There’s a few items that most every car guy or gal have in arms reach at all times when working in their shop. For me one of those is Sharpie marker. They work great to write notes on things as I work or to mark out measurements, trace lines for bead rolling, etc, etc. These work great when sharp, but they tend to wear out and get dull quickly. The more dull they get the wider the mark will be that it leaves.
Tag: Sheet Metal
5 Easy Ways to Strengthen Sheet Metal
When you get a piece of flat sheet metal it tends to be very weak and it can be bent quite easily. So if it is so weak, why do we use this stuff for the bodies of our cars? Why not a heavier metal like metal plate? If we did that our cars would all be styled like and as heavy as a tank! This means none of those beautiful curves you see on classic cars (I don’t want to live in that world!).
How to shave and metal finish your firewall with Empire Fabrication
Shaving or smoothing the bodywork on a custom car has been one of the most popular modifications since the beginning. Shaving door handles and trim or side marker holes are the most common things to shave on a project car, but close behind that is smoothing or shaving the firewall. Sean of Empire Fabrication has gotten REALLY good at shaving and smoothing cars. So much so that his finished projects require basically no body filler at all and can be primered and block sanded straight away. Sean recently took the time to snap some photos and give us the rundown on how he tackles a firewall shave project. The donor vehicle is a VW Eurovan that he has already drastically customized. So grab a drink, sit back, and watch how to do the job right with Empire Fabrication.
Custom Scratch Built Bed DIY for Project Pile House
Project Pile House has been an ever-evolving project and like many projects, things start small and spiral out of control and next thing you know you’re detailing the inside of your glove box hinges! Luckily I’m not quite that OCD about my vehicles (yet), but Pile House is now more than just a thrown-together junkyard parts runner like I originally planned. It’s turned into a full blown custom and not much on the truck is original or untouched. After getting the cab, dash, hood, etc. all smoothed out and “roughed in”, the original patched together bed and fenders was bothering the crap out of me every time I looked at it. The fenders looked like boat trailer fenders and were more roughed up than a boxer after a title fight, while the bed itself wasn’t much better. I decided to start dreaming up a subtle custom bed.
5 Tips to Make your Bead Roller work Better
Bead rolling is one of those sheet metal fabrication tools that looks easy to use, but there are countless tricks to get good looking, consistent beads. On Project Pile House I have over a hundred feet handmade panels rolled in bead roller (Easily!) and I’ve picked up a handful of tips along the way that make life a LOT easier!
What is a Flange Joint and How Do You Perform One?
When it comes to auto body patch panel installations, no joint is more useful than a flange joint. A flange joint is very similar to a lap joint except that the area that is overlapped on one of the metal pieces is lower than the rest, making both pieces at equal elevation when welding. ….
Sheet Metal Fabrication: Basic Machines & Techniques
Sheet metal fabrication is the act of forming, shaping, and joining metal together to build and or repair a tangible part. There are many techniques and tools. It’s been done since the beginning of time when even the simplest tools were used. In this article we will share the most common and important tools, machines, and techniques for the DIY fabricator.
Skip The Search And Get A Head Start On Your 1940 Ford Coupe Resto Project!
The 1940 Ford Coupe has always been a popular car for restoration projects, ever since World War II veterans began turning them into hot rods by adding performance equipment to the car’s flathead V8 engine. But you no longer have to poke around in junkyards or barns looking for an […]
Forming The Firewall and Gathering Steering and Braking Parts
After getting the old swiss cheese firewall removed from the truck I started making the new firewall for Project Pile House. I started by having one of our tech advisors Sean help me make a cardboard pattern. Once the pattern was made we scribed out the shape onto our metal […]