Let's see some sheet metal shaping

I know, but that is a common saying here in restoration shops because people tend to buy the nicest looking cheapest car from the US. It's like going to a brothel and find out that the cute girl comes with an extra you didn't ask for. In the end your butt hurts in both situations...

 

Both sides done


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Looking good. You are going to get a bunch of gawkers trying to guess what it is and a bunch of know it alls that THINK they know what it is and will be wrong.

 

Depends on if it's kinked or bent, then there is the cost to replace vs. labor hours/rate that you have to consider


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Pics wound get you a better answer.
Anything can be fixed its just not worth it sometimes.

 

Generally a kinked panel is very hard to fix. Imagine folding a section of sheet metal on to itself the smashing the fold in a vice then trying to straighten it. Compared to running a piece thru a slip roll and then making it flat again


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If you want to learn then that is the panel you learn on. It may not be the most successful effort, but you can learn a lot on a really screwed up piece. You get it pretty close and when you do a milder panel it'll be a piece of cak eyou tackle with confidance.

 

Quicker to make that new there is no "shape" in it, any decent Hvac shop can bend one up for you


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Nothing fancy - not really shaping just down and dirty forming really. Like HVAC type stuff.
Anyway here's what got started yesterday and done today.

I did this Trans cover and tunnel a while ago and didn't love it a whole bunch but it was good enough to do its job. I don't really need the tunnel, but it adds a tremendous amount of strength to the floor, a back bone of sorts. B
Then I set my seats in and the tunnel hit the bases by 1" crap !!! So since I never finished it then I guess it's time for a redo.


So from some Jerry rigged bent up loops in outer space the shortened tunnel I got paper template - then I got this.

Put in the brake and came up with the lower 1/2 of this


Missed a pic or two of The upper section
But once I had the lower 1/2 set in place it was just pretty simple to get up to the firewall.
A few pieces of duct tape to support the paper then make a template.
I cheated and put it in the slip roll to get the first part of most of it shape.
Then I finished with it over my knee to tighten up the transition.
The fire wall edge was turned up with vice grips then back to the stretcher to capture the firewall radius.
So that the upper part of this


Getting it to fit in is a sneak up on it dance. Tweak fit repeat trim tweak fit repeat.


Before

After

Still have One little piece to get on the hump/tunnel.


Maybe I'll run the tunnel thru the planishing hammer maybe not.

 

This one of those threads that needs to be in the Smithsonian....Good grief the craftsmanship is splendid!

 

My Mother would pay good money for that there state of the art haircut template! nice nice nice!

 

Getting that big old flat panel back to "pretty" isn't worth it, get a new one.
BUT you can get it back to "usable" with out much fuss & the right stuff to work with.
Making a new one would be even less fuss and less time with the right stuff to work with and it would be pretty.

 

Bed & Structure too? That will be a major effort due to the scale of the thing.

Bed & structure? Dunno about tackling that, it has scale don't it. I bet you can find one in better shape that needs some tweeking, that'd be the one to learn on.

 

I needed to make a taillight mount. This one was so far gone I researched the internet to find others, unfortunatly all were different. So just did what felt right.
I can't do the word thing to describe whats what, the first pic is what I had to start with and the last pic is what I finished with.

 

Very nice work on the taillight Hobo Jim

 

Been playing with my new PH when time allows . I had a short class on it when I picked it up . One of the things we were taught was building a buck for a tank , then doing a paper patern and transferring to the metal . Then played with the hammer for about 45 min each . I did not get the hang of it while I was there.
I finished the tank but don't have the buck to check it with . Getting a set of radius gages from Fay Buttler this week then I will planish it and see ?
Also cut our a 18" round out of some 18 ga paint grip and beat out and shrunk this disk . I really need some intense one on one with a real craftsman Hope the learning curve goes faster in future . Blue

 

Very nice, how are you doing the deep shrinks? I ask because I am trying to make similar shape but its' kickin my ass, I can't figure out how to do a deep shrink with hand tools.

 

OJ, If you're trying deep shrinks on the stump, try starting the tuck in farther from the edge. If you start at the edge it tends to lock it there. If you need the shrink in farther, start at the "in farther" point. May also help to "adjust" the shape of your stump's recess to accommodate the larger size tuck. Peter Tommasini has a video on youtube that shows making a quarter panel for the Holden Monaro(sp?) inside the door jamb were tucks about 4 to 6" in length.. IIRC, he did these with tucking irons..

When you come down to look at the Lennox/Pullmax tooling, I have a yellow tool that will do real deep shrinks if you'd like to try it...

 

I'm giving her all I've got Scotty!

 

Will do and thanks for the invite!

 

This was my first try at any sheet metal shaping. Fairly simple but I felt like I accomplished something. I approached it using tips and tricks I picked up here.

I wanted to make a transmission tunnel that was easily removable so I could access the transmission bolts, cooler lines, etc. easily. I started by making a perimeter frame out of 16 GA metal. Once I got the perimeter frame made I simply laid a piece of poster board in it to get a template for the tunnel. I found the easiest way to mark the template was to use spray paint so as to not disturb its position in the frame.

I then cut out the poster board and taped it in the frame. I also located the hole for the transmission shifter and got everything test fitted and in place. I then used the poster board template to mark a piece of 20 GA sheet metal and cut it out.

I used a propane tank to get a curve in the tunnel along with tweaking it by hand. The nice thing about the frame was that I was able to work on the tunnel on a bench rather than in the car. The 16 GA frame was stiff enough not to get tweaked out of shape while fitting the tunnel.

Below are some pics I took along the way.

 

Looks good man, professional looking job!

 

Whamo-bamo easy peasy ^^^^ hussey
Looks great.

 

Thanks! You know, that was one part of my project I had held off on for months because I thought it was going to be much harder and turn out looking like total S. When I went to tackle it, it was like it was intuitive. I think the know how of how to go about it was already there from all threads I've read and pics folks have posted.

That's what I love about this site, the knowledge transfer and the exposure you get from some really talented enthusiasts.

Well, that's all, back on topic, looking forward to seeing some more work.

 

Can't afford a real one. Fake it till I make it.



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WOW !!


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Dang!

 

Very cool!