Rust repair and patch panel forming
#1
12-01-2014, 06:33 PM
Rust repair and patch panel forming
This is going to be a long one, and picture heavy, so I suggest copying the sections into one file. Please refrain from adding off topic posts or "me too" comments. Questions and suggestions are welcome.
RUST REPAIR AND PATCH PANEL FORMING
Introduction:
Gary (jgp 1952 on FTE) asked if I would look over and give him some advice and instruction on repairing some “minor” rust issues on his recent F1 acquisition. The PO didn't like the “manure spreader” front on the 52, so had replaced the doghouse (front clip) with one from a 48 “monkey face”. The truck had been stripped down to the bare frame, then the entire truck had been sandblasted and epoxy primed. Upon first examination the sheet metal looked pretty solid with little obvious rust thru. A closer look at the usual trouble spots inside and out however showed some signs of previous repairs, bondo and rust hidden under the primer as well as the front fenders had a fairly hard life (or had been attacked with a ball peen hammer) The entire fenders felt like an overstuffed bag of marbles, there didn't seem to be a really flat smooth area anywhere. Examining the panel edges revealed a number of cracks, and signs that several more had been roughly welded over. The upper and lower fenders, front valance and grill were still bolted together with the OEM bolts and had been blasted and primed as a unit.
I had been wanting to try my hand at restoring a set of F1 fenders. Since rust out is quite common and no one offers repair panels, new patch panels would need to be formed. I wanted to do a write up on forming panels using common materials and what tools anyone should have available in their shop if they want to do their own body work.
I had already posted my MIG welding tutorial on FTE: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-practice.html so this would be an opportunity to show the techniques in use, and pass on some of my knowledge and experience to others before it is gone forever. I agreed to help and teach Gary the “simple magic” of metal work, as long as he would do the majority of the dirty, tedious, busy work stuff and let me use his truck as the model for this article. I would demonstrate/teach the techniques to him on one side and let him practice his new skills on the other side. Since we only get to spend an average of about 6 hours a week working together, this is going to be a fairly long project, so I will be adding to this topic as we progress. So let's get started bumping, bending and filling metal.
Phase 1: Assessing the work needed and collecting the necessary tools and materials.
We would be working on the front fenders, so the first thing I asked Gary to do is fully disassemble the front clip, then strip the driver side upper and lower fender of as much of the primer as possible, inside and out. I suggested using a 3M clean and strip disk available at the local big box DIY stores. Once most of the paint was removed we could really see what we had to work with. Since all he had in his shop was a basic set of Harbor Freight “clubs and rocks” (their version of body hammers and dollys) I also showed him some of the hammers and dollys I use most often and what makes them a superior tool to work with, and suggested he surf ebay and be picking up a few used but professional quality tools. Since we would start by working in my shop he would also see what I had and how I used them. He brought over both fenders so we could compare the best parts of each, as well as the front grill and lower valance panel.
He had stripped most of the paint on the drivers side fender sections, which revealed a lot of painted over rust, bondo, and previously done (poorly) repairs that I'll come back to as we repair them properly. A number of additional edge cracks and dents were exposed and the very uneven dented surfaces was revealed to be worse than originally thought (lesson: dark primer will hide a lot of sins, so be very careful when buying anything that has been covered in primer.) It quickly became obvious a number of patch panels would need to be made so a stock of new sheet metal would be needed. I found a national steel supplier online that carried 19 ga “aluminum killed” (also called “deep drawing”) cold rolled steel in 4x8' sheets, the ideal material for forming patch panels. They could ship, but they also had a warehouse in Greensboro, about 1.5 hrs from us. It was pricey in single sheets but the price dropped dramatically the more you bought. They would also shear the sheets in ˝ for a small charge. Gary ordered 2 sheets sheared and his wife drove to the warehouse and picked it up on her day off.
Gary also requested that we fill the frame notches in the bottom of the fenders since he like the smooth bumperless look and the PO had already cut off the front frame horns. There was rust damage over and into the inner doubler that surrounded the notches it was actually easier to fill them than reuse/remake the doubler.
Phase 2: removing damaged metal, developing a pattern for a wood hammer form, shaping and installing first patch
A repair order plan was decided on, the rusted fender sections that needed to be removed were marked, and the work began. See pictures:
Rust out in upper fender over doubler partially cut away.
Spot welds drilled out, rest of face material removed from doubler. Note that still solid formed rear edge was retained since it indexes lower section and holds doubler in place.
All rust damaged metal removed back to full solid metal. Note that curved cuts were used to avoid corners in seam on face of panel. All loose rust removed from doubler, treated with rust reformer and then given heavy coat of weld thru zinc rich primer (NAPA products, not shown).
Attempting to bolt/clamp the upper and lower fender back together revealed that removing the section of corroded metal released tensions from dents and cracks so the two parts no longer wanted to go back together, and the edges waved in and out. I thought I might be able to make a pattern off the other fender, but in attempting to do so it became obvious Ford had not made the two fenders match well enough to interchange, so each side would need to be individually repaired/fitted. I decided it would be necessary to take out most of the dents and repair the open cracks before proceeding any further with making the patch pattern/patch so the fender 1/2s had the same matching (smooth) contours. Altho it's surface was quite bumpy, the lower section was smaller, had not yet been cut so it was decided to adjust that piece first then fit the upper section patch to it along the flanges. I brought out my shrinking disk and I showed Gary how to use it to smooth out the “bag of marbles” dents that covered the panel. I also welded a couple cracks. (More on using the shrinking disk later. One crack that was thru a bolt hole and had sprung open required pulling it back together with a strap wrapped around the panel and I added a doubler to the under side of the flange to reinforce it and prevent it from re-cracking. I used a hammer and several different shaped dollys as well as a piece of 5/8” rod clamped inside to straighten the fender opening roll and smooth the contour at the bottom where it looked like it had been bent under by hitting a curb more than a few times.
Putting the pieces together again it was easier to see where the upper fender was distorted and required adjusting. I took out several shallow but good sized dents with a plastic torpedo mallet and rubber dolly (hockey puck!) I wasn't too concerned about putting in small bumps with the mallet, they would be easy to smooth with the shrinking disk, but it was impressive how bumping up a 3” diameter shallow dent 8-12” away would cause an edge to move back into place and the entire fender to come back into shape. Once I had the two pieces fitting well, I clamped a short length of rod into the wheel arch roll and to the doubler to hold it while I made my pattern from poster board.
I held a piece of poster board tightly in place with several small but powerful rare earth button magnets while I traced the patch edge. I carefully cut it out and checked it, then marked the flange widths that would need to be bent.
That pattern was traced onto another piece of poster board adding the flange widths. The weld seam portion at the bottom was left a couple inches oversized. This pattern was used to cut my metal blank.
Two identical pieces of 3/4” MDF board were cut then drilled/screwed together in the waste areas left in the previous step. The first pattern (without the flanges) was trimmed the thickness of the metal along all the edges that will have flanges then traced onto the MDF. I cut along the fold lines with my bandsaw while the 2 pieces of MDF were screwed together. I then removed the screws, sandwiched the metal blank between the two MDF forms. Drilled matching screw holes in the metal and screwed the assembly together.
MDF and metal blank sandwich. Note indication of the weld seam line drawn on MDF so the screws would be placed outside in the future trim waste.
Form placed in bench vise and several heavy clamps added to keep sandwich from opening while bending. Still more clamps were added after picture was taken before bending You can't use too many clamps!.
A wood “punch” and hammer is used to bend the flanges in several stages of about 10 degrees each time around. This is 3<sup>rd</sup> pass over this section. Clamp removed for clarity, replaced before continuing.
Flange fully bent. Note that bend on left is a shallow curve to match wheel arch curve, flange was formed around tight curve by using ball end of ball peen hammer as punch and second hammer (flange width reduced to 3/8” in that section to ease forming same as Ford did). By working slowly it is possible to form complex shapes using a hammer form system like this.
Patch was clamped in place slowly trimmed until t fit perfecty with no gap along seam. Note that horizontal flange on right was trimmed to 3/4” wide, since it needed to have a shallow curve left to right, I used my shrinker on that flange to curve it. A filler piece will be welded in later.
Holes drilled in flanges for plug welds. Seam tack welded.
Patch with lower fender bolted in place before final welding. Note fit of patch.
Next installment: Front of lower fender repaired, frame opening filled.
RUST REPAIR AND PATCH PANEL FORMING
Introduction:
Gary (jgp 1952 on FTE) asked if I would look over and give him some advice and instruction on repairing some “minor” rust issues on his recent F1 acquisition. The PO didn't like the “manure spreader” front on the 52, so had replaced the doghouse (front clip) with one from a 48 “monkey face”. The truck had been stripped down to the bare frame, then the entire truck had been sandblasted and epoxy primed. Upon first examination the sheet metal looked pretty solid with little obvious rust thru. A closer look at the usual trouble spots inside and out however showed some signs of previous repairs, bondo and rust hidden under the primer as well as the front fenders had a fairly hard life (or had been attacked with a ball peen hammer) The entire fenders felt like an overstuffed bag of marbles, there didn't seem to be a really flat smooth area anywhere. Examining the panel edges revealed a number of cracks, and signs that several more had been roughly welded over. The upper and lower fenders, front valance and grill were still bolted together with the OEM bolts and had been blasted and primed as a unit.
I had been wanting to try my hand at restoring a set of F1 fenders. Since rust out is quite common and no one offers repair panels, new patch panels would need to be formed. I wanted to do a write up on forming panels using common materials and what tools anyone should have available in their shop if they want to do their own body work.
I had already posted my MIG welding tutorial on FTE: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-practice.html so this would be an opportunity to show the techniques in use, and pass on some of my knowledge and experience to others before it is gone forever. I agreed to help and teach Gary the “simple magic” of metal work, as long as he would do the majority of the dirty, tedious, busy work stuff and let me use his truck as the model for this article. I would demonstrate/teach the techniques to him on one side and let him practice his new skills on the other side. Since we only get to spend an average of about 6 hours a week working together, this is going to be a fairly long project, so I will be adding to this topic as we progress. So let's get started bumping, bending and filling metal.
Phase 1: Assessing the work needed and collecting the necessary tools and materials.
We would be working on the front fenders, so the first thing I asked Gary to do is fully disassemble the front clip, then strip the driver side upper and lower fender of as much of the primer as possible, inside and out. I suggested using a 3M clean and strip disk available at the local big box DIY stores. Once most of the paint was removed we could really see what we had to work with. Since all he had in his shop was a basic set of Harbor Freight “clubs and rocks” (their version of body hammers and dollys) I also showed him some of the hammers and dollys I use most often and what makes them a superior tool to work with, and suggested he surf ebay and be picking up a few used but professional quality tools. Since we would start by working in my shop he would also see what I had and how I used them. He brought over both fenders so we could compare the best parts of each, as well as the front grill and lower valance panel.
He had stripped most of the paint on the drivers side fender sections, which revealed a lot of painted over rust, bondo, and previously done (poorly) repairs that I'll come back to as we repair them properly. A number of additional edge cracks and dents were exposed and the very uneven dented surfaces was revealed to be worse than originally thought (lesson: dark primer will hide a lot of sins, so be very careful when buying anything that has been covered in primer.) It quickly became obvious a number of patch panels would need to be made so a stock of new sheet metal would be needed. I found a national steel supplier online that carried 19 ga “aluminum killed” (also called “deep drawing”) cold rolled steel in 4x8' sheets, the ideal material for forming patch panels. They could ship, but they also had a warehouse in Greensboro, about 1.5 hrs from us. It was pricey in single sheets but the price dropped dramatically the more you bought. They would also shear the sheets in ˝ for a small charge. Gary ordered 2 sheets sheared and his wife drove to the warehouse and picked it up on her day off.
Gary also requested that we fill the frame notches in the bottom of the fenders since he like the smooth bumperless look and the PO had already cut off the front frame horns. There was rust damage over and into the inner doubler that surrounded the notches it was actually easier to fill them than reuse/remake the doubler.
Phase 2: removing damaged metal, developing a pattern for a wood hammer form, shaping and installing first patch
A repair order plan was decided on, the rusted fender sections that needed to be removed were marked, and the work began. See pictures:
Rust out in upper fender over doubler partially cut away.
Spot welds drilled out, rest of face material removed from doubler. Note that still solid formed rear edge was retained since it indexes lower section and holds doubler in place.
All rust damaged metal removed back to full solid metal. Note that curved cuts were used to avoid corners in seam on face of panel. All loose rust removed from doubler, treated with rust reformer and then given heavy coat of weld thru zinc rich primer (NAPA products, not shown).
Attempting to bolt/clamp the upper and lower fender back together revealed that removing the section of corroded metal released tensions from dents and cracks so the two parts no longer wanted to go back together, and the edges waved in and out. I thought I might be able to make a pattern off the other fender, but in attempting to do so it became obvious Ford had not made the two fenders match well enough to interchange, so each side would need to be individually repaired/fitted. I decided it would be necessary to take out most of the dents and repair the open cracks before proceeding any further with making the patch pattern/patch so the fender 1/2s had the same matching (smooth) contours. Altho it's surface was quite bumpy, the lower section was smaller, had not yet been cut so it was decided to adjust that piece first then fit the upper section patch to it along the flanges. I brought out my shrinking disk and I showed Gary how to use it to smooth out the “bag of marbles” dents that covered the panel. I also welded a couple cracks. (More on using the shrinking disk later. One crack that was thru a bolt hole and had sprung open required pulling it back together with a strap wrapped around the panel and I added a doubler to the under side of the flange to reinforce it and prevent it from re-cracking. I used a hammer and several different shaped dollys as well as a piece of 5/8” rod clamped inside to straighten the fender opening roll and smooth the contour at the bottom where it looked like it had been bent under by hitting a curb more than a few times.
Putting the pieces together again it was easier to see where the upper fender was distorted and required adjusting. I took out several shallow but good sized dents with a plastic torpedo mallet and rubber dolly (hockey puck!) I wasn't too concerned about putting in small bumps with the mallet, they would be easy to smooth with the shrinking disk, but it was impressive how bumping up a 3” diameter shallow dent 8-12” away would cause an edge to move back into place and the entire fender to come back into shape. Once I had the two pieces fitting well, I clamped a short length of rod into the wheel arch roll and to the doubler to hold it while I made my pattern from poster board.
I held a piece of poster board tightly in place with several small but powerful rare earth button magnets while I traced the patch edge. I carefully cut it out and checked it, then marked the flange widths that would need to be bent.
That pattern was traced onto another piece of poster board adding the flange widths. The weld seam portion at the bottom was left a couple inches oversized. This pattern was used to cut my metal blank.
Two identical pieces of 3/4” MDF board were cut then drilled/screwed together in the waste areas left in the previous step. The first pattern (without the flanges) was trimmed the thickness of the metal along all the edges that will have flanges then traced onto the MDF. I cut along the fold lines with my bandsaw while the 2 pieces of MDF were screwed together. I then removed the screws, sandwiched the metal blank between the two MDF forms. Drilled matching screw holes in the metal and screwed the assembly together.
MDF and metal blank sandwich. Note indication of the weld seam line drawn on MDF so the screws would be placed outside in the future trim waste.
Form placed in bench vise and several heavy clamps added to keep sandwich from opening while bending. Still more clamps were added after picture was taken before bending You can't use too many clamps!.
A wood “punch” and hammer is used to bend the flanges in several stages of about 10 degrees each time around. This is 3<sup>rd</sup> pass over this section. Clamp removed for clarity, replaced before continuing.
Flange fully bent. Note that bend on left is a shallow curve to match wheel arch curve, flange was formed around tight curve by using ball end of ball peen hammer as punch and second hammer (flange width reduced to 3/8” in that section to ease forming same as Ford did). By working slowly it is possible to form complex shapes using a hammer form system like this.
Patch was clamped in place slowly trimmed until t fit perfecty with no gap along seam. Note that horizontal flange on right was trimmed to 3/4” wide, since it needed to have a shallow curve left to right, I used my shrinker on that flange to curve it. A filler piece will be welded in later.
Holes drilled in flanges for plug welds. Seam tack welded.
Patch with lower fender bolted in place before final welding. Note fit of patch.
Next installment: Front of lower fender repaired, frame opening filled.
#2
12-01-2014, 06:38 PM
#3
12-01-2014, 07:19 PM
#4
12-02-2014, 11:43 AM
Please ignore this topic! Go here for the complete post: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post14869383
I will no longer follow or post to this version.
I cannot delete or even edit this version, I would if I could!
I will no longer follow or post to this version.
I cannot delete or even edit this version, I would if I could!
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