Don't Weld in Shorts

So this week I passed the half-way point in allowable funds of my bet concerning Fred the Sentra. As a reminder, I have an ongoing bet with Eric concerning whether or not I can get my 1991 Sentra in good enough shape that Pam will not be embarrassed to ride in it for less than $1,000.  I’ve been VERY slowly working on it.  Since Pam has been gone this week and it is Terrell family No TV Month I have been going out into the garage each night and doing Bondo work on the Sentra, sanding, treating, and patching some of the rust holes that have been a part of Fred since I bought her.  I sent Pam photos of the work that I had done on Fred and to quote her, the Sentra has improved in looks from “utterly humiliating” to “merely embarrassing.” This is a huge step forward. I’m feeling pretty good about my chances of winning the bet.

Of course, I am also on the downhill slid of my $1,000 spending limit. I have to replace the rear struts and their cost has brought my remaining funds down to $489 left to spend within the bet. I think this is still very doable. The struts and a new muffler have been purchased, so those funds have been accounted for and I will install them when we get back from Alabama. This will just leave repairing the rocker panels, a little more Bondo work, and painting this car. This means I will have to learn how to paint a car. If anyone wants to teach me I am available to be your student.

Part of working on Fred has been teaching myself how to do various things, such as, minor welding. My welds aren’t the prettiest but they hold two pieces together, and with a grinder I can get rid all the spare slag that is all over my welds. I thought I had taught myself to be safe when welding but apparently I forgot part of that today. I was welding on part of a door latch and completely forgot that you shouldn’t use a MIG welder (which splatters a lot) when you are wearing shorts. It only took me being hit by TWO molten pieces of slag to remember that I should have changed into pants. So I did and then I went back to welding. It only took TWO more molten pieces of slag for me to remember that you should also wear boots instead of old running shoes when you weld. Thankfully there was not real damage to me or the shoes.

As for now I have talked with a friend about some spare sheet metal for fixing the rocker panels (that means FREE). Of course, I need to find a sand/media blaster to use to remove the rust from the corroded remains of the previous rocker panels. If you have a sand/media blaster that you would loan me I would greatly appreciate it.

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