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Old 12-04-2009, 12:32 PM
John Buchtenkirch John Buchtenkirch is offline
MetalShaper of the Month October 2012
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Glen Cove, Long Island
Posts: 1,675
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CARS View Post
John, it isn't on outer skins and items like that. It's wheel housings and other complex curved fitted parts.

When I make a outer wheelhouse lip for a car I get it close enough for MIGing, but I don't think I could TIG it. I always seem to have to move it a little bit after I fit the quarter panel. Never off enough to matter with MIG though.
Chris, you are right, outer wheel-houses are very tuff because their fit is so critical to the quarter panel having good panel gaps. What I usually do is lay the quarter on a blanket and focus on making the outer wheel house fit the quarter while trying to keep it swinging in towards the inner wheel-house. Then I clamp the new outer wheel-house to the quarter lip and put the 2 on the car as a unit with drill tap screws positioning the quarter with good gaps. After several on & off fittings (and sometimes many more) I have a fit up good enough to scribe and tie the 2 halves of the outer wheel house together with drill tap screws for location. Then I usually trim my overlap to only a 1/8” and just mig it. Sometimes on fussy jobs I have spent the extra time to further fit and butt weld them but the wheel-house should really be well under-coated (it gets constantly sand blasted by the tire) so having a perfectly shaped & butt welded wheel-house is pretty much a moot point, in my mind water tight fit is much more important. Of course if the customer has a historic factory light weight car (sans undercoating) and wants a perfect restoration we can accommodate him, it just takes a bunch more $$$. I say save the highest quality work for the outer skins where it maters when re-finishing a car. It’s very hard to get paid for your time to make outer wheel-houses and hat section floor stiffeners let alone make them to absolute perfection. Scott Knight said "when you first start shaping metal one of the hardest things is to learn is when to stop, you’ll tend to think a few more minutes work and it will be absolutely perfect" but believe me his work was very nice. I say it’s just knowing where to spend your time. Time to go make some doughnuts . ~ John Buchtenkirch
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