Tig beginer in England

[Gazampher]

Hello all,

I thought I would introduce myself to the forum with a quick but about me and mostly why I wish to learn to Tig weld.

I live in the UK where I am currently working on a beach buggy project, so far I have used a MIG to repair the chassis but I quickly discovered that TIG welding was the way to go if your welds will be visable. I also found out that for cutting metals a plasma cutter was also on the list of boys toys as these thigs seem to make cutting metal fun to do. With all this in mind and a bit of digging on the net I came across the Super-200P which in my eyes seemed the perfect machine which would weld and cut pretty much anything made from metal, so I purchased a used one as I could not afford a new one.

The welder turned up a few days later so I hid in may garage with a big grin on my face wondering what I could practice on. I made a quick saddle joint out of 2" tube and set about welding, the machine seemed to be working and I put the metal mess I had created down to lack of experiance, I thought a bit of good practice and knowledge was required. After roughly only a couple hours of use the machine gave up on me so I took off the cover and sighed.

I have worked in the electronics industry for 17 years and I have not seen many things put together like that, I am surprised it survived the journey to me by the courier. before I knew it I had the machine almost totally striped down and began repairing shoddy wiring, dodgy circuit board mountings and pointless earth connection that were secured to a painted surface. It now appears that I have lost track of which wire went where and cannot correctly put back together the unit so if poeple out there with a simalair machine would be so kind as to take some pictures of the insides of there's I would be eternally greatful.

Thanks,

[Rambozo]

If you search this forum, you can find quite a few pictures of the insides of the Super 200P that might help you. Specifically some repair posts done by Jakeru on his unit have many photos in them.

[youngnstudly]

What kind of car is your beach buggy based from (I assume it's foreign since you're in the UK)? I wish I could help with the photos you need, but someone on here will take pics for you I'm sure. Once you get back up and running with the welder, you won't be sorry you bought it!

[Gazampher]

It's based on the good old VW Beetle, you will probably seen a pic of one at some point. I at the stage of mating the fibreglass shell with the chassis, I thought I should see how I could make the roll cage and secure it to the chassis before I get too far.

I can't wait to fix my super200p as tig welding look slike a real challenge but with good rewards, thanks for your interest.

[DVA]

Good luck on figuring out where the wires go.

[youngnstudly]

It's based on the good old VW Beetle, you will probably seen a pic of one at some point. I at the stage of mating the fibreglass shell with the chassis, I thought I should see how I could make the roll cage and secure it to the chassis before I get too far.

I can't wait to fix my super200p as tig welding look slike a real challenge but with good rewards, thanks for your interest.

I've been a diehard aircooled VW owner for 17 years now and currently own 2 Cal-look VW's. Is this an original Manx bodied car that you have, or something that is a take off of the Manx? What's the plan for the engine and trans? Regardless you should be able to get some really good fuel mileage from it, even with a lot of horsepower and displacement.

Sounds cool. Good luck with the build...and with fixing your welder.

[Gazampher]

Hi Andy,

The VW's are popular over in the states, pretty sure it was you guys who started tinkering with them in the begining making them go faster. I'm not too sure what the shell is but it its a LWB version, they don't look as nice as the SWB ones but I have two kids and the missus so four seats will be good. I just want to finish the project as stock first, so it will be a 1974 1200 with a awesome 36HP so I won't be getting any speeding tickets. Once thats done I shall probably get a 1600 engine and tinker with that hopefully double the power, that should make it a bit more fun.

I did originally want to restore the beetle but the shell was too far gone for a novice like me so that idea was scrapped and it then became a buggy project which from some of the stuff I've seen on the net do look like fun, unless it rains!!.

What motors do you have in your bugs?

[youngnstudly]

Yeah, the California look was based out of Southern California back in the 60's and 70's, and those are the guys that started building all the high performance engines back then.

Your project sounds cool! My dad wants to build a LWB manx style buggy too so he doesn't have to cut down and weld the pan back together (to shorten the wheelbase). The one thing you will get with a 36hp is gas mileage! I put over 130,000 miles on the old 40hp that came in my car during my teenage years, and 35 miles per gallon was normal, even with 2 or 3 people in my stock weight car. You'll never blow one up either (they don't have enough horsepower!).

You can actually get a top and snap on side windows for that type of buggy for the rainy weather, but I would never what to drive one in the rain anyways!

I currently have a 1700cc single port with dual Kadron carburators and some minor performance parts, but my main engine is a 2276cc that produces around 150 horsepower 48mm IDF Webers. I've put my VW projects on the back burner due to health issues. I really need to finish both of them though. I have a bug and a Karmann Ghia (the ghia is completely apart since my father and I are rebuilding it).

The pics attached are my current engines, the all grey engine is the 2276, and the silver and black engine is the 1700. The pics are a few years old, so picture both engines with more dust on them!

VW's are fun...when you're not having to lay under them and do maintenance or repairs!

[Gazampher]

Hi Andy,

Those are some nice looking engines, I bet you have invested quite a bit of money into those and your cars!!

I wish I was in the states doing this project, everything is so expensive over here and I could cound on one hand the total number of parts dealers so finding the stuff you need is hard and then costs a lot. Plus I have two young kids who take up most of my time so the project is taking a lot longer than I thought but they always do.

I am glad I decideed to do the long wheel base buggy, as you say none of the hacking of the chassis, I had to replace the framehead bottom as mine was shot after the brake fluid had leaked and rotted it through. That was a pig of a job, I also decided to strengthen the new floor pans I fitted by making some angle steel parts to run along the edge of the floor pans where the shell bolts to. Ill take some pics so you can see what I did, it makes a huge differance to the strength of the chassis while not adding too much weight.

I think I am also goint to make some tubular side runners, a bit like whats on a baja bug. hopefully these will help break up tha extra length of the wheel base that makes the LWB buggy's look a bit too long.

Thanks for pics of your engine's, I would love the larger 2276cc version I my buggy, I bet that would shift.

[youngnstudly]

Sorry for the delay, I totally forgot about this post and haven't been on here much lately anyways.

The VW engines can be quite expensive to build nowadays and the quality of parts isn't what it used to be, but they are fun (when you're not busy working on them!). I agree about the cost of parts over there being high, and the selection can be limited at times. Too bad shipping is so expensive for you! Even with the availability of parts in the states, I still tend to make many of the parts for my engines, or reuse old parts that I refurbish. Saves money and quality is much better.

I think the long wheelbase chassis is a much more practical way to build since the long wheelbase bodies are so readily available, and fairly inexpensive. The side runners sound like a nice way to give the illusion of a shorter wheelbase. I would like to see your angle iron mods to the chassis, if you can get pics. Any repairs on the chassis (like the bulkhead or frame horns) can be a real bare to do, with all the grease and undercoating that needs to be removed. You might want to install new fuel line in the tunnel if you haven't already, plus reinforce the clutch tube while everything is apart.

You're welcome for the pics, and I'm glad you enjoyed them. The 2276 is a blast to drive but a pain to work on or remove from the car.