Ok, I know alot of people here are not as into cars as me- but I was wondering. Does anyone here know how to replace sheetmetal on a vehicle? Anyone remember that 1960 GMC truck I used to talk about? 4speed on the floor and a 60* v6? Well- anyway, since none of my cars run as of the moment, my grandfather suggested I take the thing of his hands, I still gatta talk it over, but I have a pritty good chance of getting it. The driveline "tranny, engine, rearend" is top notch and its a good runner. The breaks and all that other good stuff have been replaced in the last 3 years. But the body is just about dead. Its been a farm truck for its entire life- yes, this truck has been on my moms side of the family since it rolled of the showroom floor. The bed was once wood, and now is mostly rotted out. And you can see the road from holes in the floor in the cab. Not to mention the holes from rust patching the rest of the truck, and if memory serves me right the rear window is cracked....But it starts every time you turn the key. If anyone knows how- Id love a quick runthrough so I know what im in for....I dont want to use bondo, but If i cant put in sheet metal, that may be the way it goes down.
Man, if the holes in the exterior, externally visible body are too big for some kind of synthetic material, you would want to try and replace the entire panel, I think. But Bondo type stuff is not bad for small areas, like around the wheel wells (I've done that). But it's true that finding mint panels will probably cost you an awful lot. If you can see the road from the cab, though, you'd better check it out thoroughly Since no one can see any new sheet metal grafts there, underneath, it may be an option. You may be faced with the situation of buying replacement parts from junkyards that may cost more than what the vehicle is worth. In that case, you'd only want to fix it up if you have lots of cash and want to do a serious restoration. But if you just want something that'll run for a few years, then die completely, put some plywood on the cab's floor and hope for the best
Inside the cab I could weld small plates of sheet metal on the underside myself- then fill with bondo. "yes I can weld too". But on the exterior- its more for the reasons of asthetics- its by no means going to be my car for the rest of my life- it was a farm truck for god sakes. But the cab, hood, and bed are 3 different collors "the hood is of 1961 gmc" and im not sure on the story of the rest of the multi colored body. But in short- Im going to give it a rattle can paint job, but its kinda not worth it when you still have rusting holes everywhere. As far as the bed- odds are Ill just lie a peice of plywood or hardwood down. The truck is beyond restoring, but it will get me around untill something else of mine is running.
Theres is no substitute for sheet metal. If you have dmgs that need repair, never mind getting "fabricated panels" except for the places where you REALLY have to... ie weird bent metal pieces... buy a sheet of 1.0mm steel and cut pieces to your liking... 1.0 should be enough both for the cab floor (and for pieces of frame that need welding as well, if there is somewhere to weld it to..) and for pieces of exterior that need weldjob. (1.0 is THICk nowadays, but wer'e talking about an older car right) With sheet metal, a vice, a hammer and pateince you can make the pieces you like... Get a tips book for welding / metalwork. Use only plastic padding et al for getting a nice surface to paint... imho... I have mended lotsa cars, both properly and "unproperly" ( plastic padding...) If you plan to keep it more than 5 months, it's no use to be cheap cheating with putty and so on, youll have to do it again in 6 months .. GL
I know how to weld in acetylene, arc, mig, and tig. not to mention wire feed, welding is no problom, but getting sheetmetal to fill the gaps on the exterior body is.
Then open yellow pages. Reuben's right, if you slack now about fixing your ride, it'll be as worse in half year.... airfax
Im not going to keep it that long- i just need it to look good enough that cops dont pull me over all the time.
