I'm going to rig up to make my own floor pans and repair patches for my wheel well tops on my 83 BJ42. I want everything to be identical to factory, so I would like to get some fabrication/tooling tips from the guys who have done this before and stayed true to the original stampings.
Is making your own press with a bottle jack (or two) and flat bar as your dies the best/cost effective way or is there another (besides buying them premade)? Also, if I go this route, is it possible to get the rounded ends of the ribs by rounding the flatbar that I'm using as my dies or do I have to cut/hammer/body fill the ends of the rib to get them to look right? Am I going to have uncontrollable warpage/creasing/cracks if I try to make the rounded ends?
The plan for my dies is to get some 3/4 to 1" thick flatbar, cut to appropriate width, bevel the edges and round the edges the same as factory or slightly smaller/steeper angle on both the top and bottom pieces of flat bar and making the lengths adjustable by making the dies in 3 pieces so that I can use the same rounded ends , but cut different straight lengths of flat bar to accomodate making longer/shorter ribs and just tack them together.
Any help/ideas or input is appreciated.
Is making your own press with a bottle jack (or two) and flat bar as your dies the best/cost effective way or is there another (besides buying them premade)? Also, if I go this route, is it possible to get the rounded ends of the ribs by rounding the flatbar that I'm using as my dies or do I have to cut/hammer/body fill the ends of the rib to get them to look right? Am I going to have uncontrollable warpage/creasing/cracks if I try to make the rounded ends?
The plan for my dies is to get some 3/4 to 1" thick flatbar, cut to appropriate width, bevel the edges and round the edges the same as factory or slightly smaller/steeper angle on both the top and bottom pieces of flat bar and making the lengths adjustable by making the dies in 3 pieces so that I can use the same rounded ends , but cut different straight lengths of flat bar to accomodate making longer/shorter ribs and just tack them together.
Any help/ideas or input is appreciated.