On this particular car, the body panels are actually the easiest part. I added hems to make the edges smooth and some simple bends to add character to the body.

I started by hanging the rear quarter and door panels on the car and marking the back side, using the tire as a guide, to cut out the wheel-well area. I hem the edges so they are not sharp and won’t cut the tire. I also laid out the rough placement of the holes that the nerf bars will pass through. I won’t cut the holes in the door until after all the bends are made and I can fit it to the frame.

The rear edge of the quarter panel is hemmed, the upper edge is bent at 90 degrees and the body line bends are added.

Since the doors are almost 60″ long they will be bent up at a friend’s shop on a longer brake, but will have the same body lines as the quarter panels.

The panel shown in the photo above fits between the driver side door panel and the firewall to isolate the driver from the engine compartment. There is another panel similar to this that fits between the door and the trunk area.

Now the chassis is off to be blasted and repainted and all the new  interior sheet metal will be painted black. When it comes back from the paint shop I’ll install all the newly painted sheet metal into the car.

Next step, Roof Supports

Using the old parts for a basic template I laid out the new rear panels.

The lower edge of the roof support for the driver side will attached to the outer edge of the body framework using 1/8th rivets, they will be attached independently of the fender so if the fender needs to be removed during a race the roof support will remain in place.

On the passenger side, the lower edge will be connected to the rear deck panels. Looking at the car from behind the angle of the two panels is symmetrical and there is room for the access hole used to adjust the weight jack on the passenger side. I used the step roll to add some design and strength to the roof supports, as well as a hem to the upper edges so they are smooth and won’t cut anyone.

The front posts were a but more tricky. The front and back edges of the post are hemmed, along with a bend to add strength. To top part of the post needed to be formed by hand to fit inside the corner of the fiberglass roof. The roof is being reused so I used the same rivet holes where the post attaches to the roof.

I added a step  roll to lower part of the post then put in the flange at the bottom where the post attaches to the dash.

Next up, the body panels!

Wow. It looks like quite a maze of bars!

This is the driver’s cockpit seen from the passenger (stock cars don’t carry passengers!) side of the car. Hayden asked that the new interior sheet metal be installed at an angle, so that the outer edge sits on the new bar (the bare metal one) and slopes down to the tunnel which is already in place. The tunnel and firewalls are made from steel to protect the driver from flying parts and other bad stuff.

Installing the new sheet metal at an angle added some complexity to the project, but I like puzzles… to get an idea of where I want to put edges and bends I will use string to lay things outs. A tight stretched string is always in a straight line and gives me an idea what obstacles I might run into.

After deciding how I wanted the center panels to fit I started working on the front and rear sections that will hold the center panels in place. In the rear section I also had to build around the bracket for the top link of the rear end.

I built the center panel in three pieces to make it easier to handle and install after it’s painted.

As viewed from the front of the car.

As viewed from the driver side. A few minor details to sort out but pretty much done. The next step is to build the dash, which is pretty straight forward. The old dash was made in one big piece. I prefer to work with peices that are a size a bit more manageable, so I built this one in four small sections. This will also allow the crew to remove small sections if they need to get inside instead of loosening one end and peeling it back to get so some wiring or a fire bottle mount.

All the edges are smoothed and rolled over to fit snug on the bars. This last shot shows the box that the gauge panel will mount to. It will fit under the hood scoop.

]]> http://sheetmetalpatty.com/2011/01/hayden-smiths-modified-interior-and-dash/feed/ 0 http://sheetmetalpatty.com/2011/01/hayden-smiths-modified-rear-deck-panels/ http://sheetmetalpatty.com/2011/01/hayden-smiths-modified-rear-deck-panels/#comments Thu, 20 Jan 2011 04:13:15 +0000 patty http://sheetmetalpatty.com/?p=28 Continue reading →]]> Project Part 2

Time to get started….

After stripping off most of the old body panels I wanted to focus on the rear of the car. Hayden had built a frame of 3/4″ and 1/2″ box tubing for mounting the new sheet metal. After the sheet metal work is done the frame will go out for sandblasting and new red paint.

After mulling it over with my coffee cup in hand I made some quick measurements and sheared up the blanks that I would use for most of the rear deck.

I usually try to put the seams near where they will intersect with a tube (if there is one) so the metal will fit tight around the tube and to make it easier to install the panels after the car is painted without scratching up the new paint.

Once I have a good idea where the bends are going to be I do all the bead rolling. The bead roller I use has only an 8″ reach, or “throat”, so bends will interfere the beading process. I prefer to use the step roll instead of the common bead roll. I find the look is much cleaner and for some reason the step roll is much easier to keep straight!

My plan is to bend the outer edges of the panel down over the side and use some small rivets on the vertical sides of the square tube. Later when the fender panel is installed its upper lip will sit on top of the deck panels. If the car gets wrecked and they want to pull off the fender quickly the deck panels will be independently attached so they wont be flapping in the wind.

I made the 4 pieces across the front and then made the 2 larger panels at the back. When installing sheet metal panels on a car you always want the front panels to sit on top of the rear panels where they overlap so the wind won’t try to lift the front of the panels as the car goes around the track.

After getting all the deck panels done, except for the hatch, I made the rear panels. For these I used aluminum that comes painted white and is covered with a blue plastic film to protect it while you work. The film is peeled off at the very end.

This last shot shows the deck almost done. All that is left is to do the bead roll on the hatch. All 4 edges of the hatch have been folded over for strength and to make sure the edges are smooth and won’t cut the crew when they open it to add fuel.

Time for a new body and sheet metal for this modified that Hayden Smith ran last year in the Lucas Oil series. A few photos of the car as it arrived in my shop, stripped down to basically a rolling chassis.

The plan is to replace all the aluminum sheet metal and make new door and rear fender panels. I made a rear fender for Hayden at the end of last year and he liked my work.

I want to take pictures of the car as it progresses and record the process here.

One of the things that Hayden requested was to redesign the deck lid hatch to make it sturdier and add a piano hinge to the front edge so it would open easily and stay attached to the car.

In the next post I’ll start with the rear end of the car.

The first two pictures show some of the interior work I did on this car. The rear section was fabricated in steel, then painted to compliment the roll cage.

Click on the images to see larger versions of them.

The next couple of shots show the dash. It was made with aluminum and was installed after the rest of the interior had been painted. He had not decided where to install the gauges, otherwise I would have cut all the holes for the dash.