To make further progress on my ’63 Impala restoration, I need to do some welding. First, I plan to add a 4th link to the existing 3 link stock suspension. Second, I do plan to clean up the frame with a bit of grinding and welding. Well, maybe a lot of grinding and welding.

I had this fantasy, based on an old Hot Rod magazine cover from the 80’s. The cover photo was the rolling chassis for a ’57 Chevy. I remember how clean it was. I don’t mean free from dirt. I mean the frame was mirror smooth, and all the hard lines were polished, and the engine was spotless. Of course, it was destined to be installed under the completed car, but it was a show piece all its own, hence the cover photo. I don’t have the time and patience to get my chassis that perfect, but I do want it to be smoother than factory. I also want to clean up the factory welds, and then grind my work a bit.

So, I needed to take a welding class. I started in January at Schoolcraft College, a community school close by. I decided to take their Intro to Welding Course, which actually covers many welding techniques: MIG, TIG, old fashioned stick, and oxy-acetylene.

After we finished stick and MIG, I bought my welder, an Everlast PowerMTS 211Si. It can do stick, MIG and TIG:

Then I needed to prep my garage for having a welder. I bought a welding table and a welding cart, inside of which are welding supplies, and chained to the rear is bottle of Ar/CO2 mix. I decided to hang up welding blankets to protect the Olds and the workbench, so I don’t have to empty the whole damn garage just to weld:

Here’s me dressed in most of my PPE: helmet, jacket, gloves. It’s a photo-op, so I took off the safety glasses and welding apron:

And me pretending to weld. I can’t weld with Cyndi taking the pic unless she also had a helmet; no spouses were harmed in this dramatization:

Here’s me in my welding hat, which doubles as a cool ‘doo rag’. Don’t you love what it does to my ears, lol?

That’s it for now. Later, I’ll post pics of actual welds, and what kind they are.