John P
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| posted on 28/12/07 at 09:28 AM |
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Aluminium or Stainless Steel?
Just before Christmas I started a new job with a company who make shop fronts and doors.
Whilst I’m a long way from needing any bodywork they use a lot of stainless steel and also aluminium sheet. The stainless, which is either brushed
or mirror finished, is generally around 0.9mm thick whilst the aluminium can be from 1.6 to 2.0mm.
There seems to be a lot of off-cuts around and I’m sure I could also buy material at a very good price through the company.
I’m trying to keep costs down so was going to make the bodywork side panels and probably the rear panel but buy a bonnet and probably scuttle since
these look difficult to make accurately.
What would you make the side panels out of, stainless or aluminium and would 0.9mm stainless be too thin.
I’m assuming the 1.6mm aluminium would certainly be OK and probably the 2.0mm aluminium for the floor. (Incidentally should the floor cut from a
single sheet?).
Any comments / suggestions would be very welcome.
John.
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caber
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| posted on 28/12/07 at 09:38 AM |
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Mine is all ally including the scuttle and bonnet both were much easier to do than I expected. 1.6 is plenty good enough though check what grade, half
hard is easier to form. Worst panel to do was the rear one still not happy with the result.
I have a steel floor, I thought this was a better idea for rigidity.
Caber
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Humbug
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| posted on 28/12/07 at 09:50 AM |
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I would think stainless would be quite difficult to bend.
My car has a welded-in steel floor - personally, I think I prefer steel for the floor as it's probably safer. My floor is in separate pieces for
left and right, i.e. the bottom of the tunnel is not covered.
I can't speak from experience re scuttle and back panel, but I made a bonnet from ali - a bit fiddly, but you only have to bend in one plane.
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bonzoronnie
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 posted on 28/12/07 at 09:59 AM |
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Sheetwork
Personally I'd go for the alloy, unless you want the stainless look.
Stainless is so much harder to work with. Cutting, shaping & folding ECT.
I would imagine the rear panel would be a barsteward to do in stainless.
Ronnie
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JohnN
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| posted on 28/12/07 at 11:06 AM |
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0.9mm stainless was my choice. I fully welded the floor in from a single sheet, the back panel was very easy to shape, just two simple curves, bent
around a piece of plastic pipe, same for the bonnet, but with a +4 design, finding a piece wide enough was a minor problem.
My side panels were folded top and bottom around the chassis (using a 40" folder), but if I was doing it again, I wouldn't bother with the
folds, I'd simply place the panels flat against the sides, rivet them in place and maybe tack weld them (tig, very small, neat and satisfying to
do) every few inches as well, for rigidity.
A final word on the floor, unless you are desperate to save weight, I'd use steel, my floor now has a couple of deep gouges, where something has
been thrown up under the car, but hasn't penetrated the steel. I'm sure an alloy floor would have been cut open.
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skodaman
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| posted on 28/12/07 at 04:03 PM |
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I'd go steel floor and everything else ally. Unfortunately i've already got stainless sidepanels and bonnet. They should go on ok but as
mentioned the rear panel is gonna be a real pain to do in stainless. Also stainless can crack once on the car and don't imagine for one minute
that it doesn't corrode. Mine's suffered a bit whilst still in the garage with it's protective plastic covering still on.
I've got a MK scuttle but will probably end up making one from mild steel cos the MK one is an awkward shape to cut the windscreen glass for and
steel is stronger, plus the scuttle is bright yellow and doesn't go with my red nose and wings unless i wanted a noddy car.
Skodaman
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