In this part of the country (Mid-Atlantic) cars, wheels especially take a beating during the winter. Slippery roads, corrosive salt on the roads, and potholes that could swallow a small child wreak havoc on your automobile. The cost to replace a damaged aluminum wheel can be VERY costly. In the classic car world wheels may be obsolete and impossible to replace if you have a damaged wheel. I decided to tackle repairing a badly damaged aluminum aftermarket wheel I have had stashed away for years.
Metalwork & Fabrication
How to make a Body Panel From Scratch- Rear Quarter Panel Fabrication
If you want to get better at anything you need to practice and push yourself to try things a little out of your skill/comfort level. Metal Shaping is 100% one of those things that you need to practice and work to get better at, even if it means wrecking a […]
How to Build Motorcycle Gas Tank Sides with Ron Covell
This year he showed how to make a motorcycle gas tank side with a voluptuous compound curved shape using some of the most basic metal shaping tools. In this demonstration he shows how to make the left side of the tank.
Solid Rivet FAQ
Solid rivets, sometimes called aircraft rivets, are a solid piece of metal with a large head on one side and a straight shaft. They are installed by sliding them in a hole slightly bigger than the shaft, then deforming the protruding shaft to 1 ½ times its size, so it is tight and cannot pull out. They differ from pop rivets in that they are solid, therefor stronger, and use a buck bar and pneumatic gun to install them instead.
Welding Helmet FAQ
An auto-darkening helmet allows you to see to position the electrode, or wire feed gun on your work without needing a hand to flip the helmet down before striking an arc. Many welders have perfected the art of flipping a fixed tint helmet down with just a quick nod of the head, but that still doesn’t work for all situations and welding positions. On top of that, since the tint is created electronically, it can be adjusted to better suit all lighting conditions and types of welding.
MIG Welding FAQ
MIG stands for Metal Inert Gas Welding. It is also sometimes called Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW), or just wire feed welding. A metal electrode/filler wire is fed through the machine, and inert shielding gas is released from an attached tank.
Removing Rusty Floor Pans (Hands On Cars E.03)
Episode Summary: Using a rotisserie, an Eastwood MIG 175 welder, replacement stampings from National Part Depot and a BFH Kevin gets to work replacing the floorpans on the Zed Sled 1978 Chevy Camaro. After stripping the body shell inside and out, it’s apparent the floors are in much worse shape […]
Upgrading your forced induction system- Installing V-Band Clamps
Evolution is the way of the world in all aspects and your car projects will evolve as you tinker with them or build new projects. Turbo charging or supercharging an engine is fairly simple and can be done inexpensively, but there’s a few places where skimping can cause headaches. Leaking boost flex hoses and clamps are the bane of existence with many DIY turbo setups. A good way to correct this issue is by replacing the silicone or rubber hose connections with V-Band clamps.
Beginners Metal Shaping Project- Making a panel blister.
Metal shaping is one of those things that seems like black magic to beginners. There really is a science behind the process that takes quite some time to learn and understand. The quickest and easiest way to understand how metal shaping works on the granular level is by comparing it to pizza dough. The more you stretch it out, the thinner it gets and the excess material has to go somewhere (in the pizza’s case its the rolled up crust) and the more you shrink the metal the thicker it gets and again it has to “go somewhere”. I decided to demonstrate a great beginner project for gaining experience in metal shaping by making a panel blister out of a 12″x12″x12″ piece of 5053 .035 aluminum. This process is great to help you understand the process and is pretty straight forward.