1989 Pontiac Formula Rust Repair - Corrosion Cure

A band saw is by far the best way to cut sheetmetal; unfortunately most run too fast to cut steel, this one runs about 180 surface feet per minute, which cuts through 18 gauge like butter. I started this project with a Bosch jigsaw, which worked ok, but the band saw was a massive improvement in speed, accuracy, and convenience.

With the bend locations and direction marked on the part, I created smooth radius bends with a hammer and T-dolly clamped in a bench vise. A good bench vise and solid work surface is essential.

With the basic geometry taking shape a few passes through the shrinker added the just the right curve. This took about two minutes on the shrinker--this tool rocks.

Once you get a belt sander you may never power up your bench grinder again, they work wonders for quick adjustments to sheetmetal parts.

To flatten out the end of the shape and maintain curve geometry, a very crude hammer form is made with a chunk of wood on the belt sander. Here you can see the part sandwiched between two pieces of metal, with the block of wood under the sheet metal part.

The block of wood acted as a form to work the sheet metal over, and with a little more work, will match the needed shape.

Another piece of the puzzle tacked in to the left of the piece we just looked at. Notice how the preceding part has almost disappeared.

While this part fits pretty close, tacking it in a couple of spots lets me further refine the fit with a screwdriver or hammer until it matches perfectly. It's ok if the part doesn't fit with surgical precision as long as you can bend it to fit once tacked in; a common trick is to work it with a screwdriver as you weld so the pieces remain lined up.