What gauge sheet metal should I be using?

 

The wheel wells are around 16 gauge based on what I saw when removing the bumps on mine for the coolant and washer tanks. The floors are 18 or 20 gauge IIRC. I've used 16 gauge in the past with no problems though. Not sure about the firewall.

 

Nice. I will start looking for a place to pick some up.

Any pics of your engine bay? Maybe tips on what bumps you removed and so on?

 

I'm working on doing a write-up of the process. I just need to get the pics off my phone so I can post them here. There are 2 on each wheel well I removed. I'll post a link here once it's up.

 

Home depot has some in 1' x 1' sections. It is near the other metal stock

 

Yeah, I have bought that stuff before, just hoping to find something cheaper

 

You can sometimes find decent deals on EBay. I've also found these 2 sites to have decent prices, but shipping can sometimes kill it: http://www.speedymetals.com and http://www.metalsdepot.com. The cheapest I've found though is old appliances. My neighbor used to haul them for scrap and gave me a few panels for free. Top loading washing machines usually have nice smooth front panels that are easy to remove. They are too thin for the wheel wells, but work great for floor panels and body panels. You can usually find them cheap or free on craigslist. I've also heard of members on here getting good deals on leftover pieces of sheet metal from local fabrication shops.

 

Here is the link to my thread on removing the wheel well bumps:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...ml#post5730115

 

Has anyone actually filled all the holes? Even the ones on the sub-frame sections? I was thinking of filling it all up to make the engine bay look crazy smooth.

 

I've already done most of them on my Camaro, and there are several others on here who have done it. The smaller holes I just used small tack welds around the edge to build up the thickness. Once they cooled, I went back and filled it in just like doing a plug weld. The bigger holes, I cut a filler piece from some scrap sheet metal, then welded them in. I have an assortment of small magnets from old computer hard drives that I used to hold the patches in place while I tacked them in. I even did the ones on the radiator support that I won't need.

 

Pics?!

 

I can grab some later tonight. I'm still in the bondo stage, so I'm not sure how much will be visible.

 

Anything would be useful. Thanks.

 

So here goes with the pics.

A few years ago I welded in some sheet to close off and smooth out the huge holes on the sides of the battery trays. Since my batter sits on the driver's side, I added a piece to cover the battery tray on the passenger side. I used 16 gauge for these panels as that was what I had laying around at the time. I used plug welds along the underside of the top rails and bent the bottom side of the sheet at a 90* angle so it sat on top the trays. Then used a couple plug welds there too. The bottom piece on the passenger side used plug welds on the inside and outside edges(in relation to the engine), and then I believe I welded along the inner edge on top of the frame rail to make it easier and stronger to smooth out.

 

Top of the radiator support. Nothing fancy here, just weld the hole shut and grind/bondo/etc.

 

Subframe rails and wheel wells. The wheel wells I covered in my thread I linked earlier, so I won't go over those agian. The frame rails have several different size holes in them. The smaller holes I just welded shut as I described in an earlier post above. The larger holes(about the size of a quarter) I cut a patch piece and used one of 2 methods to hold them in place. The ones closes to the open front end of the rails I used a small computer hard drive magnet inside the rail to hold them in place. The holes farther back I started a small tack weld in the middle of the piece, then shut the current off on my welder. It left me with a piece of welding wire stuck to the middle. I fed out some excess wire and cut it so there was about a 6" length of wire stuck to the patch. Then I used the wire to hold the patch in place with one hand while I tacked it in with the other.

 

Last part I have done so far is the panel behind the headlights. The upper holes need to stay(at least on a camaro) to clear the rear of the headlight bulbs. The lower holes are not needed however, so they got patch pieces welded in to close them up. I haven't ground the welds down on these yet, so they are pretty ugly still. I inserted the patch piece from inside the engine bay so it required less finishing work. And since you don't really see them down below the headlights unless you're really looking, they didn't have to be perfect.

I hope that helps give you some ideas for your project.

 

This is perfect. Thanks for all the help/ideas. Def gets me moving in the right direction. I hope to be pulling my motor this weekend so I can get started. Once you are all welded/bondoed up will you be laying down some primer to keep it from rusting before it gets paint? I ask becuase that is something I would like to do, but don't know anything about primer yet. (Only learn about things right before you have to do them right!)

Anyways, looks like we have the same dream, to have a very smooth engine bay/firewall. I have a 390 F1 procharger I want to make look nice, so not sure how much of my wheel well you will actually be able to see, but it will be cool to know they are smooth, even if I can't see them!

Thanks again.

 

I will lay down some primer right before I paint everything. I have a lot to do yet before I get to that stage, and I'll probably just let it sit bare until then unless I start seeing some rust forming. If that happens, I'll use some Rustoleum Rust Reformer to take care of it. And from what I've read on here and other sites, bare primer doesn't really do much for rust prevention, although it's better than nothing I suppose. My garage is unheated, so I need to wait till the weather gets warmer before I can spray it anyway.

 

Found a pic of the radiator support from before I started filling the holes. All the holes that need to REMAIN are covered with a piece of masking tape in this pic. I marked them as I took the front end apart to pull the engine. If you're working on a firebird, I would guess there will be some differences.

 

i used old lisence plates for a quick temporary fix haha