So my LeMons racing career has taken a turn from team member to car owner and team leader since the former car owner selfishly accepted a better job in a warmer climate. He thoughtfully left me our unfinished Saturn SC2 race car.

My quandary is that I spent some serious coin on a tubing bender and notcher because he had the hook-up of a Boilermaker for a brother in law to do the welding and supervise the fabrication of our cage. I cannot emphasize how much the cage build is scrutinized in LeMons. The welds have to be perfect for penetration and fill. I am not capable of this as yet so I am having a co-worker do the weld-up in exchange for beer, pizza and a lifetime of favors.

It brought to the fore my need to become a skilled welder. Especially before I do the 244 LeMons build (more on that in a moment). So I need a welder. It needs to be capable of making field repairs be it welding up a cracked A-arm or tacking bent sheet metal in place. It needs to be able to do said cage welds on .125 DOM and said tubing to 1/4" plate spreader plates...no grinding of welds allowed. It also needs to be able to weld up my brewing stand from old bed frame angle iron.

Now the tricky part. I will find out this weekend if I can successfully pull 30 amp 220 to my garage through the 75 year old 1/2" conduit. If so, that is the limits of my electrical power (if not, I get to dig up my yard and break concrete). This leaves me two viable options as I see it for welders:

180 Amp MIG such as a Hobart Handler 180
Small engine drive arc welder like a Miller Blue Star 6000 (now I think the 180)

The gas engine welder has some many advantages but the price is much higher and the odds of getting an abused used one is pretty darned high. The Hobart (even the Lincoln equivalent) is reasonably priced and there are always teams with generators big enough handle it available if the dookie really hits the fan. that being said 6000W of back-generator for the house is mighty appealing after weather some long power outage in Oklahoma due to ice storms.

Suggestions, comments and snide remarks welcome.

Oh, the 1990 240 DL sedan (formerly known as the dog car) is going to be a special build for LeMons. Since my wife works with a lot of veterans agencies and the car is automatic, we are going to build a Veteran Amputee race car and team. We are batting around names like "An arm and a leg...and another leg" or "Spare Parts Racing". She believes she can get enough sponsorship that the Vets would not be out of pocket one cent and I would only be out of pocket the cost of the vehicle safety gear (around $1500 if I do the build all myself).