Morning all

Job for tonight is stamping the VIN number on the chassis.

I tried last night on an offcut of chassis rail to ensure it wouldn't dent and that wouldn't appear to be a problem.

My problem is the letters/numbers never seem straight even when the stamp is held at 90 degs to the rail. Also if you remove the stamp to see how it's worked it seems impossible to put it back in the same place so the second attempt on a letter bodges the first.

Any hints or tips for making a neat job of it, I know it won't really be visible but can't see the point of making a bodge job if some tips off here can make it better.

Cheers all, have a good weekend and hopefully Stoneleigh will be dry.

Nigel

You need a big lump hammer and give it a sharp square blow.

Worked OK for me!

Steve

there are two problems

1. even spacing and alignment
2. even punching

to address 1, take a strip of steel and drill holes large enough for the punch end - you end up with holes for for alternate letters so need to make two passes.

ensuring the letters are all vertical is tricky.

solutin for 2. is to lean the punch over to each of the 4 sides, giving it a gentle tap.

as you have discovered, it is difficult to locate the punch in the same place once you have stamped a letter - so you cna end up with a double letter - if this happens, "erase" the letter using a drift and restamp.

and to make the lettering more visilbe, stick your figner, doesn't matter which one, into some paint and dab it into the letters then wipe off. spray with clear laquer to prevent rusting.

[Edited on 2/5/08 by 02GF74]

All you do is clamp on a bit of steel angle and use that as a guide, simply hold the square section of the punch against the angle iron and that will line it up perfectly.

i printed the numbers out on my compo ,taped it down and just followed the numbers with a center punch

quote:

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Originally posted by theconrodkid
i printed the numbers out on my compo ,taped it down and just followed the numbers with a center punch

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yeah,i,m full of good ideas

thanks for the centre punch tip, I take it you mean so it looks like it's printed on a dot matrix printer?

Was that okay for SVA?

The French take off their shoes apparently.

sp1 was SVA,d that way,sp3 is about 4 weeks away

About to do the same myself - chassis is powdercoated ----is this going to mess this up

Again, any tips?

Did mine the 'conrod' way, no problem with DVLA inspection or SVA

I had a whole swag of bother trying to stamp my vin number on the chassis.In the first instance I borrowed some stamps and trued to stamp it on a steel panel in the engine bay but it dented it and the numbers were not clear enough. Ok I thought I'll do it on the passenger side foot well floor (after I jacked the car up and sat it on a breeze block) only to be knocked back at my final inspection because it was "stamped on the floor pan" eventually I stamped it on a strip of steel that I then welded to a chassis tube. The reality is that I could not stamp any of the chassis tubes without collapsing them and unless you can support the piece of steel you are stamping you won't get enough "bite" with the letter punch. I also expect that the centre punch approach suggested above would be rejected because it would be too easy to alter.

Looking into this at the moment.
Is it ok just to take a plate to an engravers and then rivet it to the car?

Decent bit of steel plate. (i fink mine was approx 2mm thick).

Scribe feint line.

Put plate on solid surface.

Line stamp to line.

Good hard sharp blow with 2lb min hammer (or closest big one you have).

Take care to line second stamp and repeat.


Worked fine for me first time. Now welded to chassis (DVLA reuirement).

quote:

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Originally posted by Crazy Eddie
Looking into this at the moment.
Is it ok just to take a plate to an engravers and then rivet it to the car?

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mhhh not so kind on the centre thing idea... you could easyly add some punches after and it will look a different nuber...

for example a 6 ==> 8

3 ==> 8

mhhh...

I stamped mine on the diff mounting plate (IRS) because the chassis tubes distort when stamping. If I were doing it again I would engrave it directly on to the chassis. Try using a dremel type tool on a piece of scrap ?

I have an idea to make letters more visible. In he process of doing it now so will find out if it works.
1) stamp letters on steel.
2) weld in
3) spray a light coat with a contrasting colour to chassis colour
4)rub wax over (solid style car wax)
5) sand with 240 grit to remove wax, however wax remains in indents
6)spray with chassis colour
7) remove paint from numbers with a sharp point
Darren