Finnish Francesca, 1973 targa resto

[911hillclimber]

I have battled with my SIP hobby welder for years.
It is like the weather day by day and even hour by hour.
Far from consistent.
Sometimes it works well, but the wire has to be virgin clean.
Dropped a hint for the Kemppi for Xmas, but fell on deaf ears.
Looking like a 911 engine to build from PCGB.

[sladey]

Get the portamig Graham - you'll never regret it. Around 600 notes IIRC. I can leave it unused in the shed for a year, pick it up and it works first time, exactly the same as the list time I used it. I almost never touch the wire speed just the power. No fettling, changing, tweaking required

With the SIP I had the same problems as you - half my work time was spent fancying around with the settings, wire feed etc.

[andy888]

mine can lie for months too and it works every time, and leaves the same job. i just keep one of the wee dehumidifiers from the pound shop in the wire compartment.

[Gary71]

Agree 100% Never look back!!

[911hillclimber]

Thanks all and sorry to OP for the drift.
£600 might be a better ask than £1000..
Just been improved I think.

[andy888]

those swivel torches are brilliant. sorry mike as i took this thread on a detour, feel free to clean the thread up.

[210bhp]

Moving rearwards for the next repairs I was pleased that both inner front wings were solid and relatively undamaged. However, Barry pointed out his only area of concern. Due to a butchered attempt at a previous repair the offside inner wing around the wing closure panel had been damaged. With instructions to keep as much original metal as possible he effected a repair rather than a replacement. I think it wasn't fully to his liking as he has very high standards but in view of its ultimate hidden position and the targa reinforcement behind it he went ahead with a repair as best he could with the original metal.







Along the way Barry pointed out that Porsche Glasgow had supplied the later wing closure panel and he was returning it for an exchange for the correct profile one. Although either would be fine this represents a mark of the man. Such is his attention to detail on a part that will never be seen. Ever.

Regards
Mike

[210bhp]

And moving further back.

I know you have seen this all before but when it's your own car you could be forgiven for posting again. I hope you enjoy a little Sunday night indulgence. This was one of my favorite reports from Barry.

I did say previously that when I got the shell home from Finland it didn't look too bad. That's and untrained eye for you. Here is the offside sill area.









Regards
Mike

[210bhp]

That was the front section of the sill area. Nice work isn't it?

I had to stop myself from emailing heaps of praise over and over again. Didn't want the man to get too embarrassed but I was gobsmacked by this work and what was to follow.

Regards
Mike

Regards
Mike

[Bigfoot]

awesome work!! Quality second to non!

Great thread too Mike

[210bhp]

Thanks Adam.

More great work.







I was loving the updates even though more original material was being replaced. The good news was that Mika had been collecting panels for quite some time and Barry did comment (with one exception-more later) that they were more accurate than those available today. Less backdating needed to 73 spec.
So, maybe not original material but more 'period' rather than 'modern' replacement material. Maybe a small point but one important to me. Of course this wasn't the case for some of the major panels or Barry's wonderful bespoke pieces.

Regards
Mike

[210bhp]

Now to the crusty B post and rear inner wing area (forward section).

This looks like a tough job to me.











Regards
Mike

[murph2309]

Wow Mike, that really did have some rot in it. Just goes to show huh?

Magic work from Barry. Again. I for one, never tire of seeing these updates, all the same brilliance in unique situations.

Each one special. Thanks for sharing.

[davep]

That B post area sure has some complex parts; a tough job for certain.

[210bhp]

Watch this space Dave. The bad news is that the other side is worse!

Regards
Mike