How would you fab this piece?

More of an art than a science - discuss metalworking and welding here.



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PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 11:24 pm
Gents,
I am back to working on the rust repair on my 87 Samurai. Had to put the tools down for the winter [ crappy weather working outside ] however I am determined to push on and get this Samurai body done!

I have been cutting out some smaller rust holes in the floor and welding in new metal. It is slow going, but going well. I have been saving these rusty corners where the samurai front fenders are held on, for later while I hone my sheet metal rust-repair skills. These corners [ drivers and passenger ] are more complex than just a simple floor patch. They have two different heights, rounded edges, and should have a little metal tab that sticks out to bolt the fender too. That tab is welded in that little recessed pocket that you see the rust hole in. Making that tab will be simple enough, it's the corner I need advice on please.

My question is how to best remake this corner?
Hammer it out of a single flat sheet of 20 gauge on a shot-filled bag? Hammer it out from 20 gauge on the end of an end-grain round of hardwood log round that I will [try ] to shape / grind / sand to similar dimensions of the part needed? Make it from multiple small pieces of metal welded together to form this part? Hummmm. Yep, a newbie quandary.

I can't buy this part new, nor can I source any other samurai tub to cut these panels from........leaving me to make my own.

Ignore the cut out rocker......I will be repairing that area last and shouldn't be too difficult.

Thank you!



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 9:00 am
Its good that you left that all in tact so you can use it as a guide for your patch. It looks like that will be a hidden area, so you won't have to be as particular about it, cosmetically.

Without some metal shaping abilities, you might be better off making that corner in pieces and welding them together. You could make some of the bends to cut down on the number of pieces, even though there won't be a lot distortion to worry about in that panel, and the beauty of patch panels is that if it isn't right, you can toss it and try again, and again, and again. Sometimes its tempting to simplify the shape, but there is usually a reason for the shape, and you may not see that reason until its too late. So copy what you have.

I would try to use some way to temporarily hold the pieces to the corner panel and just tack weld them together, just don't tack it to the car, and when it all fits like you want, take it off and weld all the pieces solid, . You want to grind the weld bead and check the shape occasionally as you weld it.

Stay tuned, there are some talented guys, so someone may have a better way.



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PostPosted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 10:44 pm
Thank you chevman for your reply. It helps.

Yes, this is a "blind" panel and it won't be seen as it will be covered by the front fender as it overlaps this panel. This rot was caused by leaves / fir needles going down the windshield scuppers and collecting here, keeping this area perpetually wet. The PO never opened up the little trap door to let the debris out.........and so this is a common problem seen in Samurais.

That metal tab that sticks out, is at the same height as the flange, where it meets the rocker panel. It looks like the factory used a circular stamp to make that divot that the tab sits in. Not sure why they chose a circular shape, but I'm prolly going to try to make the new one angled, and straight......not a circular shape.........which is too difficult for me to copy.



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PostPosted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 5:57 am
with out access to a shrinking machine/jaws or not knowing how to tuck shrink, your probably best to find another panel from a wrecked car or make it in bits!!
try this forum, they are a great bunch of guys and very helpful if you intro your self and are polite!! metalmeet.com
if its something you wanna learn, then get some dvd's, i have 1 from david gardiner, he is on metalmeet, he demonstrates how to make panels with simple hand tools and explains very good
krem



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PostPosted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 12:24 pm
krem wrote:with out access to a shrinking machine/jaws or not knowing how to tuck shrink, your probably best to find another panel from a wrecked car or make it in bits!!
try this forum, they are a great bunch of guys and very helpful if you intro your self and are polite!! metalmeet.com
if its something you wanna learn, then get some dvd's, i have 1 from david gardiner, he is on metalmeet, he demonstrates how to make panels with simple hand tools and explains very good
krem



Thank you for the link. I will check it out, and yep.......I'm always polite.
Thanks,
Spokerider.



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PostPosted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 4:42 pm
get yourself some cardboard or poster board, and make yourself a template, its easier to cut and get an idea of what shape you need before cutting actual sheet metal, like others said do it in pieces



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PostPosted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 4:44 pm
Reaching out to you professional body men again please. I am needing some advice on how you would go about removing this dent. I don't have a donor vehicle to get sheet metal from, so it'll have to be worked by me, to the best of my abilities.

Rather than re-type everything, here is a link to a cross-post.

http://www.metalmeet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13000

Thank you!

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