What gauge steel, body repair?

You're not going to weld this stuff with a buzz box, unless you are a lot better than I am, and maybe not even then. MIG will work, as will torch welding or brazing. I am not up on all the fancy modern stuff.

A vehicle floor should be at least 20 gauge, in my opinion. That is what I used for the floor of my Bug when I repaired it. I took a piece of the original metal to a shop, and they told me it was "probably close to 22". At the risk of repeating myself, there is no way you are going to weld this stuff with a buzz box, unless you are Nathan. He could probably do it.

Earle

snipped-for-privacy@surfbest.net did pass the time by typing:

As others have said, stick is near impossible to work on sheet metal. (at least for me) stick is better for large pipe/plate.

MIG is what you need. That and a plasma cutter. :)

With all the projects you mention I'd suggest reading Nate's page about welding gear and getting a MIG and Plasma Cutter.

Ah..But with prefab you only use what you need. And some of those shapes are damn hard to do without metal working equipment.

Consider how much rust you might find, the size of the patch, etc. Basically you just cut/transfer/cut/weld with replacement panels.

Tear into it, figure out all the rust spots, then price out a new tub, your time, etc.

What ever your choice is, good luck.

Thanks for all of the info, from everyone. I'll be sure and try a test on a scrap piece (I've got a couple laying around, luckily), but I'm not a pro or anything, so I imagine I will not be able to weld it with my ARC welder. Too bad my brother just moved far away, since he has a wire-feed.

Guess I could do like the guy before me and use screws.

I was thinking 10 or 12 gauge steel, but if it is really 20, then that should be even cheaper. The 12 gauge was $90 per sheet (4'x8'), so maybe the 20 is around $50.

Whenever I th> As others have said, stick is near impossible to work on sheet metal.

snipped-for-privacy@surfbest.net wrote:

When I put my 'glass body on I used loctite on the nuts and they all held perfectly with no rust because it is a sealed joint.

People do sell floor pan pieces for the tubs already made up. If you are going to all that work anyway, cutting out all the crap and putting in a new ready made piece would keep it going for a long time....

Mike

don't let them scare you, I am welding sheet with a gasless Mig (wire feed flux welder) you just have to use the right tecnique. A cheap Harbor frieght flux mig cost around 100 bucks and I've managed 20 guage sheet with patience and the will to grind ugly welds.

My last project was to weld a 18 guage tube onto the roughly 16 guage metal "Air Hat" that comes with a Holley pro-jection fuel injection system. The Harbor frieght Flux core mig did good enough that I didn't even grind the welds down before I powdercoated the new air cleaner housing (air hat or whatever you want to call the housing that sits on top of a trottle body injector like an old carb style filter housing) The Jeep is now breathing cold air through a K&N style cone filter through 4" OD (always overbuild!) tubing, the damn thing positively ROARS at WOT now.. Not that it's way more powerfull but the tubing ressonates from 1500 RPM's and up...

Pop rivets work better than screws, and don't vibrate loose.

Earle

I guess I could Google search and find out, but since you mentioned it.... Is there any cheap and easy way to do pop rivets? I imagine it requires some special tools, so for someone without those tools, it would be expensive to get started.

I may have to though, because so far I'm finding another problem with screws... I can only screw from the top down, because I don't want the tips pointing up toward cargo or the gas tank. That works fine for the sheet metal I want to put on top anyway, but then how do I attach the support box/channel peices to the bottom?

My weekend starts tomorrow, so I'll just do what I can. I'd have more m> Pop rivets work better than screws, and don't vibrate loose.

Pop rivet tools are available at any hardware store, inexpensive ones are less than $10. The rivets themselves are extremely inexpensive and also available everywhere.

I did the floors in an old Scout with pop rivets and 16 ga. cold rolled sheet. Takes a drill, a fair supply of GOOD drill bits the right size, and a hand rivet tool. Best one I've used was from Sears, about $12 (several years back). You will need the drill for either rivets or screws although they do make those self-drilling screws. I've haven't had very good results from the self-drilling screws in heavier guages, though - pre-drilling is usually quicker and more certain.

Two suggestions for pop rivets or screws: get a good layer of sealer between the old and new metal and seal the rivets so that the pop stem doesn't fall out later. I have always used roofing cement as a sealer and spread it liberally all over any surface not exposed to direct contact. Wipe down what squeezes out after riveting with mineral spirits. Cheap and will outlast anything else I've tried, by messy to work with. Works best when nice and warm.

The biggest hazard with any drill> I guess I could Google search and find out, but since you mentioned

And to add a little to that, you still might want that stick to weld the channel onto the new pieces. If you just tack it in places, then go back and tack some more, and then again you are less likely to warp the crap out of it.

I also haven't seen much better than roofing cement as a sealer also.

Mike

Buy the best pop rivet tool that you can afford or justify. The jaws wear out on the cheap ones, before you are even done with the job.

Earle

Thanks. I had only looked at Lowe's and Home Depot (Home improvement stores), since I'm at those stores all of the time anyway (wish I was at jeep stores and auto parts all of the time, but not the case). I do buy tools at Sears sometimes, so I'll probably go there.

I ended up going with a simple nuts and bolts repair for now. Actually started over the weekend, but haven't finished just yet. Still glad to have the other details since I'll be doing more work in the near future, which I'll want to be a more permanent fix. For now I got 1

New 1/8" flat steel Original tub sheet metal

I'm using carriage bolts, so at least the head is round and you wouln't notice it too much under the carpet. I cut square holes in the 1/8" flat steel to hold the bolt, so that it doesn't turn while I screw on the nut.

Also, the jeep tub originally had 12 bolts holding it down. I'll have