Just curious to see what gauge everyone is using to make new floor pans, trans humps and firewalls..... I was thinking 16g on my firewall and 18g for the floor?? I have a bead roller I purchased a few years ago that I was going to try and put beads in the floor pans to add a little more regitity...... any thoughts and resonses will be appreciated..
I'm using 14 ga. cold roll on the firewall and floor. Mine is relativly flat so the heavier ga. dosen't cause too many problems and better suits my shaky welding skills.
I use 18 gage, but have been known to use 20 gage. With the proper bead rolling, and adequate floor supports, either should be OK. Modern cars use lighter gage than that !!
I put 16 gauge floor panels in the one I'm working on now, with a framework of 3/4" 1/8"-wall square tubing to support it so there aren't any large spans of metal to act like noisy drum heads. It has a real solid feel. In another car, I used 18 gauge for the floor. It seemed kind of flimsy so I used a bead roller to stiffen it up, but then my crummy bead roller put some warps in the flat panels and made them look more like potato chips, so then I had to spend a lot of time with a shrinker and hammer and dolly to get the panels to lie flat again. So the 16 gauge flat steel is a lot easier unless you know you have a real nice bead roller that's not going to warp up the sheet metal.
Thanks for all the replys and help....I'll be using a Mig welder, definately NOT a stick welder....I have to get my new rocker welded in on the drivers side next and then start making the new floor bracing....I am thinking about raising the tunnel about 2 maybe 3 inches for extra clearance in the event I want to lower the car more later on....I am also thinking the tunnel will be flat on top with the sides angled out which will be okay as I plan on running a center counsel of some design.. The biggest challenge is gonna be the firewall and toe boards, I havent quite figured out how I am going to make them yet along with new front body mounts (legs)....I have some ideas but havent got all wrinkles ironed out yet,, I'll have to grab some pics as I go.... Thanks again,
For our drag cars we use 24 guage steel...It's very light and is easy to bead roll....I only lightly bead this stuff and it works real good for the rear sections...if we were doing something more "traditional" and it was going to be used as a daily driver, then go with 18 or 20 g., but it is harder to bead roll.........the trick is to NOT roll too deep a bead to keep the warpage down. M.
I used 16ga in my sedan. I did not have any large spans so I did not worry about any stiffeneing beads. I welded all seams and it has made for a really nice and rigid floor.
I've made floor patches with 16 gauge w/ a bead roller, seemed to work okay... I need to make some patch panels for the '26 T roadster body, what gauge should I use for that??
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