Cheap welds.. rivets or?

I need to stick some new metal in a couple of parts due to rust. I don't have a MIG welder. What are my options.. if any? Rivets? Propane welding? ANYTHING! Help!

where on the car? door panels and things like that, sure. frame members, i wouldn't.

Yeah, they's body panels: Doors, firewall needs a patch, bed area needs some serious panelin'.

Would propane welding work? I can solder pretty well with 'em but I'm hesitating to try it. I guess I could rivit 'em in place then propanel weld the rest or something.

Anyone attempt this?

propane welding? sorry to tell you but propane doesnt burn hot enough to melt steel with normal atmospheric oxygen supply...i think you mean Oxygen Acetylene...and yes it will work...but Mig would be better and Tig would be best...judging from the fact that you have no idea what you are doing id say get a Heli-arc or mig/wire feed welder and go for it and have a really sloppy job or take osme classes or have someone with a welding certification teach you....Actual body shop usually use Mig welding for interior non exterior cosmetic things and Tig or Mig spot welding for body panels...either way Oxygen Acetylene give you worst penetration and weld tensile strenghth of all other types of welding... best would either be a good sheild gas MIG weld or a properly done DC Tig welddont even bother yourself with Tig welding untill you become very very good with Mig welding...Flux core welding uses a Mig Machien but instead of using a sheild gas like nitrogen or CO2 you use Flux Core wire which releases its own sheild gas...Heli Arc welding is like plasma cutting with out the sheild gas to remove the metal and concentrate the spark...ie its like an electric arc melting two pieces of metal togather...and oxygen acetylene is the burning of acetylene in near pure oxygen to get the feam hot enough to fuse/cut metals like steel....Tig welding uses high current DC electricity and you hold the wire in your hand...tis allows for maximum feed/weld puddle controll....these welds are very smooth and have great tensile strength...

propane welding? sorry to tell you but propane doesnt burn hot enough to melt steel with normal atmospheric oxygen supply...i think you mean Oxygen Acetylene...and yes it will work...but Mig would be better and Tig would be best...judging from the fact that you have no idea what you are doing id say get a Heli-arc or mig/wire feed welder and go for it and have a really sloppy job or take osme classes or have someone with a welding certification teach you....Actual body shop usually use Mig welding for interior non exterior cosmetic things and Tig or Mig spot welding for body panels...either way Oxygen Acetylene give you worst penetration and weld tensile strenghth of all other types of welding... best would either be a good sheild gas MIG weld or a properly done DC Tig welddont even bother yourself with Tig welding untill you become very very good with Mig welding...Flux core welding uses a Mig Machien but instead of using a sheild gas like nitrogen or CO2 you use Flux Core wire which releases its own sheild gas...Heli Arc welding is like plasma cutting with out the sheild gas to remove the metal and concentrate the spark...ie its like an electric arc melting two pieces of metal togather...and oxygen acetylene is the burning of acetylene in near pure oxygen to get the feam hot enough to fuse/cut metals like steel....Tig welding uses high current DC electricity and you hold the wire in your hand...tis allows for maximum feed/weld puddle controll....these welds are very smooth and have great tensile strength...

Actually, I'm a certified MIG and Oxy-Acetylyn welder. I'm far from a pro but I can do some pretty nice welds... at least I think so. ;) Anyhow, I wasn't aware about Propane not burning hot enough, thanks for the tip.

I've been looking for an inexpensive MIG welder and the cheapest I could find was 350$ which is out of my budget range for now. I did however find a ~150$ TIG welder. I think it's a small Lincoln Electric model. Would that be enough for me or is it too weak for Steel?

dont feel bad im no pro either... ive never tried TIG welding but i have heard that it is very hard...if you want to try it...go for it...but if it where me id save my pennies and get at least a 150AMP MIG welder...the only MIG welders i have used are my fathers POS portable MIG...80amps i think...and the MIG welder at the shop i work at...150amps... we are able to self up to 3/8" where as with my dads i can only weld 1/8"...also if yo ucan mig weld yo ucan heli arc weld and i know Lowes and even Walmart have 170amp lincin electric arc welders for less than 200 i beleive...if you are a certified Oxy-Acetylyn (ya i spelled it wrong in my first post, sorry i suck at spelling) then Oxy it if its just panels...if you can weld smooth...i really dont know all the much about welding since...well ive only been welding for a few years and i dont get that much practice but i do know that Oxy isnt the greatest...there are a few MIG certified welders on AF and ive seen some of their work...there are also thoes that can make me look like i dont know my ass from a hole in the ground in welding... talk to one of them...look in the fabrication board...

If you can do oxyacetylene welds then I would go and do it. You don't need a lot of strength for panels. In fact, you could just put bondo on it and sand it down.
Anyway, if it were me, I'd put sheets on with oxy and sand em smooth.

I don't even have an Acetylene welder.. I was just saying I have my quals for it. :P

Oyx Acetylene is not so good for body panels It's easy to build too much heat and distort the panel.

RENT a little wire feed mig welder for half a day for $50 or so, do all your welds and return it.

I've never had any problems like that..

maybe because you havent done enought body work...if you knew jack wou would know a bad oxy weld can kill a body panel...only reason i even semi reccomended it is because he said he was a certified oxy welder...

What the hell, dude? I wasn't abusing what you said or something, I was just saying I've never had a problem with doing it.

Man..:screwy:

What the hell, dude? I wasn't abusing what you said or something, I was just saying I've never had a problem with doing it.

Man..:screwy:
I have the same thought....you have no problems because you know what you are doing.

Personally, I think if this person starting the thread really is a certified welder, he would not be posting about what is really a simple and easy problem for a welder to solve.

^ very true. If I were the original poster I would just rivet. I agree that brazing/gas welding is too hot and I know no one who would try this. Mig welding is widely used to weld sheet metal panel together and even those are spot welded fully to prevent overheating the panels.