Scruffy Bodger

Don't use the spanner then, just snug it up by hand. The only time I ever use the spanner on a grinder is if it's snagged on something and done itself up tight and I can't undo it by hand. I never, ever tighten up a new disk with one and at times I use grinders an awful lot.

All right and good if you are welding rsj's. Your work shows the welding is intuitive, the easy bit, standing on your head, twist a dial, done?

That delay on yours sounds like a right old pain in the arse as it'll mess with your timing something chronic I'd imagine, especially when you are welding 8x4 sheets into Yank barges 😮

I used my mates 3 in 1 Parweld synergic thing recently on a Connect van and got on with it fine out the box, maybe worth a look? I just set it to the minimum 50 amps that showed on the meter and got on with it, I'm assuming it's on 0.8mm wire, I didn't look tbh. As for Oxford transformer welders he's also got the big daddy 400 amp single phase unit with the 10m cassette extension and so far it's been a cracking bit of kit but very far from being portable! Imo if you know your way round a welder you just don't need the synergic complication in the mix.

Looking loads better now the welder is playing ball, and a nice fit on the panel/plates. Did you blow all the bits of rust dust out the liner?

Good to see this coming along now. You're really lucky if you can get a full sill to spot back on. I've just had to do both sides of a Transit Connect. All I was provided with were two bent sections, that meant that effectively you've got 6' of pure weld to do on both sides, not including the 4' of repair on one inner sill. Thankfully I managed to do it without warping the shit out of it either. https://workshopping.co.uk/chemical-products/aerosols/paint-aerosols/primer-aerosols/sealey-scs034s-grey-zinc-primer-paint-500ml?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIiaehraTv8gIVgeJ3Ch0DrQnnEAQYCCABEgJaT_D_BwE I used that stuff on the inner bits before welding back on. I found you can weld thru it no problem at all and it doesn't make the welds porous, even plug welds. I bought it locally, dunno about that source.

As others have said, try and keep the liner as straight as possible, if need be actually move the welder further away from where you are working if the wire feed isn't doing its job. As for tips, depending on what you are welding I'd only expect to get thru a couple per wire reel at most. Check periodically that they haven't come loose either, they can have a habit of doing that. If problems persist weld to weld as you've mentioned I'd be looking at the welder with suspicion. Is it a synergic one?

Is the swan neck on the torch loose? I sorted a welder out for a friend a while back that had this issue, the torch design meant that if it wasn't done up tight it caused a bad connection to the tip, losing loads of amps. He'd also swapped the wire at some point and not swapped the wire feed wheel over so it was set for the wrong size wire. I also blew out a load of rust dust out the liner by turning the CO2 on my reg right up while the wire was out. Those 3 things sorted and it welds like the day he bought it.

If the Aldi ones are NLA the very similar sets on Ebay are well worth the money. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353595547286?hash=item5253efde96:g:HO8AAOSwfblhARH2 I bought a set a few years back and it's come in handy no end of times since. I haven't abused it as such but the ratchet isn't made of chocolate.

Great to see a 605, such a rare find now. Where did they lose their way in the badge exercise tho? My SRDT has all the sports* bits of the Sri or Mi16 and it's only 2 years newer.

He likes it. Had it getting on 15 years, lived in it for quite a while on and off. He blew a couple of grand on getting it welded and tarted up. The vast majority would have scrapped it. The banana engine being its saving grace.

LDV chassis are double thickness in places. Water gets inside and they delaminate between the layers, it blows itself apart. The 6" of visible rot ended up being an over 2' repair. There's actually 2 more plates under the ones you can see there. If you do find someone to do it get it shotblasted first so they can actually see what they are dealing with and the welding job will be night and day better with all the shit removed. They can be repaired but it's not an economic decision. Plus it's got to be said, looking from just those few rough pics you've put up that one is pretty far gone I'm afraid, you need something somewhere that's good to weld something to.

It'll certainly do more but seems happiest bumbling around the place. It should have been pretty frugal at that speed too!

It's a comfy old bus I'll give it that.

I'm sure you'll have fun with the glow plug behind the pump, they're a twat but it is possible. As for belts make sure the auxiliary belt is new too. XUD's have an uncanny knack of sucking these up when they snap and it wrecking the engine. 117K is nothing for one of those, especially non turbo examples. Stick a see through pipe in immediately before the pump to spot air bubbles if the fuel system is a bit iffy and be aware the one way valve in the fuel grenade can shit itself at a moments notice if it hasn't been touched for years and will cause starting issues if it does. I'd also spend some time cleaning up every earthing point you can find.