[Wrencher]

DBM, it appears you have a shop, or is that your man/cave? Nice, roomy!

[tech69]

Originally Posted by Wrencher

I will put her back together correctly! I"ve got some rot at the frt inner rocker, under the pillar, and the lower cowl, and am currently peeling up the floor. I got the 4pc floor, shoulda got the 2pc, but, oh well. I will post pics, haven't had much time lately.

well that's what I meant. you can do your best to fit it correctly but sometimes the aftermarket pos panels will have one flange that hangs over. It's very common. Sometimes the flanges don't want to meet and you have to find ways to make it meet. Sometimes you will feel the rocker wants to teeter. If it fits good on top you have to wrap it around the underside to meet the other flange with a 2x4 and porto. Not common but stuff like that isn't out of the question. Be sure to mock up your fender as well before you weld in that rocker otherwise the trajectory of the rocker might not match the fender. So in order to do this your door should be lined up good to the quarter so the fender is lined up good with your door and that's where your rocker end has to meet nicely with the fender down below. Then once it lines up with your door and fender weld it in.

[deadbodyman]

Originally Posted by Wrencher

DBM, it appears you have a shop, or is that your man/cave? Nice, roomy!

I do have a small shop not far from my house...But it seems I get more done on my toys when its at home,dont know why..

[deadbodyman]

Originally Posted by tech69

well that's what I meant. you can do your best to fit it correctly but sometimes the aftermarket pos panels will have one flange that hangs over. It's very common. Sometimes the flanges don't want to meet and you have to find ways to make it meet. Sometimes you will feel the rocker wants to teeter. If it fits good on top you have to wrap it around the underside to meet the other flange with a 2x4 and porto. Not common but stuff like that isn't out of the question. Be sure to mock up your fender as well before you weld in that rocker otherwise the trajectory of the rocker might not match the fender. So in order to do this your door should be lined up good to the quarter so the fender is lined up good with your door and that's where your rocker end has to meet nicely with the fender down below. Then once it lines up with your door and fender weld it in.

This brings us to a few good things to do when replacing things like rockers.
First,before you do anything at all you want to make all the adjustments to the door and fender to get the best gaps possible this way you can remove the door and fender if you need too and know they fit right before you started...
Once you have the rocker screwed on and you think its ready to weld you reassemble the door and fender (before you weld anything) double check everything...remember this and you'll never have a problem getting it back together...You dont have to put every bolt back in just a couple,enough to hold it on....Then your ready to weld...

[deadbodyman]

This car was fun...they say a pic tells a thousand words and I dont type so fast so these should explain a lot...

[deadbodyman]

heres a few for tec 69, everything is hand made ,They dont make anything for this car and even if they did this is way more fun...the inners are a simple L ...normaly the 1/4 bottom is a seperate piece but I tought this was a better way and faster too so I made them a little long and made the wheel well flare at the same time...

[deadbodyman]

a couple more

[deadbodyman]

Ok,doing the first side was a challenge and a lot of fun when I finished it I felt like I really accomplished something......The other side was work .....
Just be glad you dont have to do this one..

[tech69]

Originally Posted by deadbodyman

heres a few for tec 69, everything is hand made ,They dont make anything for this car and even if they did this is way more fun...the inners are a simple L ...normaly the 1/4 bottom is a seperate piece but I tought this was a better way and faster too so I made them a little long and made the wheel well flare at the same time...

yeah, that's what I'm talking about! So I gotta ask. What's the cheapest brake that allows you to do those "z" bends, or bends in different directions like that? My cheap little POS HF only allows bends in one direction. I guess I can cut the thick metal and rig something up to allow that but I plan on getting a better one anyways. I guess if I rig something up I should look at how they are designed to do that in the first place

[deadbodyman]

Finding a used one would be bestabout 2000.00 OR You can find a sheetmetal shop (duct work) and have them do all the bending but you have to know how to do a detailed blueprint drawing correctly.your local tec collage may have some welding coarses that'll teach you how to do mechanical drawing...I was lucky I had takin mechanical drawing in Jr high and loved it...
Tec, have you joined metalmeet.com ??? you can learn a bunch there too...mabee they have plans for building your own brake,you'll need a 6 footer at least..A press brake might be the easiest one to build...a lot of these metal working sites have use tools and equipement for sale...Like I said before it all starts with making your own patches then door bottoms ,rockers and stuff ...You have to evolve or you'll stagnate and burn out from run of the mill body and paint work...and all the crap that comes along with it...I've been at this 38 yrs and the only think I know for sure is theres always more to learn...

[496CHEVY3100]

Originally Posted by deadbodyman

a couple more

Thats the difference in a Body Man and a remove and replace man ,love those Land yachts Good work ..

[tech69]

Originally Posted by deadbodyman

Finding a used one would be bestabout 2000.00 OR You can find a sheetmetal shop (duct work) and have them do all the bending but you have to know how to do a detailed blueprint drawing correctly.your local tec collage may have some welding coarses that'll teach you how to do mechanical drawing...I was lucky I had takin mechanical drawing in Jr high and loved it...
Tec, have you joined metalmeet.com ??? you can learn a bunch there too...mabee they have plans for building your own brake,you'll need a 6 footer at least..A press brake might be the easiest one to build...a lot of these metal working sites have use tools and equipement for sale...Like I said before it all starts with making your own patches then door bottoms ,rockers and stuff ...You have to evolve or you'll stagnate and burn out from run of the mill body and paint work...and all the crap that comes along with it...I've been at this 38 yrs and the only think I know for sure is theres always more to learn...

that's for sure. I think I'll try to build a simple one. I saw some video on a eastwood little 20" one where you can do z bends and it had a stout looking platform thats bolted in and when you want to do an offset bend in the opposite direction you unbolt the platform. Man, this metal fab stuff is expensive and working this half day crap leaves me no money.

[tech69]

thanks for scaring me with the prices, DB. I guess I assumed a lot of brakes were like my POS HF 30" which only allows you to do one angle. I saw a video on one that looks just like the red 36" HF one and it appears it does do z bends. Sounds like that's good enough for me at the moment. It's on line used with the stand for only $100!!! It's my lucky day. I'll have to drive 100 miles to get it but I have a $50 gift card from Marshals and just got paid...sorry for the giddyness but I'm pretty happy right now. Then the next pay check I'll get the cheap shrinker/ stretcher then next pay check the bead roller.

[deadbodyman]

OMG your hooked...I've created a monster..
.The brake would be your first piece of equipment...At the moment I'm trying to find a 6' box/pan brake...I have to wait till I sell my DD 2ooo Impala first so I can get it..but thats how I get the big stuff ,flip a car....money's tight for me too...
The bead roller can do some pretty crazy stuff but get the big one from HF I think its the 18" ,I got the smaller one 12" and regretted it ever since... I'm building a 36" with using my HF roller dies...and plan on getting a metal lathe to make more ...see how it all snowballs,, now I have to learn to be a machinist to further my sheetmetal skills...lucky for me I have been using a wood lathe for years but only used a metal lathe once in metal shop (also in Jr high) I can make new rollers out of wood (I suppose)as a prototype ...but with the right rollers you can make bends too

[Wrencher]

Couple more questions fellas, I'm not sure of the proper term, but I call it the inner rocker frt extension panel, which runs between the floor, kick panel, cowl, and has the frt lower fender mount. It looks like the cowl shoulder lower, but i don't see the fender mount w/it? Do I need to just cut this out and fab pieces?