Club 80-90 Forums

I’ve an opportunity to go to my local steel stockholder next week (day off work so I’ll be in town while they are open). I thought I’d make the most of this rare opportunity and get stuff I’m likely to need, rather than wait til I need it and then have to wait for a day off.

But what thickness to get? I’ll need some to make closure pieces for on top of the sill, probably something to remake the rear boxes ( bottom of the air intakes etc), and other random bits to go above the rear jp, as well as thicker stuff to repair chassis parts eg rear crossmember, the closures of the rear chassis extensions and probably other bits I’ve yet to find. My memory is telling me 1.6 mm sheet for the thinner, but might be wrong, no idea at all about the thicker. Can a wise one help out?

By the way not posted anything on the “Rustoration” for a bit as it’s taken a back seat while I fix up my mini to sell, that’s going to be the rustoration fund.

I'd say 1 or 1.5mm as it's flexible enough to bend and shape for your needs but it will also depend on your welder and welding as thinner steel is harder to fabricate with.

I'll go with 1.5 (I think it is 1.6 they do) as I'm not confident about my skills. I'll maybe not need a lot of thicker stuff so maybe I'll see what's needed and get it off fleabay as the need arises in smaller sheets. Thanks for replying

When I asked before Metal Mickey said 1mm sheet but if you measure up a panel ( I measured an aftermarket ) they are 0.8mm.

After market panels are thin keeps costs down making them,0.8 is thin and will distort all over the place.use 1mm_1.2mm or 1.5mm for structural work much easier to work with.

[quote="fazzer"]After market panels are thin keeps costs down making them,0.8 is thin and will distort all over the place.use 1mm_1.2mm or 1.5mm for structural work much easier to work with.[/quote]
There are lots of aftermarket panels available ,some good ,some not so, which panels are the thin ones you have used ?

I did most of mine with 1.6mm and would recommend it.
The one bit we did with 2mm (cos that's all we had at the time) was hard work but will outlast the rest of the van.
If you go too thin it becomes tricky to get a good weld to thicker stuff when you join it.

Bought an outer sill from a company which was 0.8,decided to copy it in 1.2mm much better fitting.i know there are better panels out there but way more expensive and a lot of us can't afford them prices.i prefer body cuts if possible.

There are various price repair panels available, its not just cheap which are usually a poor fit, then the really expensive genuine vw panels. There are quality Ah schofield panels at a fair price. Looking at the Brickwerks body repair panels section and having a good read of all that's available is the best thing to do, clearly a wheel arch for under £20 isn't going to be up to much so best to avoid panels like that.

Aye, I’ll be getting various “made” panels (sills, arches, centre panel, hope this list isn’t too long) and will have to balance cost/quality/usability. However there’s other bits I’ll make to keep costs down, using sheet. What did Metal Mickey use 1.6 for? I do recall him saying something about it? Though maybe that was for remaking the B and C pillars. Who’s got a decent memory?