Drewdog
 Another trick I learned was putting a block of aluminium behind the hole, makes it easy to pool the weld and fill in blowouts.

Thats a great tip, the aluminium works as a heat sink too so make sure your holding it in a hand with a glove on it

Will have to give it a go tomorrow. Thanks

Boot and bonnet finished and in primer. Any advice on fitting the bubble arches? Different ways to fit them? Never done anything like them before. Thanks!

Fibre bubbles are a pain because of their inherent thickness. the amount of filler needed to blend them is...extreme.
Id rivet and bond with a hard setting adhesive then fiberglass then filler. Sounds complicated. If its flexible you'll get distortion in the finish, over time as the steel, fibre and filler expand/contract at different rates due to temperature...trust me been there suffered that.
Make sure the wheels are in the right place before measuring for bubble location. especially if you intend adding lots of caster as the wheels could move 20- 30mm further forward and clash with front of the arch.
As for the welding, the odd blow through is to be expected, new steel and 40 year old steel never quite mix. I weld runs of 4-5 spots, each one started after the last reduces its glow and overlap the previous weld and the new...seems to minimise holes. I use copper as a heat soak and hand burner.
What gauge is the new steel?
 
Cheers
 
JP
 
 
 

Thanks JP i will keep that in mind when fitting the arches. Still a fair way off doing them but good to know. I'll try and get it alright the first time. Dont want to redo them after paint. Stuff that im blowing holes in is the old steel. New steel isnt a problem at all. Its about 0.9 i think.

Been doing a bit more welding and couple of little patches. Nothing pretty but more and more rust is slowly going away and making a little bit of progress. Been working on the doors this week. Photos to come. What are some options for paint removal. Tried a few various things but find the soft grinding discs that a lot of people use to be pretty good. Tried chemical paint stripper but found that to bad with the fumes even with a proper mask.

Got a busy weekend ahead!!

Some auto paint shops sell grinding disks which look like coral reef .. They work great on flat areas and don't mow thru the metal. I used a few on my van and i got the complete windowless side top to bottom back to silver metal in about 30 mins. !

Nice work, keep at it one weekend at a time and you'll get there  I've used the blue sponge looking heads on the end of a drill, available from most hardware shops, they look soft but strip paint like nothing else, don't damage metal and last for ages.... dusty though wear a mask.....
Happy weekend in the garage Drew......

Yeah the coral looking discs are the ones im using at the moment. Finding them to be pretty good.

Yep that's the one Marty........