I have to make some patches, for wheel wells, and to fill a few other holes on my project GS. What size sheet metal are our cars made from? TIA

 

Damn. I should remember what I used. I think it was 16 guage. Turned out to be thicker than what was originally in the wheel wells.

 

I'm thinking of using like 20 or 22 gauge for my fender wells. Where are you guys getting sheet metal? Is there a chain store or mail order that you can get it in anything less then huge sheets?

 

It probably wasn't the cheapest way to get it, but I bought mine at the local Ace hardware. If I had to do it again, I'd use the thinner sheet metal.

 

Around here there are sheet metal fabricators that will (and can) make about anything. They supply sheet metal as well, whatever dimension you want.. Try calling an air conditioning / heating contractor and find some leads..
The company here is called Aero-sheetmetal. They supply most of the sheetmetal for ductwork around here and fab stuff for vehicles all the time.

 

I got a 16"x18" at lowes for $7 it is 16 or 18 gauge... I used it to make my cover plates when i did the rats nest and I used it to do the wheel well... the trick is cutting it so you dont have a lot of wasted metal

 

ok so somthing around the 16-18 range seems to be it then. As for the wheel wells, did you guys make a totally new well or just a patch for where the rust was (seems like that would be easiest). Also what did you do in order to keep it from happening again? Undercoat? Or are there some seams that could be welded to close it off? Thanks

 

I just did wheel wells for now. I cut as much of the rust away as I could, then cut patches to fit and welded them in. One well looks reasonably good, but the other had way more rust and I ended up fabricating most of the well out of the sheet metal I bought. Gaps due to poor metal cutting/bending skills are filled in with JB Weld putty-like stuff.

Frankly, I'm not a welder and it looks crappy. But for now it serves its purpose. What was hard was welding the thicker metal I bought to the thinner stock stuff. I didn't have access to a gas welder and used a flux core wire feed welder (cheapie from Harbor Freight).

There's no way I'm posting pics, though.

 

I haven't done any metal fab since sophmore high school tech class (like 5 years ago) and I only just bought my lincoln MIG welder (haven't welded since high school tech either) so this is going to be interesting. It'll be a month or more before I get that far on the project, but I'll be sure to post pics.

 

I know I'll have to do mine over again sometime. If you have any tips after you're done, please share.

 

Yeah I'm useing an electric arc flux core welder too. And I've done some alright work with it but I agree it's truely not the way to go. I'm using the thicker stuff because I have four settings on my welder lowest is to low for anything (works like JB Weld) and I'll burn through with on two if I use any thinner. Never seen much for sheet metal at the local hardwares (guess I need to look harder). Thanks for the help. Good luck with your fixes 82 Trans

 

Yea, thanks, hopefully I'll be starting on this stage of the project soon. I have yet to try my welder using argon, I'm currently burning up the flux cored **** on practice pieces (been years, gotta get used to it again) then I'll buy the gas to do the actual work. According to the book it won't do sheet metal without the gas, so looks like I have to get it. I'll be sure to post my progress as I get there.

 

Can I buy some sheet metal at Lowes or Home Depot? Does anyone know of a place that will sell sheet metal and cut it to a sq ft size that you want?

 

4? Hell, I have 2 on the one I use. Low is OK for thin sheetmetal. The high is good for the 16 guage I have. The problem is trying to weld thin to thick. I've burned a few holes.