Well I haven't had any formal training, but my father-in-law is a welder by trade. He is rarely here, so it's hard to pick his brain. He showed me a few things here and there and I've been getting pointers from the welders at work. The bottom line is it takes practice, practice, practice. I'm sure my welding leaves alot to be desired, but it's getting better and the $480 I paid for the welder has already saved me well over that amount.
Anyway, here are a few pics of some of the things that I've recently welded. I welded some plates to block the swing out door bars from swinging in towards the driver. This is a requirement to run @ Irwindale and I believe it's also an NHRA rule, but I'm not 100% sure on that.
I also had to weld these seat belt mounting brackets onto the roll bar. This was also an Irwindale requirement and again, I'm pretty sure it is an NHRA rule as well.
Finally, after installing the transbrake I decided not to chance it with the torque boxes, so I bought the kit for the lowers and installed and welded them up. I am in the process of reinforcing the uppers and pics will follow shortly. The uppers are tricky because they are hard to get to in order to clean all the dirt and grime as well as paint to prep for welding. The cleaner you can get it the better the weld will be. Anyway here are the lower plates welded in. I didn't weld all the way around the plates because I didn't want to weaken the floorboard as the metal is very thin!
Anyway, here are a few pics of some of the things that I've recently welded. I welded some plates to block the swing out door bars from swinging in towards the driver. This is a requirement to run @ Irwindale and I believe it's also an NHRA rule, but I'm not 100% sure on that.
I also had to weld these seat belt mounting brackets onto the roll bar. This was also an Irwindale requirement and again, I'm pretty sure it is an NHRA rule as well.
Finally, after installing the transbrake I decided not to chance it with the torque boxes, so I bought the kit for the lowers and installed and welded them up. I am in the process of reinforcing the uppers and pics will follow shortly. The uppers are tricky because they are hard to get to in order to clean all the dirt and grime as well as paint to prep for welding. The cleaner you can get it the better the weld will be. Anyway here are the lower plates welded in. I didn't weld all the way around the plates because I didn't want to weaken the floorboard as the metal is very thin!
rofl: :thefinger: 
