It’s a beautiful morning, the birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and you decided it’s a good day to jump in your classic car or truck and take it on your daily commute to work. You jump in and begin driving and your hands suddenly become sticky and black with residue from your old steering wheel!
Archive
5 Sheet Metal Projects to Get you Work in Aluminum
Aluminum is one of those materials that a lot of beginners and DIY guys and gals in our hobby tend to shy away from, especially sheet aluminum. The reality is that once you have an understanding of how it reacts when shaped and welded, it’s a beautiful material to work with and it can be formed into complex shapes much easier than steel of the same gauge. It also saves weight and can be mirror polished without rusting. Today we’re going to focus on 5 projects you can do yourself to get your feet wet in Aluminum work.
Create Factory-Like Spot Welds with Your MIG Welder
Spot Welds with a MIG Welder? Factory Quality and Super Easy! If you’re going for that factory original look but need to replace panels with stamped new ones you’ll need to recreate the spot welds. Simple enough if you have a resistance spot welder but most guys don’t have […]
Removing Light Pitting and Scratches in Chrome with Household Items – Free and Easy Tip
We all know that eventually your classic car’s original chrome bumpers and trim will slowly become pitted. For some buying new or re-chroming is not an option, but there is a free and easy tip to mute those light scratches and pitting so they are much less apparent.
Get Spraying with your New Paint Gun, Quick and Easy!
New Paint Gun? Not Sure What To Do Next? This Quick and Easy guide is all you will need to start painting your project in no time, you might be surprised just how easy it is. To start things off there are a few pieces of equipment you will need […]
How to Diagnose your Sick Plasma Cutter
What does this mean to you? That small, intense plasma beam is extremely powerful and can cut through metal with ease. This also means it can wear out consumables. We get calls from time to time about customers that have had issues with their plasma cutters. The symptoms are often that the plasma cutter won’t initiate an arc on the metal, or the arc will start and stop erratically while you’re cutting. I decided to put together a few causes for those sort of issues. Hopefully one of them can save you time when diagnosing an issue with your plasma cutter.
Shaved Fender Vents on 08-10 Super Duty
Shaved Fender Vents on 08-10 Super Duty The fastest way to make your vehicle stand out is with exterior modifications, but in order for them to look good it must be done the proper way. Adding new pieces such as wheels, tires, bumpers, etc. is one method but it can […]
Step up your Hammer Game! Using Intermediate Body hammers and Dollies
Back when cars were made of heavy metal and had lots of beautiful curves guys took the time to repair a fender rather than just replace it. Any good metal worker will tell you that you need to match the hammer and dolly as close as possible with the shape of your panel you’re working on. When you’re working on a curvy car like something from the late 1930’s through the 1950’s you will be hard pressed to find a flat panel on the vehicle. This means that you will need to use tools to match. Back in those days the selection of specialty hammers were vast, some being specifically used for one type of car or type of repair!
Build a chassis/fixture Table on a budget
In a effort to make my life easier I decided I would build a table that I could build and modify chassis on in the future. I only had a few simple rules; it needed to be mobile, I needed to be able to easily level it, and it needed to be AFFORDABLE. If you haven’t checked, the metal required to build a heavy fabrication or chassis table new is big bucks. I’d rather save that cash for my project cars and repurpose some metal from my local scrap metal yard.