Just curious how many of you weld in patch panels when the car is apart? My 29 coupe is totally apart at the moment and I have a lot of welding to do on patch panels. Is it a HUGE no no to do it this way? I can follow the contour for the lower panels. I can take measurements off of other panels I have. As for the top edge, say where the roof hits the quarter I think I will be all right working on these areas as they are much more rigid so to speak. Just throwing this topic out there before I jump into something I shouldn't if that is the case.
I prefer to have the body on the frame,welding patch panels or braces can draw the metal and things tens to not match up..JMHO. HRP
Depends on how you want it to come out I guess. For example, cowl, door, and rear quarters have a dependent relationship, if they aren't together it will require great effort to make sure they go together. Most of these things are fit up and subject to final approval by eye judging the relationship. Since you probably don't have original tooling to check and aftermarket panels it will be either one of two things, a cluster fuck or a perfect test of your abilities.
I think I have a tendency to get ahead of myself. I need to locate where my sub frame and cowl are going to be on my frame since I have a "Z" then I can start lining up my panels. Again, this my first rodeo here so I'm learning as I go.
It can by tricky to get everything to match up with the panels in pieces. I would wait to do the patch panels after you get the panels bolted/spot welded together to hold things in place and to line up any body lines. You have the right idea, start with the cowl and move your way back.
These guys are all right. Take it from me, a guy that grafted his together from like 6 or 7 different cars. Get it clean, put it together, THEN do the patches..
It'd be much like chopping a top on a car. It should be the last thing you do. Have the back bone complete before making it pretty.
at the very least, just tack in the patch panels and get the whole car assembled before welding them in. That might mean that you want to cut them a bit "large" and overlap them for the mock up. When the whole car is the correct size and shape, then you can work on each one one at a time, trimming and welding it in. I'm assuming you have some places that there is no metal to even attempt to line up without patching first.
squirrel - Yes I have to replace a lot of the top flanges that were originally spot welded. They are in real bad shape. Was going to try my hand a the shrinker / stretcher for fabbing those pieces. I was thinking I could at very least do these areas before hand. Dredddybear - My car is also a frankenstien car. 5 different car body pieces at the moment. I remember watching you fit the curved top panels above the windows from Tudor tops. I think I may do the same as io have a nice set of those.
Make sure to do the Tops LAST. I'm wrapping my car up right now and those tops needed A LOT of attention
Yeah the roof panels are the last thing I'll be working on. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
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