What should a noob know about their first project car?

What should a noob know about their first project car?

pic is not specifically what i'm doing

in order of importance, this is how you fix a car
>having a clean title
>rust repairs
>electrical repairs
>mechanical repairs
>troubleshooting little shit
>interior
It also helps if the car is worth something to begin with

It ain't worth shit but lets say the floorboards needed replacement because of severe rust.
I have no idea where to even start with that.

I can understand mechanics much better, i wrench on my bike all the time but obv bikes are different to cars.

cant you search youtube on rust repairs like that?

>rust more important than mechanical
Yeah no. Get the car driving and street legal then start doing cosmetic work. Doing it this way means you have clear milestones- car runs, car drives, car passes inspection, car looks good. You'll be overwhelmed and without motivating victories if you start with cosmetics as a first timer.

Oh i thought they were all just one piece.
I suppose if i really had to i could take it somewhere if i can't do the rust work.

but let me ask, is flux-core welding the most cost effective welding technique? Is there any reason not to use it?

>rust is cosmetic
this fucking guy

If you don't know how to weld. Buy a car that isn't a rusty shitbox. Buy a clean roller

I need to practice welding but i need to buy a welder first.

>mechanical repairs not at the top

yeah, no.

If it's not mechanically sound, who gives a fuck how free of rust it is, or if the fucking heater works

flux core makes a lot of spatter but its fine for sheet metal.

the spatter is messy and catches a lot of crap on fire

Is that mainly a cosmetic consideration or does the spatter have any impact on the metal/weld strength?

If you're not literally falling out of the floor, the rust is cosmetic. Plain and simple.

>If it's not mechanically sound, who gives a fuck how free of rust it is, or if the fucking heater works
That's exactly backwards.

Mechanical shit is easy and you generally can't tell a repair has been done. Rust repair otoh is so labor intensive that it's really only economical for the rarest of cars. Yes, it's THAT expensive to do right.

Pretty much this, unless the frame is 50% Rust or you can see road through the floor, it's not as huge an issue as mechanical problems.

no affect, the spatter is everywhere but the weld
on your arm, your leg, the ground. messy and red hot

Competely untrue. Rust can and does structurally compromise cars that don't appear that bad on the outside.

An easy example, but by no means the only one, are Fox bodies and strut tower rust. Pic related. That car is essentially junk because of this but you'd never have known from the outside

Okay, thanks for the info friend.

In your own words, rust can compromise the car. So it's not something on the list of things to do to rebuild a car, right? It's just a consideration when buying, unless you're a pro and willing to go to extremes for a restoration. The rust OP would be dealing with is cosmetic unless he's actually falling through the floor.

My point was that you don't buy project cars with such rust in the first place and you do that by doing an extensive pre-purchase inspection. Further, rust that has structurally compromised a car does not necessarily require "falling through the floor" to be present. In fact, floor pans are not usually structural in that they are not part of the support girder of the chassis. I would still insist on a proper inspection of the underside and in hidden areas but also wouldn't be especially surprised if a car with a severely rusted floor pan wasn't particularly rusty anywhere else. The reverse also being possible of course.

Feel better?