[1968firebird455]

Use the search bar to look up past welding threads. There is good information on this site.

Hobart is a good home welder (owned by Miller). I personally only buy miller welders but I also go through 12lb spools of wire like they're going out of style
-.023 wire
-clean qaulity contracts
-clean the metal on BOTH sides (FRONT & BACK!)
-butt welds are good. Use them. Every time I get a car in that has patchs lap welded on no matter how good they prepped their is always rust between the two pieces. Most of the time the area under the patch is rusted worse than the area they were trying to repair.
-Buy a quality auto dim. My eyes are worth $250 to me.
-Buy and WEAR a welding jacket and welding gloves. Not only does it save you from splatter but also from skin cancer
-Make your garage welding friendly. Cans and Flamables in metal cabinets. No shop rags left out. welding screens to block people from unintentionally seeing your arc.
-The key is full penitration with minimum heat. I have seen alot of pretty welds that don't penitrate.

-You also need to learn how to finish a weld. Buy some 3M Green wheels (part#01991). I see to many people take a 4 1/2" angle grinder to their welds and add more heat to the panel along with thining out all the metal around the weld.

Take the class for $40. Even if all you get out of it is some basic set up and become a little more familiar with the welder it's worth it. Welding sheet metal is all about practice. Once you get your technique down you start to learn what to do in different situations and how to minimize distortion.