Drag Racers, and fellow Rodder Saved My Bacon on Saturday!!

[msuguydon]

Saturday I loaded up my 58 Chevy, two of my sons, 14 and 16, and headed to the Drag Strip for a Dad and boys fun day at the races.

Great weather, windows down headed to the race track, just me and the boys... what a great beginning to my day.

Well my day soon became a very "exciting" one.

It is a long story with lots of interesting sub plots but I will spare you all that stuff, here is the Readers Digest Version.

The steering box broke loose from the frame during the drive,   Thank GOD a bolt held and my family and I were not hurt. I was able to get to the drag strip. It was my eldest sons first day, at his first job, he was wetting his pants that he was gonna be late or miss his first day at work. My car was undrive-able, so the wife had to come to pick-up the our kids, she got lost coming to the track. Lots of Drama!

I went to the timing tower to find someone who could get my wife unlost. The asked what was wrong. I explained my situation, before I knew it they were making a plea for help, for me, over the PA.

Three minutes later, who is standing next to my car but ROOMAN of the H.A.M.B board.

He tells me that his fab shop is about 5 minutes away, if I can get the car to his shop, he can fix it. He adds its gonna be a late night but its gonna get fixed and you can drive it home. I keep asking, you sure, your sure you want to do this.?? .. His parting comment..US HAMBer's gotta stick together.

One of the drag racers helped me arrange a flat bed, he was a retired tow truck driver. I got the car to Roomans shop.

I drove the 58 home with some nice new welds, got home safe and sound at 3:00 AM.

I nominate ROOMAN GREAT GUY of the Month!

[Dave]

WOW Don.. Sorry about the trouble! Its good you found some good people and help.. So what did you have to have welded on the frame anyway and why did i break loose? Se you should have gave the whole story We like all the details..
Dave    

[msuguydon]

WOW Don.. Sorry about the trouble! Its good you found some good people and help.. So what did you have to have welded on the frame anyway and why did i break loose? Se you should have gave the whole story We like all the details..
Dave    

You guys know I am a newbie so bear with me on the details.

My 58 has power steering, but I learned during my late night welding session, that 58's used a ram jet power steering and that I have a saginaw power steering box installed on my auto.

The previous owner had used the proper mounting plate, that was welded to the frame rails and the power steering box was bolted in two places to the mounting plate and in one place through the frame rails.  Properly done.

The welds broke that held the mounting plate to the frame rail.  I am not a weld expert, but was told the bracket was MIG welded and that the welds did not penetrate the, metal, frame etc, they were surface welds and they broke.  

The bolt through the frame rails held.

I am gonna mount that bolt to a plaque and put it up in the garage as a reminder to use good fasteners and to do the job right!

It is now TIG welded and the welds are solid.

[1FATGMC]

.......The welds broke that held the mounting plate to the frame rail.  I am not a weld expert, but was told the bracket was MIG welded and that the welds did not penetrate the, metal, frame etc, they were surface welds and they broke.  

The bolt through the frame rails held.

I am gonna mount that bolt to a plaque and put it up in the garage as a reminder to use good fasteners and to do the job right!

It is now TIG welded and the welds are solid.

Glad you were safe and got good help   .

This is a typical problem of trying to weld something with a 110 mig, not knowing for sure if a 110 was used or not.  I would trust a mig weld in this situation just as much as a TIG weld.  It just needs to be done with the proper mig set at the proper amps.

It is very easy to get a nice looking mig weld that is just laying on the surface.  If you are doing the weld though you can see if you are getting penetration by looking at the color of both pieces being welded.

I probably weld a little "hotter" than necessary, but feel safer.

I still want a TIG for some situations, especially since I want to do some aluminum, but I'll never give up my mig.

c ya,

Sum

[Dave]

Id prolly have arc welded it.. I have a mig but its a 110 and i dont have a tig but i can arc weld..
Dave

[UGLY OLDS]

Glad to hear you guys are safe.....Your '58 is turning out to be quite the "adventure"  ....

[Sean]

This is a typical problem of trying to weld something with a 110 mig, not knowing for sure if a 110 was used or not.

110v MIG questions come up on the HAMB all the time. I used to try and explain to them why they didn't want to use them on anything critical, but there are way too many hard-heads over there. I finally quit answering any questions about welding over there, mainly because every HAMB'er with a MIG in his garage thinks he's a professional welder.

I  am a professional welder, and have been for twenty years, the last ten years with AWS certs for TIG and MIG. My own personal rule for 110v MIG's is not to use them on anything that could cause a wreck when the weld fails.

I know that people get away with it all the time, but in my opinion its a combination of luck, and "ignorence is bliss"....

[msuguydon]

Glad to hear you guys are safe.....Your '58 is turning out to be quite the "adventure"  ....

Yes, I think I will not call her the TUNA Boat any more, now its Calamity Jane !

[KustomLincolnLady]

Glad to hear you guys are safe.....Your '58 is turning out to be quite the "adventure"  ....

Yes, I think I will not call her the TUNA Boat any more, now its Calamity Jane !

Wow, adventuresome I must say   , glad to hear your back on the road and everyone is safe. It s a sick feeling being broken like that out on the road. Thank goodness for places like RRT and the HAMB!!!

we should do an RRT helper pages like the HAMB has  

Debb