I'm not a professional welder but I've been welding autobody panels since the 70's, gas, stick, and MIG since 80 or 81. Do not braze autobody panels, if you want to use a torch use steel rods and weld them. Highly recommend buying a small MIG with shielding gas, hands down the best option for a beginner.
Take the welding class first, you may decide welding is not for you and decide to pay someone else to do it for you. If you do like it you will be shopping for a welder with more knowledge than you have now.

 

I have a Lincoln 135 plus that I got at a welding store not a big box store as they may have the name but some of the parts you cant get from the welding store, 2 different machines.
I bought this machine just for sheet metal welding but have used it to weld axle tubes to center housing and spring pads on my drag car just need to watch the duty cyl. of the machine.

Get a gas machine don't even think other wise.
Now you can run flux core wire thru a gas machine just don't turn on the gas. But you cant run non-flux core wire thru a non-gas machine.
With gas you cant have any wind (fan to keep cool), as it blows the shield gas away but if you use flux core wire you can have the fan running or even work out doors welding.

As said flux core leaves splatter and takes more clean up where gas has vary little if any splatter.
Besides flux core I have used CO2 as a gas (it was free) and it was cleaner than flux core but you get a better weld with Argon mix gas as that is what I am using now.

Once you have a welder you will find so much more you can use the machine for.
Just today I made a "T" bracket that fits in the ball hitch hole on my garden tractor, hyd, 3 pt hitch. that fits the handle of my portable generator so I can lift it by the handle and tow it where I need it.
I used it today with hedge trimmer to trim all the hedges around the house. Other wise I would of had to pull out 200 ft of ext cord!

Also get a good auto darking helmet, I have a Speed Glass I got the same time I got the machine and good welding gloves.
The welding jacket I got from Northern Tools.

Body panels for my 81 F100 I got thru Tabco.com and were nice and thick and fit really good.
Floors, rockers, cab corners, rear door posts, lower inner & outer left door bottom.
Also use the welder to make mods to the stock bumpers, added driving light in the front bumper, and made a custom metal bed floor for my flare side.

As said you will find so much more you can do with a welder.
Dave ----

 

...probably mentioned above....but:
Don’t waste your time brazing. You will warp the panel and still not have a repair as good as steel.
Don’t bother with flux core, get the best mig welder that you can afford. It will pay for itself.
You can learn to weld without taking a class, but the learning curve will be much longer. Alternatively get some hands on tips from an experienced welder...they are everywhere. Then learn on some scrap...play...have fun...ruin it...no pressure.
Plan on growing into your welder. If you think that you need the minimum for sheet metal repair, you’re wrong. Once you start learning, you will find that there’s so much more you can do and it will open doors to repairs and fabrication of all types. You will go to it often, which is why you want a welder that you won’t outgrow...

 

Budget says I could get something like a Everlast tig 160/140 I wouldn’t mind learning tig since it can be versatile, any opinions on a little unit like that?

 

I think Bill's suggestion of taking a welding course is a good idea. (available as evening courses @ many Community Colleges, etc)

This would give you hands-on experience with several disciplines,(Mig, Tig, Stick, Oxy) and hopefully enough knowledge/experience to enable you to make an informed decision about what type of welder you want to buy, and to go look @ some used welders with a much better chance of not buying a dud......

 

Well before I took a class even I got quoted today for $500 max to repair all cab rust. Not too shabby I would say. This is including striping old paint and rust, welding in proper metal and finishing. All I would do is the filling and blocking.

while the truck is getting that done it’s time to start thinking of insulation. What have y’all used on a budget? Any opinions on the lmc insulation kit?

my plan is to por15 the floor and roof of the cab, insulation over the top of that. Maybe some insulation behind the dash. For sure some in the doors.

how about weatherstripping? Where is the best priced for the quality?

 

Well, first question would be, what is this shops hourly rate? Many body shops are at (or over) $100.00/hr for labour, with an added $$ surcharge per labour hours for materials. Not even factoring in any patch panels, that's five hours of labour?? How much work do you think they can do in just over half a day?? (if hourly rates are lower, do the math on how many hours your $500 will buy you, then contemplate if the hours seem reasonable to do the required repairs......)

 

it is not really a true shop, he is a friend from the local f100 group we have here. He charges $50 an hour, and expects 10 hours of work for what it needs to have done. He includes the material cost with this. Had we not been part of this group the cost would be much higher.

He seems to do excellent work. Currently he was fixing a BW Karmann Ghia and a 72 cuda, the work looked outstanding