Can anyone make a recommendation of a machine shop that can roll a rear pan that's 60 inches wide? I'm in Maine and the best anyone can do around here is to make two that are 30 inches wide then I have to weld them together.
If you have to start welding sections together to make your pan or you can't find a shop nearby that will do it, you might want to consider rolling your own. I've done two now using very crude tools, primarily just a length of 3" PVC to bend the metal around. And take my word for it, I'm just a glorified novice when it comes to metal work. I figure if I can do it, probably 90% of the folks on this site can do it. And it really doesn't cost you all that much money to give it a whirl. Worst case, you mangle up chunk of sheet metal. Best case...you rolled your own pan. So I really encourage you to try your hand at it.
Here's the basic "tools" I used to roll the pans:
Here's the pan I rolled for my Roadster using PVC pipe:
And a shot of it during fabrication:
And how it looks finished:
Here is a shot of the rolled pan I did for the pickup bed on my sedan delivery:
And a shot of it in primer.
You can see the step by step details of how I did the roadster pan in my journal starting here beginning at entry 96. And you can see how I rolled the pan for my pickup bed starting here beginning at entry 171.
Thanks Kevin, but I think of it much more as fabrication ignorance rather than fabrication skill. Nobody ever took me aside and explained the things I wasn't supposed to be able to do with metal. So I just stumble forward with the banging and bending until it looks half way decent. (Oh, and you'll notice I never post pictures of my "mistake pile". BIG pile.)
Thanks Kevin, but I think of it much more as fabrication ignorance rather than fabrication skill. Nobody ever took me aside and explained the things I wasn't supposed to be able to do with metal. So I just stumble forward with the banging and bending until it looks half way decent. (Oh, and you'll notice I never post pictures of my "mistake pile". BIG pile.)
cboy, those rollpans came out beautifully. And like others said here, just give it a shot with things you can find in the garage. I had to do some small tubs for my truck, so I used a small sheet of 18 ga and rolled it longer than I needed over a spare wheel that was outside of my garage. I also use a cap from a spare welding gas tank for my shaping hammer.
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