"Wanna know what makes spot welding easy? "Big Blue", a $25k welder in my auto body voke tech class:"
No fair! Like bringing a SAW to a knife fight!
You can find a decent
facsimile on ebay; paid less than $600.00 for this (new Lenco @ $1200.00).
Though re-branded by Snap-On (and sold for twice the price__$2400.00!!) this Lenco Spot II has already proven to be quite handy in the shop, and could be worth its weight in gold if I ever did another set of floors/sills/rockers on a Healey! It will produce a pair (2) of spot-welds from one (1) side of the panel at once, or you can use the clamp-type accessory for joining parts near their edges.
Because of the height I normally work at__NOT BENT OVER__I made up a stand to elevate it so the cables could reach. I also had the stand and cover powder-coated Blue to match the other machines in the shop
The business end
And the clamp-type; suitable for joining sill halves, and maybe the bottom of the rockers (3-layers might be too much stack-height?)
Some test strikes
I bought it to do a factory replica job of replacing the trunkfloor in this E-46 wagon; nothing wrong with the existing floor, but the owner was building an M3 version, and to fit its factory exhaust system, the floor had to be changed out (yes, some BMW owners are just as deranged as we are... :hammer: )
Clamp-tool works great__anywhere it can reach!
But the pistol-grips have few limits where they can go!
I've done ther plug-weld thing__restored two (2) Big Healeys and an MGB that way__but the 2-handled spot-welder is the way to go; much faster and easier installation, and next to zero post-weld grinding. If tool budget is an issue, find a decent one on ebay, get your project done and then sell it on (but once you use it, it'll be hard to let it go...).
Sorry about all the non-Healey pictures, but I was just trying to get my point across. Oh, and the wagon's owner was
floored by how nice it turned out; almost as if BMW had caved to demand and built an M3 Touring (wagon)!