Had I discovered all the rusty metal I needed to replace at once, I probably would have begun searching for another LeBaron and turned this one into a parts car. Fortunately for this particular LeBaron I did not. It wasn't until I had gone far into the welding that I discovered how much work I was looking at.
The next step was to whip my welding skills back into shape. I last welded about 12 years ago, using a DC arc welder, on 1/8 to 1/4 inch mild steel. I picked up a portable MIG from Princess Auto for $129, and tried to re-learn how to weld on 22-gauge steel. A few evenings of blasting holes no matter how careful thought I was yielded a technique that worked for me. Very, very short blasts. For $129 you don't get the best welder out there, and all I had was a 70/90 amp switch. People will tell you 70A is far too much for 22 gauge steel, and they're probably right. I made it work.
I also invented a new art form. I call it "sheetmetaligami" where I fold complex shapes out of sheetmetal then weld them together to form a larger object.
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