> I recently picked up a swivel seat base and am looking to have it
welded
> in;
> I stopped by a body shop today and they told me it would take four
hours
> of
> labor for cleaning and prepping the pedestal and laying welding
blankets
> and
> doing the actual welding, so somewhere around $140.
>
>

>thats friggin insane.  you should have asked if he included vaseline with
>that quote, because that's what he is doing to you.

>From my personal experience, 110V MIG welders are pretty worthless.
>Everyone I know who has bought one, has regretted it.  I have a Miller 220V
>MIG and even it struggles on the thick stuff.

As someone who does this kind of stuff....

If I were welding in seat bases in my own van, I'd do more than a 10 minute
tack job.  It's a safety issue, you don't want the seats pulling out in the
event of an accident.  The professional body shop understands this and may
have a legal/liability obligation to undertake the work in a proper manner.
If they are smart, they will not do a 'quick and dirty' job as the
consequences in the event of failure could be expensive for them.  Good
workmanship takes time-money.  4 hours sounds high though.  Maybe they are
assuming you want it to look factory original after they are done.
I do understand that an old vanagon may not be worth the cost to do things
to high level.

A 110 volt mig welder would be marginal for this job.  It takes a skilled
welder to get good results from a welder which does not have adequate power.
It takes an experienced eye to see whether a weld is good.  Recently, I've
seen several dangerous critical welding jobs done with a 110v flux core
welder.   No penetration.

Clean the parts of all paint.  Hold the mig gun steady, use two hands if
possible.  Move slowly, allowing the puddle to get hot and flow.
Slow and steady.

Gary Lee
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/gary2a/vw.htm