Frustration and progress

Had some problems doing the spot welding on the new metal I was replacing on the rear fender I had sandblasted. Got real frustrating. I had depleted the Argon gas  needed for the MIG welding, so took the bottle in for a refill. Talked to Sam, the welding GURU and salesman at AIRGAS in Burlington. Explained to him what was happening and he gave me some tips to try. I was basicly running on the automatic setting on the welder. Sam told me that wasn't always the right setting for the metal I was welding. I came home and did some fiddling with the controls. Took me a while to get dialed in correctly but all seems better now. As you can see in the pictures, thing are getting better. This all slowed me down considerably, (plus some other things,) but I'm back on the fender and slowly progressing.
Also bought a small 240V electric heater and in the process of installing it so I can work a little longer while it's getting colder.
There is a tunnel and i'm looking for the light at the end. I think it's a long tunnel.

Sandblasting, WHOOT, WHOOT.

Time to hit the sheetmetal. Started beating out some smaller dents in some of the front sheetmetal. Need to weld up some holes and put in some repair pieces.
Got the sandblaster out yesterday and worked on the right rear fender. It's the one with the least amount of rusted out metal.  It's pretty clean now, but have to cut out some cancer and weld in some new metal. Three more fenders to to blast. Got the hood and doors to look forward to also. Somewhere there is a song that says "Life is but a dream". You dream a lot while sandblasting.

Transmission Cooler finished

Took the transmission cooler and brackets apart. Trimed the brackets and guard to size and painted all the parts. Finished installing everything. It tuckes up on the frame behind the passenger running board. Looks like it is pretty well protected up under there. Time will tell if I made the right decision by putting it there instead of in front of the radiator. The thermostatic controled fan is not wired up yet, that will come later.
Getting colder out now so got to get the front fenders sandblasted before it gets too late. Got to start beating and welding some sheetmetal now.
WOW, where did the summer go???

Transmission cooler and tin work

Got a nice B&M transmission cooler from Tony Cetta. It is thermostat controlled with a fan mounted to the front of the cooler. I didn't want to put it in front of the radiator, as the airconditioner condenser is already mounted there. My thoughts were, too much blockage through the radiator.
Decided to mount it on the frame behind the passenger side running board. Made a couple of brackets to hang it off the frame. Couldn't figure out what fittings were needed coming out of the transmission for the cooling lines. Found a website that did the same as I was doing with great pictures and all the numbers for the fittings and lines. (GOOGLE is great). Got them all from Summit Racing on Monday and installed it all on Tuesday. Decided I needed a guard to protect the cooler and fan from any road rash. Bought a piece of perforated metal and made the guard. Still have to make some end pieces for the guard and then paint all the parts.
No Job Johnny came down and helped me work on straightening one of the running boards and also fitting the floor cover for the transmission.
Going to try to get some more sandblasting done on metal parts before the weather turns bad.
I think the running gear is very close to starting the engine. If not this fall, next spring for sure.