ner of your workplace, taking up the
ways of performing the same tasks.
space of a BMW Mini, gathering
Never undervalue that sense of some-
dust, and sagging the floor under its
thing feeling right, it is not absolutely
enormous weight, will do you little
infallible, but it is usually important.
good if, through ignorance or lack
Beyond that, each metal worker
of opportunity, you never use it. In
brings to this work his or her own
fact, it will do you no good at all.
personality, character, and experi-
In some cases you will fabricate
ence. Attributes like keen observa-
special tools for special tasks as you
tion, sensitivity, logic, and the
A good anvil, like the one shown here,
go along. This is particularly true
ability to plan are all helpful. If you
provides information when you
where the right tool does not exist,
do it right, this work will concen-
hammer against it. The sound that you
or is too expensive. Always keep your
trate these traits, as well as your
hear when you hit metal on it brims
mind open to making tools when
attained skills.
with useful information. A good anvil
you need them, particularly in areas
Traditionally, humans are con-
rings on impact. An inferior anvil thuds.
like fixturing. Devices to hold your
sidered to have five senses. You will
18
AUTOMOTIVE BODY WOR K AN D R UST R E PAI R
W HAT YOU S HOU LD K NOW B E FOR E YOU START
do. Practice hammering out dents
on junk fenders, before you try it on
a repairable or restorable fender.
Practice welding on metal that is
similar to the metal you want to
weld, and get your materials and
settings right, before you ruin a
good panel. Try out new tools or
processes on scrap, before you try
them out on something important.
You get the idea.
Some of the tools, equipment,
and processes that you will use in
this work are inherently dangerous.
There are sharp edges, caustic chem-
icals, flying abrasive grits, electric
shocks, and many other hazards to
consider.
Always consider safety first. No
sheetmetal creation is worth the
loss or impairment of sight or hear-
This fender was damaged by collision and by crude attempts to hammer out
ing, or worse. Read manufacturers’
its damage. Now, there is a range of approaches to repairing it, from dealing
warnings about their tools and sup-
with its stretched and deformed metal to removing the worst of it and
plies, and take them to heart. Some
sectioning in new metal.
hazards, like those posed by sheet-
metal brakes and welding torches,
need to use four of them, and to
different things in sheetmetal work
are pretty obvious. Other hazards,
effectively interpret what they tell
than it does in refinishing. To be
like those posed by lead filings and
you, to do good work in this field.
good at this work, you need to train
airborne zinc fumes, are less obvi-
Hmm, let’s see—sight, sound, touch,
your senses to comprehend things
ous but just as serious. If you have
smell, and taste. Sight and touch are
in ways that are appropriate to and
any questions about safety, ask
obvious. They directly inform you
useful in this work.
them. It will be worth your effort.
regarding the contours, dimensions,
Most sheetmetal tasks can be
I try to note some of the safety
and surface characteristics of the
performed in many ways. Some give
hazards in this work as I go along,
metal on which you work. Sound is
better results, or are more efficient,
but I do not know and am not able
critical in things like how a hammer
than others. A few of them are just
sounds hitting metal, or how a panel
plain wrong, and fewer are indis-
you have any doubts about the
resounds when you tap on it. Smell
putably the only way to do some-
safety of some tool, procedure, or
is useful when you heat metal. It
thing. As you pursue this work, you
process, ask questions about it.
helps to inform you regarding its
will learn which ways give you the
Don’t become a victim of some-
temperature. Okay, I don’t have any
best results.
thing that could have been avoided.
use for the sense of taste in metal
The best way to learn what
You are responsible for your own
work. I’m still working on that one.
works best for you is practice. Expe-
safety. While I try to inform you
Each of the four senses noted
rience is more valuable when it is
about relevant safety hazards as you
above can provide you with useful
attained without ruining valuable
read this book, the author, editors,
information, if you interpret what it
metal. Before you strike with any
publisher, and agents of this book
tells you in the sheetmetal way. For
hammer or other device, always try
cannot ensure your safety in this
example, your sense of feel means
to practice what you are planning to
work. Only you can do that.
AUTOMOTIVE BODY WOR K AN D R UST R E PAI R
19
C H A P T E R 2
LIMITS OF MATERIALS,
EQUIPMENT AND SKILLS
As with any other work, many
factors limit the autobody metal
repair and fabrication projects that
you attempt—and your results.
These include your skills and orga-
nizing abilities, and the limits of the
materials and processes that you
employ. Just because you want to
repair something or wish to fabricate
some shape, does not mean that it
can be done or, more important, that
you can do it. These are limits that
you have to discover.
A good first step in organizing
any project is to visualize how you
and your resources best plug into it.
Anything can seem difficult and
intimidating the first time that you
do it. You may worry over all of the
Repairing this rusted-out, lower door corner requires skill, ingenuity, and
various things that can go wrong.
imagination. True, the surface is not an accurate one, but just preserving its
Later, after you have successfully
authentic roughness poses problems. There are many ways to approach this
done it, you will have the confidence
&
nbsp; job that will work: All require some planning.
to know that you can overcome what-
ever problems it presented. As you go
at first seemed between difficult and
have to be certain that your materi-
further in autobody metal work, your
impossible become possible when
als, processes, and procedures also
confidence level will increase, and so
you break them down into specific
are up to it.
will the difficulty of the jobs that you
tasks that you are pretty sure you can
The limits of inferior and/or
are comfortable attempting.
successfully complete.
inappropriate materials can haunt
After you master several differ-
Before you get to that point of
and destroy your best intentions and
ent aspects of this work, you will
knowing that your knowledge, skills,
most ambitious jobs. Take sheet-
realize that many complex jobs that
and judgment are up to a job, you
metal, for example; it is available in
20
AUTOMOTIVE BODY WOR K AN D R UST R E PAI R
LI M ITS OF MATE R IALS, EQU I P M E NT AN D S K I LLS
that you might be able to use for
autobody work. At least it comes in
reasonable gauges for that use, and
may have characteristics that are
fairly close to those that are desirable
for autobody panel work. The prob-
lem is that it is specified for a wide
range of hobby and homeowner pro-
jects, and probably lacks the very
specific and necessary characteristics
for first-class automotive work.
The best way to acquire good
sheetmetal for autobody metal pro-
jects is to look for it in places that spe-
The metal restoration of this Dodge Super Bee takes high confidence, because
cialize in supplying the autobody
it is a very challenging job. The plan for this restoration is necessarily complex,
trades. Body shop supply outfits usu-
and the skills and judgment required to do it are definitely advanced.
ally have a line of sheetmetal, in a few
different gauges and specifications. At
jects. It is too thin for most fabrica-
least this metal is intended for the pur-
tion and repair jobs and its carbon
pose for which you are going to use it.
content is higher than is desirable for
And, consider this: These suppliers
automotive work, making it harder
rely on repeat business from body
than hammered owl poop. And that
shops for their livelihoods. If they sup-
is when it is new. If you try to make a
ply products that are bad for the pur-
fender patch out of a salvaged bit of
poses for which their clients buy
this stuff, you can add the problems
them, they tend to lose customers and
of rust, denting, nail holes, and work
hardening to the list of problems.
“Ah-hah,” you might say, “But
my local plumbing supply store sells
26-gauge double-galvanized HVAC
duct tin in 4 x 8- and 4 x 10-foot
sheets, and it’s pretty cheap, figured
by the square foot.” Sorry, but you
When you make new metal for a
knew that I was going to rain on that
panel like this E-Type Jaguar cowl
parade. HVAC duct tin tends to be
section, there are plenty of things to
too soft for autobody repair or fabri-
worry about without having to wonder
cation work, and 26-gauge is decid-
if the metal is high-quality material.
edly too thin for it.
There is also sheet steel sold in
many places and for many prices. If
various thicknesses at hardware
you want to buy a large amount inex-
stores and lumber yards. It isn’t inex-
A good stock of sheetmetal, in varied
pensively, just go someplace where
pensive, but it comes in different
gauges and sizes, is a great asset.
someone is removing an old tin roof.
sized sheets, and says “weldable
This material comes protected by
You can buy the rusty, dented old
sheetmetal” or something like that
preservative oil to keep it corrosion
roofing for the proverbial song.
on the sticker that states it size,
free. Still, it is best to keep your stock
But there are problems with
gauge, and universal price code. In
of metal fresh and to store it well so it
using roofing tin in autobody pro-
fact, this is definitely closer to metal
doesn’t corrode.
AUTOMOTIVE BODY WOR K AN D R UST R E PAI R
21
CHAPTE R 2
cease to exist. There are also mail-
order companies that supply panel
steel to the autobody and panel-
fabrication trades. It is usually pretty
good metal for those purposes.
Another intriguing source of
panel steel for some projects is auto-
motive salvage yards. If you need a
particular crown or configuration for
part of a fabrication, or for a repair
patch, you often can find something
close to the shape that you need,
incorporated in the decklid, door, or
fender of some unrelated salvage
panel. If that panel isn’t too rusty or
Salvage panels may contain shapes that work as the basis for sections that
damaged for your use, you can buy it
you need to fabricate. Many metal workers have a stock of donor panels for
and cut out what you need. You
just that purpose. This fender has many such possibilities.
never find the perfect item for what
you need, but it is often much easier
to modify an already stamped section
of a panel to exactly what you do
need than it is to start from scratch
with virgin flat stock. I know many
metal workers who keep a supply of
salvage panels around, just in case.
In general, the same rules that
apply to acquiring good-quality panel
steel apply to most other supplies that
you will use in this work. Things like
welding supplies, filling supplies, and
fasteners should be high-grade items
that are intended for automotive
work. Using the cheapest versions of
these things that are sold to the gen-
eral public does not result in top-qual-
All welding wire looks pretty much the same but varies in quality from terrible
ity
automotive
work.
Off-brand
to terrific. Different wires work better in specific applications. It is a good idea
soldering supplies, or welding rod and
to try several of them to find out what works best for the jobs that you do.
wire, may be perfectly okay or they
may be junk. The small amounts of
and supplies from reputable vendors,
Pound
the metal into various
money that you save by buying this
it is always a good idea to test them,
shapes to see how it reacts to vari-
stuff are not worth the risk of messing
to see how they perform when you
ous processes, like hammering,
up a project by using it. There are
use them in an application. If some-
power hammering, and wheeling.
enough inherent problems in this
thing is not going to work well for
With welding supplies, make trial
work that are difficult to predict, with-
you, it is best to know that before
welds. See if you get good bead for-
out taking chances on the materials
you commit to using it.
mation and penetration. In the
and supplies that you use.
If you find a new source of
end, you will benefit from using
Even when you buy what are
sheetmetal, welding wire, or rod,
only those materials with which
supposed to be top-quality materials
try it out, experiment with it.
you are comfortable.
22
AUTOMOTIVE BODY WOR K AN D R UST R E PAI R
LI M ITS OF MATE R IALS, EQU I P M E NT AN D S K I LLS
You should remember that no
single material or supply is likely to
be ideal for everything that you do
with that class of material or supply.
Sheetmetal of different specifications,
and from different sources, works
best in some specific applications,
and not as well in others. Some weld-
ing supplies are fine for one type of
job, but less desirable in other appli-
cations. When you evaluate new
materials and processes, you should
keep this in mind and remember
what works best in which circum-
stances, and for what purposes.
Considerations similar to those
The best way to evaluate a new
All gas welding rod is not created
governing the limits of materials, sup-
material is to work with it to see how
equal. If someone tells you that a wire
plies, and procedures apply to your
it performs in your applications. For
coat hanger will do, don’t believe
own skills and to your equipment. In
example, testing how a sheetmetal
them. Good welding rod has a flow
some cases these will be adequate for
forms is a good idea, before you
and penetration that inferior rod
particular projects and in other cases,
commit to using it for a job.
cannot provide.
without upgrading them, they will