Show off your sheet metal fab projects

[Jim Stabe]

I'll start

I had to make some flared rear fenders for my MGB project, the 315/35/17 tires didn't quite fit in the original space. I had to make inner fenders (tubs) as well as the external sheetmetal.



The top portion of the outer fender is made up of 3 pieces formed on the English wheel. The bend line was extended back from the door using a laser line like what you use to hang pictures straight.



The outward flange for the body line was started with a tipping wheel in the English wheel and then the bend completed with hammer and dolly. The downward bend was also started with the tipping wheel and finished with hammer and dolly. The step tapers away to nothing at the rear of the fender.



The lower rear panel was next. The outer and inner fenders were spot welded together at the wheel well flange with a HF handheld spot welder.. The flanges were formed with the tipping wheel the same way as for the body line.



The lower front was added last



The flare was extended into the door to make the lines flow properly.

 

[Mario428]

The floor in progress

Tubs installed

****** tunnel

 

[MP&C]

The rear quarters look good Jim, rear tires tucked nicely




Some rust repair for a 1951 Triumph Saloon. The gas tank is suspended from the trunk floor, with the top of the tank forming part of the floor.

Rusty support panel removed......

The long sections were simple bends in the brake, the corners were hammer formed and welded together......

Trimming the opening to fit...

Installed....

 

[A_Pmech]

Nice work guys!

 

[jsaw]

built a gas tank for My bike

 

[e-tek]

Love it!!!!!!

 

[MP&C]

Here's a repair on an infamous rust area of the 55 Chevy...

We'll start with the inner grill opening rust issue by drilling out the spot welds...

Original, pattern, and new....

Now this fancy hammer I used is sometimes hard to find in the store, but they are on ebay on occasion. 2" dia steel used as an anvil to form the sweep

trimmed and test fit......

Now for the front piece.....

....and the official template....

The start of the replacement....

Now in this next picture I used a mower blade that I'd thrown under the welding table about three years ago as an anvil, so you never know what will come in handy. (....but don't use me as an excuse for your hoarding issues, I'll deny everything.....)

And for a test fit...and a comparison.....

Cut out the rust to make room for trimming the patch....

Folded the inner flange, which required quite a bit of stretching to maintain the curve.....

With all the metal being forced into the "valley" while forming the patch, the outer flange had a tendency to bulge outwards. Used the shrinking tip on the dent puller to help take care of that, as well as better form the radius.

...comparing to opposite fender.....

Inner grille opening......

Welding outside seam

Welds dressed.....

Some fresh metal to last a few more years.

 

[supermerle]

So much talent or maybe just some good old horse sence MP&C! You can work some magic with that hammer. Everybody keep these pictures coming.

 

[VegasBruce]

Very cool projects. Here is my take on a K5 floor.

 

[a-fordable]

craftsmen at work!-great skills

 

[Kma4444]

Well, I'll toss a few you guy's way.

 

[Kma4444]

And then....

 

[Kma4444]

Few more

And that's about where it is right now. Need to get back on it one day.

 

[VegasBruce]

Nice

 

[Nealcrenshaw]

Sheet metal kings!!

 

[Kma4444]

Thanks Bruce, I'm sure I will get it done some day. First I am moving and losing this shop, only good news is I will be building a new one 32 x 40, so that's a good thing.

 

[e-tek]

DOUBLE WOW!!

 

[ambenz]

You all are great metalmasters!!!
Amazing pictures and cool worthwhile projects!!!!
Great Thread!

 

[e-tek]

Can I play?
a W/S pillar -

I brushed POR15 into the inners as far as the brush would go, but now I've found Eastwoods Internal Frame Coating, whcih has both Zinc and oils and an 18inch long apllicator nozzle that spraysout at 360 degrees! I'll be able to apply it now from under the dash, but it would have been nice to use it here!

 

[PCO6]

I don't have any sheet metal projects currently on the go but here's a small project I did years ago in a night school panel beating course I took. It started out as a single peice of sheet metal and a wire rod. I cut the sheet metal into 2 peices, formed the shapes and hammer welded (fused) them together with a torch and about an inch of filler rod. I've formed panels and patched up many fenders, doors, etc. ... but they've all been painted!

 

[MP&C]

One of the tasks on this 55 is to de-bird the hood and bring the peak forward.

I know I can cut a strip out of the middle and duplicate a replacement with this little jewel...

.....but this hood is relatively straight and rust free, so I'd like to keep it intact (without all that welding) if at all possible. I tried my hand at some manual "punch and die" tooling to see how well it might work, and all in all, it wasn't too bad although it will take some clean up afterwards:

Results from the "start line"

The pad, or "plateau" where the bird rested seems to have a nice crease around the perimeter.

We started with using the crowned body hammer off dolly to knock the sharpness down a bit.

After that we needed something that more closely matched the inside radius. This would work if it weren't for that flat spot on the bottom of the hammer....

...but after about 5 minutes with the grinder it had a more conforming radius..

Kept working and working (and more use of the "Punch and Die" as well).....

and this is what we ended up with....

It still has some fine tuning to go, holes to fill, some shrinking in the "valley" down both sides towards the front and some tweaking here and there to make the peak more uniform front to back. But overall I'm real pleased with how it turned out.

 

[e-tek]

One of the tasks on this 55 is to de-bird the hood and bring the peak forward.


It still has some fine tuning to go, holes to fill, some shrinking in the "valley" down both sides towards the front and some tweaking here and there to make the peak more uniform front to back. But overall I'm real pleased with how it turned out.

Interesting task! How long do you estimate you or your guys will work on the hood to get it paintable? Is that a custom job for a customer? If it is, do you mind if I ask - is he paying by the hour, or did you give him a set price to cutomize it?
Thanks man - always learning!

 

[MP&C]

The holes in top of the hood are filled, the front ones are under discussion; a peaked hood looks better without the emblem on the front (IMHO). The hood bird was rather pitted so to have it refinished and rechromed would have been about the same as the cost for peaking......dare to be different. To get the hood ready for paint also includes fitment and gapping to the fenders and cowl, so it's kinda hard to lay a number on the total, but to get the peaking part ready for paint would probably be another hour or so. She is paying time and materials, which includes quite a bit of rust repair and fabrication. As you've seen in your last couple projects, the layers of rust keep getting deeper the more you dig. T&M IMO is the only way to go on these type projects. Especially when you get into customer or vehicle conditional (rust and or damage) driven changes....

 

[Kma4444]

Great work guys, love the hood.

 

[e-tek]

T&M IMO is the only way to go on these type projects. Especially when you get into customer or vehicle conditional (rust and or damage) driven changes....

I charge for every hour I put in, plus "major" materials (filler or mig wire, no, but a Quart of POR15, a Gallon of HighBuild, Yes) - where do you draw the line?

 

[E.rodz]

here is a little body mod that i did on my 81 chevy pu.

 

[NASTYZEN]

Here is a Subaru catch tank I made for a rally guy.

 

[e-tek]

Here is a Subaru catch tank I made for a rally guy.

what does it catch - everything??!

 

[fireguy]

I would post some pictures of my welding ability. Except, my camera will not take pictures of holes that big!

I am amazed at the skill shown here

 

[HemiRambler]

My digger & some foolin' around.

 

[NASTYZEN]

what does it catch - everything??!

The tank is on it's side so the 2 top tubes with flares and bent 90 deg. are a visible level indicator gauge once a transparent tube is added to it.The male fitting is the drain plug.
On the side,the 2 dash -10 fittings are for the valve covers breathers(boxer engine= 2 separate heads)the dash-8 2 are for the engine crank case and gearbox breathers and the small tube is for a breather so that no pressure can build up in the tank.
Thems are the rules!

 

[NASTYZEN]

This one is a reproduction Cooper Triumph oil tank from a couple years back.

 

[NASTYZEN]

My digger & some foolin' around.

Nice work!

 

[HemiRambler]

NASTYZEN, Thanks & right back at ya!!! Love the Triumph tank - that came out really nice!

 

[e-tek]

WICKED racer and awesome shop, from what I can see - CAN WE SEE MORE???

 

[eborcim]

dang you guys are good...that's all there is to it!

 

[NASTYZEN]

This is my friend Brian MacEachern's Lotus 11 at Watkins glen after I fixed his crash damage.He really drives the wheels of of it.

 

[NASTYZEN]

This is a pit cart I custom built for the Porschehaus Racing team a few years ago.Not me in the picture.

 

[beee85]

Got a question for you fabrication guys, What does it take to get an apprenticeship in fabrication shop that does classic cars or anything close to it?
Or a restoration shop.There is fabrication shops all over south florida, but very few for classic cars.

 

[Ray-CA]

I built these to recover some space under the trunk of our FFR Roadster:

Ray