I have a very rusty 53 Ford pickup. It belonged to my dad when I was a kid. He sold it many years ago. I had a chance to buy it back, and now I own it for sentimental reasons. It is very rusty, but I am committed to bringing it back.

I need to buy a welder to work on the sheetmetal and frame. I have the money to buy what would work best. I am considering a TIG system. Does anyone have any recommendations on what I should buy? Brands, TIG vs. MIG, any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks.  

Hi rusted ford
I recently purchased a small miller tig/stick welder cost me 1550.00 with a tank, regulator, and thumb amp control.
( wish I had gotton the foot pedal)
the unit works great on the thin sheet metal.
 I also have a small Lincoln weld pack mig/wire feed. Also works real well on sheetmetal.
I like the fact that you can plug into 110 with the lincoln. The miller has a system that you can use 110 or 220 and the machine adjust for the voltage.
you can get a cheaper unit at places like harbor freight, but trying to get one repaired is near impossible.
hope this helps     Grumpy  

hello,

I have worked in a fab shop for over 15 years now, and I am partial to Miller welders.  It's probably is just a matter of familiarity, but I have used Lincolns, Hobarts, Aircos, and Millers.  For a welder that you can use on both sheet metal and the frame I would suggest a Miller 251.  You can buy rollers and mig gun liners to accomodate different diameter mig wire diameters.(.023 or .030 for sheet metal and anywhere from .030 to .045 for the heavier frame material.)  The 251 is what I have at home for working on my '66 and it works great. This is a machine that requires a 220 volt outlet though.  There are 110 volt units that work quite well on sheet metal, but I personally would not use one for frame work.  I hope this helps.  

Miller is a good product, as suggested by one of the respondents, I picked one up at a car show, Miller matic 175. Another good product is by HTP America at www.usaweld.com, or 1-800-USA-WELD. They supposedly have more sophisticated wire drive systems, but are not available at retail outlets. I'm happy with my Miller product, and I can go get gas and accessories at the local vendor in my neighborhood. TIG is the way to go for optimum weld quality, and appearance, but if it takes a 300mph event to force a MIG weld to fail, and a 400mph event to break aTIG it would be a moot point.  

Miller is definitely the way to go.  A Millermatic 251 is an excellent auto restoration welder and I have been nothing but pleased with mine.  Also, the new Millermatic 140 with Auto-Set is a 115V welding machines that makes set up really simple.  Take a look at www.millerwelds.com/autoset, you will like this machine as my buddy just bought one -- he loves it!