I found this post by our member MP&C on the HAMB this morning detailing his rust repair of a '55 Ch**y wagon tailgate. Although it's not directly Ford truck related it's very well documented with pictures, we all like pictures, showing how he formed the pieces. This tech post can really help anyone doing this kind of repair to their Ford truck. Also, there are a few pictures of his '51-52 Ford truck in the background of some of the pictures so it does have a Ford truck link.

If you are planning to do any rust repair you have to check it out:

Technical 55 Chevy Wagon Tailgate rust repair - THE H.A.M.B.

Great job MP&C

 

every time he posts pics to his photobucket i get notifications in my email inbox which is pretty cool

 

WOW!!!!

That is impressive! Great write up and great pics to document the process!

Great job MP&C!

Thanks for posting that Bob

Bobby

 

Wow...that's amazing work and real tallent. Thanks to MP&C for taking the time to document that and bobj49f2 for sharing that link. I don't know if I will ever have the patience and tallent to do a repair like that but I sure I picked up a few tips from that.

 

He almost makes it look like something I "could" do. I would love to buy one of these guys' projects after they're done! I'd be confident it wasn't just a pretty coat of paint over 3 cans of bondo, with junk inside.

That's the first time I've heard of "pre-stretching" metal, makes sense.

 

Thanks for the comments guys. As I told Bob in PM, a lot of times I neglect to post such stuff here as it is not "brand friendly" to the site, even though the "process" would work for many areas of application.

Ross, two ways to look at the need for prestretching... As I just had the metal laid across the vise and used it as a die (along with the punch) there was nothing to keep the metal from pulling laterally as the punch formed the vertical protrusion. Had I not have prestretched, this movement would have shown up as a very noticeable pucker at the end of the bead. The amount of prestretching was basically guesswork, but it helps to compensate for that panel movement. Now had it been done in a fixture that clamped the metal panel to prevent any movement, the punch would have more of a tendency to stretch the metal as it formed the protrusion, and prestretching would not have been (as) neccessary.

 

Very interesting about the reason for prestretching. have a feeling you may become the site expert metal worker.

I have to make a panel for a trunk floor that has crisscross stampings, would prestretching the metal help with forming the beads?

Here's is a sample of what I am going to try to do:



I plan to build the panel in a few different parts but the "X" are difficult to do.

 

Ditto, very impressive work and a great find. Will be helpful to anyone doing metalwork to their truck...

 

Bob, If you could form the "valleys" into some MDF board (or similar) with a router, and could slightly oversize the metal panel (cut off excess later)that would allow you to clamp/screw the outer perimeter to help prevent movement, it should eliminate the need for prestretching. A "window frame" layer or two of the same material will help in the clamping process, but you may find through trial and error a need to make smaller "window frames" to clamp around each valley. An appropriate sized steel rod with a rounded tip and a dead blow would do a pretty nice job of forming the beads, stretching the metal as you went.

 

Constantly amazed by the talent of the folks who take the time to document and post their work both here and on the HAMB. I recently took a workshop with Ron Covell and have since viewed his DVD on hammerforming..."watching" MP&C and others makes me think that I could do more in this area. Thanks and keep up the good work!

 

That is amazing, you have given me alot of ideas. Thanks.

Paul

 

Top notch work....been following along and learning a few tricks. Thanks for showing. Is this repair on your own car or a customers?

 

Scott, this is a customer's car. This was one of the last major hurdles before we start mixing up the epoxy primer. A few other minor things to do, but this one had me worried for awhile.

 

Just out of curiosity, how much would this job cost? I see a lot of manhours involved and not so much in the way of materials, just trying to get a feel for how much folks in our hobby are willing to spend to get a professional restoration job done. Thanks...

 

Charlie, it's going to be a pricey tailgate, yes.....the hours are still counting. To date, there are no replacement parts made for the inside section of the tailgate, and buying one sight unseen- even with pictures- would be a crap shoot. We are installing a new outer skin, that they do make for it. So with all the metalwork it will likely be on the upper half of three digits. For the rotisserie paint job this car is getting, it will be cheap insurance that we won't need to worry about rust bubbles coming through in a couple years from someone else's "solid" used tailgate.