Dear VWers,

In my previous email I mentioned about the damaged nose panel on my 80 Westy.
I got a few replies that were very helpful. Appreciate it. 

I managed to pull the nose sheet metal panel instead of replacing it, for now. 
It doesn't look perfect, but it has a character. The chassis as well as the 
inner panels were in perfect shape.
 
Now I am ready to do welding. I looked into renting an arc stick welder. The
guy says, stick wleding on car sheet metals is really difficult. He is
talking about some other kinds (Mig or Heli-arc) that I don't have any 
experience with. Anybody knows what these things are?

Here is my questions:

1- Has anybody done stick welding on VW's. If yes what current would you
   use? I think Herb mentioned an 18 Gauge stick welding. (Thanks Herb)
   At what current though?

2- I've found this welder at Orchard Supply for $200. It goes up to
   225 Amps.  It is a single phase 220 V AC. I can hook it up to my dryer
   outlet. Would this do the job?

3- If with stick welding you can easily melt the metal, then how about 
   gas welding?

BTW, pulling the sheet metal was a lot of fun. I used a turn-buckel hooked
to a steel cable. Worked very well.

Regards,
Vahid