Anybody interested in making ribs?

[Krusty]

Here is a method for making a sheet metal patch for the rear of my 40, Ngiri. Here is a shot of what I started with when I removed the roll bar support from her passenger side (her body is upside down on a rack):






After some minor cancer surgery, I needed to make this:






My first attempt involving some work with a homemade chisel and some angle iron gave me this:






So – close but no cigar.

 

[Krusty]

More ribs

A bit o' search to find a better way lead me to mud member miker's post 1964 FJ45 LB “RB1” Project and the jumbo press he made to scratch build his 45 bed. (Thanks miker! I don't know ya, but I owe Ya!) I start to think that maybe I could do something similar with my cheapo Harbor Freight 12 ton press. A couple of days of fooling around in the shop got me to this:






The press plates are made of ¾ in. plywood. I set them on top of the steel plates that came with the press. The overlays for the female shape on the bottom came from some scrap micarta I found. There are two layers of 1/8 inch thick material there. I screwed both layers to the plywood with sheetrock screws, with the micarta countersunk to keep the screws from marking the metal when I pressed it. The I cut the round ends with a hole saw and the sides with a jig saw to give me the oval recess. The male shape is similar in construction to the female one, except that one of the layers is made from some scrap steel, with the spacer of micarta behind it.




Here's a test pressing:






The steel plate gives a crisper edge to the pressing. If I did it again, I would use steel for both the male and female dies.



This result is better, but I need to get control of all that warping around the edges. The jigsaw gets me this:

 

[Devilmans Hand]

pretty cool. I'll have to buy a press now!

 

[Krusty]

More ribs

Now I can just press the center of the rib while holding the metal somewhat flat with these small beams of doubled up ¾ inch plywood and some clamps on the front and back like this:



Behind the front beam you can see some cut off pieces of 2x4 to help even up the pressure between the press plate where the jack is located and the upper movable plywood die section. I also have a piece of ½ x 2 x 12 steel between the press' steel dowel and the movable die to keep the dowel from driving through the softer plywood. All of this reduces the warping so much that I forget to take a picture of the fresh pressing!

Instead, I start to work bending and shrinking the edge. After what feels like an hour with the hammer it looks like crap, so I take a beer break. I'm too frustrated to take a picture now.

The beer refreshes me so after some more banging I get to this point and remember my camera, so:



The steel shrinks nicely with the plywood form and that orange cheapo deadblow hammer. Color me astonished. The patch panel now looks like this:

 

[Krusty]

More ribs

The panel still shows a bit of warping, but a little gentle massaging with the dead blow and a short cutoff piece of a broken rake handle took care of most of it.






Finally, after drilling a few holes, welding on a couple of nuts, trimming to fit and tacking her in, Ngiri loses one of her warty sections and I get one step closer to driving her again:






Hope someone finds this helpful,



Krusty

 

[myquestoyota]

cool!

 

[MicahMan]

Well done! I'm impressed. I have some "Warts" that need to be addressed too!

 

[cjgoode]

This is no good, no good at all. Right now I have some flat sheet metal for the floor boards from the PO patching, now I have to consider making my own ribbed floor patches. You first one did not look that bad, I can probably make the mold and hammer it. I do not have a press nor any room for one, but I want one now.

 

[SouthBostonFJ40]

This is no good, no good at all. Right now I have some flat sheet metal for the floor boards from the PO patching, now I have to consider making my own ribbed floor patches. You first one did not look that bad, I can probably make the mold and hammer it. I do not have a press nor any room for one, but I want one now.

Craigslist, someone is probably selling one.

 

[Shark56]

Good skills there Sir!!!!

 

[PixelWrangler]

Well done!

 

[DenCo40]

Mad Skills! Very nice.

 

[jmdaniel]

I thought this was about a new smoker recipe...

 

[lostmarbles]

The is one of the best things about ih8mud!

Seeing people demonstrate this high degree of skill and dedication when restoring a 40-series.

 

[crimsonaudio]

I'm awestruck by the ingenuity and skills displayed by some folks here. Very impressive.

 

[chevyfj40lc]

I made mine the same way

 

[myquestoyota]

bottle jack

This is no good, no good at all. Right now I have some flat sheet metal for the floor boards from the PO patching, now I have to consider making my own ribbed floor patches. You first one did not look that bad, I can probably make the mold and hammer it. I do not have a press nor any room for one, but I want one now.

With two solid surfaces you can make a press suitable for this out of a bottle jack. Heck, just a square made of channel iron would suffice.

 

[Steamer]

Nice job. Looks great.

 

[cjgoode]

What gauge sheet metal are you using

 

[Krusty]

What gauge sheet metal are you using

18 gauge mild steel. I bought a 4x8 sheet to make all the body patches I need. Had to waste a couple square feet on the first pressings, but I figure each was only about $5.00 lost for a lot of knowledge gained.

Krusty