Misc. Street Rod Fab.

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I guess this will sort of serve as an intro.Name's Gary and I like to consider myself a 'hack'. I weld. I shape sheet metal. I paint and I screw around building cars & bikes.  I've lurked the site for a heck of a long time but never bothered to register or post. Then I finally registered...but never posted. Now that I'm down and out for a bit while my hand is healing up (totally unrelated injury) what better time to throw up a few things. Anyway. I do a lot of welding, but don't really consider myself a welder. More of a metal shaper first and foremost, then a body & paint guy and then welder. Welding is just a part of the metal shaping I do - I really don't stray outside of metal shaping and some chassis work with welding in truth, though I've been throwing around doing another steel welded sculpture eventually. That said,  I do a bunch of MIG thanks to the time saving aspect of it (not many folks want to pay for an oxy/acy hammer welded piece...) but I also obviously gas weld & tig. So I suppose I'll start with saving a classic truck's fender. Thing was pretty far well gone when I got a hold of it. You can see the old lapped patch rotting away, the inner structure was gone, head light bucket was rotted away, bunch of old shoddy lead repairs done over easily removed dents and things of that nature. It was just a pretty ugly piece. Dented all around. Holes from poorly done slide hammer repairs, rot...everywhere, etc. Anyway I cut out the old patch. Made a paper pattern, transferred it to my new steel stock (18 gauge cold rolled) and started fabricating my patch. Actually a compound curved setup as it has an inside curve along with a slight 'dish' to it as it falls back and away. Skipping forward (as this isnt a metal shaping site..it's a welding site..) started forming my patch. There was some shrinking & stretching going on, along with being roughed in with a beater bag & mallet and finished off with a planishing hammer.
Reply:Then I burned the sucker in once I had the fit and shape up to par and everything matched as it should. Then I ground her down and she was patched up... at the rear anyway. Then I moved onto the front...[imghttp://images29.fotki.com/v1014/photos/3/316525/6632563/DSC_9770-vi.jpg[/img]Which was a lot more of the same... cut out the bad spot. Fab'd a patch and welded it up (that 1/8" rod I put in both fenders to further brace them... as the thing has a *very* healthy big block and the owner isn't afraid to beat on it....) You can also see I formed up and burned in a piece of 1/8" thick steel strap at the rear - as there is a set of running boards that will be mounting there. They mainly hang on the brackets off the frame, however they also have 2 bolts that run into the fenders to tuck 'em nice and tightly to the fender. . Always a good thing to over build rather than risk the hardware screwing the shape of the fender or pulling through. Overkill? maybe. But rather safe than sorry.. After making a ton of patch panels, redoing the headlight bucket, etc. etc. I also had to fix the upper flange - where it bolts to the truck as well as the break line where the curvature starts off the flange. It's in progress in this picture. Last edited by Gary C; 11-21-2009 at 07:06 PM.
Reply:Anyway. Skipping forward it was finished off bodywork wise, thrown into prime and that's where she sits currently... I also sectioned the nose - taking ~ 1" out of it height wise, to free up some much needed ground clearance. And I also did a NACA duct of sort into the hood which was also previously turned into a one piece setup..And then there's this one.. I sectioned a hood for a '55 Chevy recently. Started with the freshly painted hood (I'd just finished it up a few weeks prior, actually... felt kind of weird ripping into it that new ) ANyway. Took out a 1 3/4" pie slice from it to drop the nose down. Took a big chunk out and proceeded to weld her back up making filler panels and reshaping the nose of the thing. Which wound up looking like this after I finished welding it up, did the final bodywork on it and threw it into primer. Which turned into this once I painted it. Redoing that inner bracing was a royal pain in the rear... let me tell you that. However it does all look factory now. And then I hung it back on the truck. I also fixed and painted the cab of the truck. The thing was partly crushed by a lift so that was all fixed, the small problem spots on the lower doors & fenders were also fixed, all the sheet metal got rehung & realigned, etc. etc. I think all the work was well worth it. So yeah. There ya have it. A few quickie 'welding' projects of mine over the past ~6 months.
Reply:That's some nice looking work you do.  Sure wish I had time, money, and skill to do what you have been working on.Miller Millermatic 212... and that's about it... for now...
Reply:Id love to see this truck turned into a crew cab, that wouldbe pretty slick.Nice work by the way.
Reply:I have a high appreciation of body shop guys who can do this kind of stuff.  I've always wanted to learn.That is some truly outstanding metalwork.
Reply:a true craftsman. '55 gave me chills.http://kawispeed.com/ -moderator and tech deluxewww.myspace.com/trickortrack -cuz i have no life
Reply:Thanks guys, much appreciated. As this is a welding forum I guess I'll throw up a shorty header I welded up for an LSx swap into a '60-'66 Chevy truck. It was obviously later decked flat and I took the time to run a die grinder and clean out the ports as well. The reason for the collector looking like that is it's setup for a bolt on collector - so the length can be optimized for the motor. Not the prettiest thing in the world, but it holds just fine, no external welds visable on the header anywhere and once it was ground out and decked it'll flow just fine as it's a 'little' 500 horse LSx with  1 7/8" primary tubes going back to  3" collectors.  Also wacked off and sectioned in a replacement quarter on that panel (the one getting the LSx). Then filled in the fuel filler, built a new neck & relocated it behind the tail light.Which you can see in this shot.  Total pain in the rear. Still trying to figure out a better hinge setup for it - thinking about going to an actuator as well to have it pop open from inside the cab with the press of a button. That truck also got exhaust tips I built and then built a tunnel for through the rocker panels. It's a slightly (1/8") recessed NASCAR style setup. Did a bunch of other stuff too, like doing a GTO style tach pod to use the GTO hood tach guts. Out of steel, that got recessed into the hood. So instead of sticking up ~3.5" it only sticks up 1.5" over the hood flat and is still 100$ visible thanks to the dish. I just wind up doing a ton of weird & odd stupidly fun stuff really...
Reply:Originally Posted by Gary CAnyway. Skipping forward it was finished off bodywork wise, thrown into prime and that's where she sits currently... I also sectioned the nose - taking ~ 1" out of it height wise, to free up some much needed ground clearance. And I also did a NACA duct of sort into the hood which was also previously turned into a one piece setup..And then there's this one.. I sectioned a hood for a '55 Chevy recently. Started with the freshly painted hood (I'd just finished it up a few weeks prior, actually... felt kind of weird ripping into it that new ) ANyway. Took out a 1 3/4" pie slice from it to drop the nose down. Took a big chunk out and proceeded to weld her back up making filler panels and reshaping the nose of the thing. Which wound up looking like this after I finished welding it up, did the final bodywork on it and threw it into primer. Which turned into this once I painted it. Redoing that inner bracing was a royal pain in the rear... let me tell you that. However it does all look factory now. And then I hung it back on the truck. I also fixed and painted the cab of the truck. The thing was partly crushed by a lift so that was all fixed, the small problem spots on the lower doors & fenders were also fixed, all the sheet metal got rehung & realigned, etc. etc. I think all the work was well worth it. So yeah. There ya have it. A few quickie 'welding' projects of mine over the past ~6 months.
Reply:I think your missing a few zero's I'm sure. Very nice work.
Reply:Great work! I wish I had your talent with body work.
Reply:Great work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I hate to work on body panels. You guys that do that type of work make it look so easy. But it is really hard and time consuming.Miller 330 A/BP Bernard SS coolerMiller cst 250Miller Big Blue 251DCentury 210 Mig (first welder I bought)Hypertherm PowerMax 800Victor torch setRu Fong 31 MilAtlas lathe
Reply:I love working on cars, right now the garage knights program is rebuilding a 1967 Mustang Convertible. The structural welding and fab is fun, but welding thin stuff really busts my nuts. Your rebuilds look godly and shiny.
Reply:awesome.....I have welded some body panels and will leave you with it.  You are gifted and very PATIENT.
Reply:nice work will you paint my car
Reply:That panel truck, you could weld the doors together and make it lift like a mini van or suv.
Reply:Amazing work.Dave ReberWadsworth Ohio
Reply:I would say either an actuator fpr the rear tailight pop-out, or a wire release just inside the back door.  Outstanding work.
Reply:Wow man that is some damn fine work your doing there... Are these your rides or customers?Adam MMorales Ranch
Reply:Looks great, good job.It's great to see the projects folks are working on, some people on the site are doing some pretty cool things for sure.Regards to all.Working on cars and bikes is my hobby, learning to weld the pieces together is my quest.
Reply:Thanks guys, it's hugely appreciated. These are customer / friends rides. I have a straight axled '55 (an honest to god gasser built back in the '60s) of my own, along with a couple of bikes. Here's another one. Obviously not finished. That'll happen whenever. Similar kind of deal. Sectioned hood. It'll get all the rust repair & bodywork done on the hood once the rest of the truck is done. For now it was just ground down & rattle canned and the owner will be driving the hell out of it over the winter. Ground it down. Laid it out. cut it. Started tacking it. more tacking & welding. ground her down & rattle can'd it for now. It'll be finished off later.
Reply:wow that looks really good. I might just have to steel that idea for my 72Adam MMorales Ranch
Reply:Beautiful work. I have a huge amount of admiration and respect for anyone that does bodywork/customizing, especially when it looks as good as yours. I couldn't do bodywork if my life depended on it. The paint work looks flawless as does the bodywork.....Mike
Reply:The cobblers kids had no shoes and the paint and body man's hood had no finish paint.  I relate to no being able to totally finish your own project over the ones for others that pay.  If you are me you will probably look at the truck 6 months later and kick yourself for not finishing it all that time ago.  I consider myself a true multi process weldor and am atleast good at it all.  I can say that sheetmetal shaping and body work is an art all to its own.  And after welding out roughly (40) joints of 20 gauge sheetmetal over the weekend I dont care to jack with the thin stuff again for some time.  Couldnt imagine doing it everyday.   I envy your skillset.Lots of toys.
Reply:Good work!You got to be yourself!