Lakester frame in 3 parts

[edweldon]

Pete - Glad you brought up the powder coat issue.  It was somewhere in the dark recesses of my brain; but you saved me from having to recall it in the heat of "battle". (a limp pun).
This prompts some creative thinking about heat fences for round tube.  Perfect for filling boring time slots or trying to get to sleep.  The latter seldom produces anything more useful than the trip to dream time.  Waking up time is much better for that. 
Thinking about redoing the coating reminds me that with the frame in sections the actual process logistics get a bit easier.  In my case Techshop has a small powder coating oven that I'm sure the nose section will fit in.  But the whole issue of powder coating for the new work on this car needs to be revisited.  If you want to really get all the salt out of it after a season it really needs to come apart for cleaning.  At that point an ordinary paint coat may make more sense.  And that illuminates another advantage of the sectional construction approach in that it makes that annual maintenance project a bit easier. .................... Ed

[Rex Schimmer]

Pete is right about sand blasting the powder coat off for the best method of welding another method I have used is to grind the coating off and then heat the metal with the "blue wrench" to burn off the coating that is impregnated in the metal and then weld. Either way requires re-coating and sand blasting is the cleanest but sometimes not readily available.

Rex

[RidgeRunner]

Ed,

     PM sent.

                 Ed

[Seldom Seen Slim]

"sand blasting is the cleanest but sometimes not readily available."

I've got a little sand blasting outfit - can be hand-carried (although heavy, it's made of plastic).  It hooks to the air from the garage's compressor - 60-gallon tank - and does fine for jobs like I think this one would be.  I've had it for years - but it's probably from Grainger -  for sure NOT from H.F.  If you don't have one in your array of tools it's worth considering.  You probably won't use it often, but it's the nuts when you do need a little blasting.

[kiwi belly tank]

Try one of these cheapies, ideal for those hard to get spots.
  Sid.
http://www.harborfreight.com/gravity-feed-blaster-gun-93221.html