work. You have your Mav looking just like I want to do to mine. I've always wanted to learn to weld too...
Never having welded before, I bought a Lincoln Handy Mig, some supplies from Harbor Freight and a tank of gas from GTS - then practiced, practiced and practiced
Me too. Never MIG welded until I bought a garbage Harbor Freight welder, welded till it broke and picked up one of the new Eastwood welders. I've put a ton of wire through it, just built a nice new bumper for my Pathfinder. Not that hard to learn, just intimidating at first if you don't know whats involved.
I get good weld penatration and got much better at adjusting the heat vs wire speed but my biggest problem is still having the weld look nice. Sometimes it gets hard to see where the seam is that I am supposed to be welding
Same, I've started to alter the way I run the gun, holding it more perpendicular to the seam to allow me to see better. Most of my welding is looking better, especially if its a but joint with a slight gap, or if its two pieces at a right angle. I still suck at welding round tubing, and I'm pretty hit or miss if I have to weld overhead on something under the car.
What kind of helmet / lens are you using? For many years I used a helmet with a fixed shade for stick welding, might have been a #12 lens or something like that. For the lighter welding done with a small mig the lens was too dark. Good investment was a $50 auto-darkening helmet from Harbor Freight that you can dial the lens down to around #9 for light welding or crank it up for heavier arc welding. Plus you aren't constantly flipping the helmet up and down. http://www.harborfreight.com/adjustable-shade-auto-darkening-welding-helmet-46092.html
Here's the best one I have found. I think it looks awsome and it has a large viewing area and even has a grinding setting. Was kinda expensive but well worth it. It stays in the shop. I use a different one when out in the field.
^^^ Ok, what self-respecting welder wears a helmet with little lacey, doily-looking designs on it? J/K
I think that is what I paid for my helmut at GTS Gas. It is the auto-darkening type and it does darken the split second that the arc is struck. One thing that I tried that helped some was to add some extra light to the work area from a floresant bulb. Maybe I need to fool with the helmut adustments some more too.
