Kabwe's aka Bam's build

[Kabwe]

Well I decided to start getting the rear fenders ready for primer. I wanted to use these for the truck because they were giving to me by a buddy who bought new ones and he has passed away (He knew they were rough but did not want to throw them away). So I wanted something of his on the truck, so I went to through the trouble of saving them.

My question is do you know what evils lives under your primer?



This is what I had to cut away. Yikes

Remember those repop fenders that I told you I like keeping just incase? Well they provided the majority of the patch panel. A little tweaking and they worked fine. That little rust spot that was left I just formed my hand.

And here it is, almost ready for primer a little more welding and hammer and dolly work to do and very little filler will be needed now.lol

[Chevette]

Remember......................it's Sunday. No "hammer and dolly work" before 11:00 am. That neighbor thing.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by Kabwe

Yeah I know the wheel you are talking about. Man I remember when I was in high school and in college I use to buy one wheel at a time.lol Then one tire at a time.lol

It took me it seems like forever to buy the wheels for the truck. I have two young daughters and their needs come first, but my wife helped me a little so I think shes a keeper.lol



I wish they did sale sectioned hoods I sure would have bought one man that thing was a lot of work. The welding part was easy, I try not to use much filler only a skim coat and primers. So it was a lot of hammer and dolly work. I also added some bracing and spot welded the panel to the bracing. So its a lot of work in that hood and I appreciate you telling me it looks decent.




These are my car wheels, they have a 4 inch backspace. I put them on the truck to see if I really wanted to go with 18's.

Now you must have the room I narrowed my rearend on the car and the truck.

Kabwe: May need to remove my "X" bracing to fit the LS under the hood. I assume you left yours off for good. Did the bracing you install stiffen the hood sufficiently? Keep the innovation coming. I have much to learn! Dug

[Barney Rubble]

nice work on incorporating your mate's panels, well worth the effort for the memories

[Kabwe]

Originally Posted by Chevette

Remember......................it's Sunday. No "hammer and dolly work" before 11:00 am. That neighbor thing.

LOL. I started around 10:00am so I think I'm okay. I waited until I heard the gardener's lawn mower.lol

Originally Posted by dug224

Kabwe: May need to remove my "X" bracing to fit the LS under the hood. I assume you left yours off for good. Did the bracing you install stiffen the hood sufficiently? Keep the innovation coming. I have much to learn! Dug

I had to remove the x bracing because I have a flip kit. When I started blocking the hood was flimsy in certain spots so I made the brace for blocking purposes. It worked pretty good, I can block without worrying about metal movement.

Originally Posted by Barney Rubble

nice work on incorporating your mate's panels, well worth the effort for the memories

Yeah man I had to do it. He was a nice man. The sad thing is he was on his way over to my house the day he got sick. I had just spoken to him and after we got off the phone he had a stroke and never recovered.

[Kim57]

As always Bam very nice work.
Kim

[_Ogre]

looking good kabwe
at least they attempted to (poorly) hammer that out
there was a full inch of filler over this, the whole left side was a mess
i'm not sure they even tried to hammer anything out
boy that metal is thick, took a 5lb hammer to get the worst of it out.

[oldman3]

Very nice work on the fender, looks great.....Jim

[Kabwe]

Thanks Ogre and oldman3

[shadow1967]

Well Kabwe, looks like your moving now. Keep Going the finish line is there so where.

[Kabwe]

Originally Posted by shadow1967

Well Kabwe, looks like your moving now. Keep Going the finish line is there so where.

Aw man they are never finished, plus its all about the journey.

[skip99]

I'm all caught up now.....looks great!

[OKGMC4]

Originally Posted by Kabwe

Aw man they are never finished, plus its all about the journey.

Are we there yet?

I HAVE to get mine finished or I might never get to start the next one!

[Kabwe]

Hey xpickup aka Shannon

I remember we were talking a talking sheetmetal so I snapped this pics for you. I used a 3/32 2% ceriated tungsten and 1/16 filler rod and tried to keep the smallest HAZ I could. Tig sheetmetal is great you can see how low the bead profile is and some of the metal finishing I started. Man you can hammer and dolly that HAZ to your hearts desire.

[hotrod1]

what is the purpose to hammer haz? Is it done a certain way?

[Kabwe]

Originally Posted by Fat Mike

Man you do excellent work!! I have learned alot by just watching how you do your welding, grinding, and pointers. Thanks Kabwe. Hoping you do a small tutoral on hammering.

Here you go I had to do lot of it on the other rear fender.lol

Over this years this truck was really used. Man this fender has dents and digs all alone the top area. I used a big red marker to color in the top which I will block sand to see the highs and lows.

Weapons of choice

I also made this slapper and find it does a great job.

On the back side you must choose a dolly that is very close to the contour of the sheet metal.


After sanding here is what I had

After the first use of my slapper and dolly I sanded again and here what I have. As you can see the low area is getting smaller. Sanding between hammer and dolly work shows me were I need to concentrate.

Worked some more and sanded and had this.

Here what I accomplished the first day, still a lot of work to do but a fender that most would have trashed or covered with way too much filler will be used with very little filler when done. After I remove all the major of the dents I will red marker again and try to fix all the imperfections. All the red markets that are left need to be worked but as you can see there is already a world of difference.

It just takes patience and work.

[Kabwe]

Originally Posted by hotrod1

what is the purpose to hammer haz? Is it done a certain way?

The HAZ is the Heat Affected Zone. So lets say after you finished welding in a patch panel the panel was warped. When the heat from welding pulled or shrink the metal it could have affected other areas of the panel. Do not start your hammering on the warped area only hammer the HAZ because it will put metal back in its proper place. You will find the area that was warped is not warp anymore because it stretch the metal back to where it was orginally. I hope that makes since.

[hotrod1]

Thanks. Do you do this with all haz areas after welding sheetmetal as a general rule? Also, what did u make the slapper from?

[Kabwe]

Originally Posted by hotrod1

Thanks. Do you do this with all haz areas after welding sheetmetal as a general rule? Also, what did u make the slapper from?

Yes all HAZ areas if I have access to the back of the panel. If not I'm extra slow and care for when welding in a patch without access to the back of the panel because I can't do hammer and dolly work. Welding causes shrinkage some times very little but it always causes shrinkage. If you don't have access to the rear of the panel be extra careful. I usually mig because its faster plus the thing I really like about tig welding sheetmetal is the hammer and dolly work.


I made that slapper from some 1/4 thick metal you can also make them from old leaf springs. I have several slappers but I wanted one that was flat.

[oldman3]

Kabwe, thanks for the lesson on sheet metal work. You do a great job and its good to see you pass along your knowledge....Jim

[duallyjams]

Originally Posted by Kabwe

Hey xpickup aka Shannon

I remember we were talking a talking sheetmetal so I snapped this pics for you. I used a 3/32 tungsten and 1/16 filler rod and tried to keep the smallest HAZ I could. Tig sheetmetal is great you can see how low the bead profile is and some of the metal finishing I started. Man you can hammer and dolly that HAZ to your hearts desire.

What heat range did you use for the tig for the fender.

[Kabwe]

Originally Posted by duallyjams

What heat range did you use for the tig for the fender.

I set my welder at 50 amps which is way more than enough for 18 gauge sheet metal. I just really control the heat with the foot control.

[Kim57]

Great info Bam.
Kim

[Rods57]

Nice work, that's going to come out excellent.

[Fat Mike]

Thanks for the tutorial. Every bit of info helps. Also I am sorry to hear about your friend and know that he would be happy to see the progress you have made on the fenders he gave you.