Jerry Feather

Dan, what Greg said was "I would grind it down then use mig to weld up any holes, wipe it with good filler and call it a day." Then he said ". . . that was all I did, no paint, no bondo, just metal work, they are no longer open due to the owner being killed."

My first thought about the owner was to wonder if he got killed because of the quality of work coming out of his shop.

I think I am going to coin a new phrase and refer to Greg's kind of work as "Gregie Rigged."

Jerry Feather

por85928

Who would have thought that this thread would make 5 pages!

blown 87

Cool with me Jerry.

And nice work combining two posts about two very different things to make it look like I said something I did not.
But that is ok, my work speaks for itself.

Ad0911

Perhaps this is why bondo was invented. It bonds people.

por85928

Not alot of "bonding" going on here!

robot808

Seriously, Jerry? WTF is wrong with you?

Jerry Feather

Hey, Greg, That's a great idea. Lets have our work speak for itself. I'll go first.

The first work I have to speak for itself has to do with the suggestion of panel warpage from gas welding.

Here are some pictures of the top of one of my 356C Porsches that I chopped 3 inches. In doing that I elected to cut the original top into four quarters, crossways and front to back, and then I simply shortened the posts by 3 inches vertically, then moved the quarter sections "down the posts" and then welded them back together.

In the course of moving the sections down they also moved outward, so I was left with substantial gaps to fill. The front-to-back gap was 1 1/2 inches wide and the crossways gap was 6 inches wide.

The gap up the middle I filled with a simple strip of flat sheet steel cut to width. The crossways gap was filled with a segment of another 356 roof that I had laying around. That section, cut in two in the middle, had nearly the perfect curvature and also had the drip rails, so I didn't have to duplicate those.

Then I welded all of these pieces together using my O2/AC torch. I didn't have any issue with panel warpage at all. I used a fairly antiquated panel welding technique that I had read about over the years and had taught myself from back in my high school days.

Then I used my same torch and body tools to work the welds over with shrinking and stretching techniques in order to get the welded areas nearly as smooth as if the roof had been formed that way to start with, at least as far in from all four directions as I found I could reach. There is still some of that final metal work to be done here when I figure out how to reach the underside of the areas to be worked from the top more in the center area.

Now, Greg, let's see your work that is going to speak for itself.

Jerry Feather

blown 87

Just some pics.










I am done with you Jerry, I have no need to prove anything to you.

Jerry Feather

[QUOTE=blown 87;885375
I am done with you Jerry, I have no need to prove anything to you.[/QUOTE]

Greg, I can sympathize with that. Your pictures seem to indicate that you can so some nice kind of work.

My point wasn't so much about your work but about you saying $hit about my suggestion that one cannot gas weld auto panels without warping them when I had just said that you could. I see that you have nothing to show that I am wrong and that you are right.

I don't have much to say on this forum except about what I know I can do and not about some supposed common knowledge about it. Therefore I am happy that you are through with me because the next time I have something useful to offer someone else about what I can do or how they can do something, based on my experience, I don't expect you are going to chime in and say that it can't be done.

Thanks for the pictures of your work and for your attention to this matter.

Jerry Feather

RFJ

Why does this happen, this forum is to good for this, you guys are acting like me,please stop. Ray

Jerry Feather

Now, more specific to the original topic of this thread, my decision to chop the top of the 356C was based on a sort of plan that if I ever came across a 356 "rust bucket" I would try some custom body modifications on it in the course of doing some rust rapair. Later, this particular car sort of fell into my hands.

This 356 had gotten pretty rusty, to the extent that the front fenders around both headlight buckets were almost completely gone. Knowing that the buckets are virtually identical to those on a VW Bug, I surmised that the holes for the buckets in the respective fenders would be the same.

However, even though the holes are the same, the "skirt" area around each are not the same, with the Porsche having more angle and the VW being somewhat more flat.

I bought two used VW fenders and removed the buckets then cut the holes out of the fenders leaving about two inches or so of material around the holes. I also trimmed the 356 fenders back a similar amount to get to good material away from the rust.

Fortunately the headlight mounting screw holes at the bottom of each of the Porsche headlights were solid on both sides , so I could use that for indexing and positioning of the new bucket holes.

In order to get the hole skirts to fit the 356 fender contour I cut the skirts radially into strips or tabs about an inch and a half wide up to close to the edge of the bucket holes. Then I carefully bent each alternate tab inward until it would match the 356 fender at the point of the good metal. I trimmed the ends of the new material to fit the fender.

Then I clamped both new holes to a nice straight 2 by 6 board that I had so they would end up on the same plane and at the same angle, and then tack welded them, with my torch, to the fenders.

When They were both securely tack-welded into place I then bent back the other radial tabs and trimmed them to closely fit the openings and tack welded them into place.

Then, with my torch and my panel welding technique I finished welded all the butt joints seams. There is no panel warpage.

I think the following two pictures are a better example of rust repair work that I would show the OP how to do in the small rust areas I think he has to deal with. And, he and I would be doing it with my gas torch and withjout any panel warpage; and without any heat sinks; and without waiting for any welds to cool.

Jerry Feather

Richter12x2

Honestly though, not to disparage your skills. I've painted a lot of cars and fabricated parts for cars whose manufacturers don't exist anymore. With your skill with the paint gun or mine, I'd take a fresh shiny $100 bill or two down to a restoration body shop and have them do the metal repair and flat it, then come back prep and respray myself. They can fix that without a panel, have done it a thousand times, and as I'm sure you know, the money is in the paint anyway.

I spent 3 days working bondo and filler and metal working on the roof of a car, painted it and I could still see things I missed. Took it down to my local shop, $300 and a workweek later it was primed and perfect. Knocked it down with 400, shot color the next day, and you'd never know it had been through a hailstorm.

The estimate for the repair had been $3000. My only regret was that I wasted my time and effort sanding filler when they knocked it out like it was nothing.

Bill Ball

When the egos appear there is not much room left for anything else.

Richter12x2

Agreed. Besides, all the pictures I've seen look like the work of skilled amateurs. If either of them were professionals, we'd see pictures of completed cars, not just parts.

Podguy

Yes you can shrink metal with slap hammers. But I guess you got me there - I was never good at shrinking metal with a slap hammers.

A long crease is probably the easiest thing to shrink. It you do not shrink the stretched metal it will eventaully act like a tin can. Just apply a little heat about an inch a part the length of the crease. Dolly them flat then hit the spot with a wet rag. The panel will flatten right out. Almost a must on VW bus panels. If you burn through - no problem - it just leaves another hole to help grip the bondo.

I was always surprised at how much memory the metal retains.

Work the metal flat. Lay on a coat of bondo. Hit with 36 on the air board. Shrink any high spots. Second coat of different color bond. Flatten with 36 and finish off wity 80. Lay on a heavy coat of primer and flatten with 80 and 120. Guide coat and you are done. The quality of the metal work will determine the amount of filler needed.