Thread: body work question

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when you are replacing floors or putting in patch panels...etc..etc...why not tig in stainless? i see a lot of great body work on here and curious as to why stainless is not used on common rust areas...

I know the few times I've welded stainless you have to get it a lot hotter than regular steel to get good penetration. So if you tried to to weld it to steel it would probably just melt the steel away.

Never tried it, but I'm guessing that's what would happen.

i have to most respectfully disagree...i have a friend who always uses stainless to replace rot that he has cut from car bodies...tig's it right to the original steel...i'm just wondering why it not used by more people...

overkill . harder to drill , cost , most home builders can not tig or dont have one.

My guess would be all the same reasons that the OEMs don't use it.

expense: material costs more, and is more expensive to machine

availability: no one makes stainless steel patch panels
( at least I have never heard of it )

time: it can take longer to do just about anything with stainless just because it IS harder.

my 2 cents : I buy SS for a living. It is a lot higher cost and not as available. Cost aside, I can see replacing an entire area (floor, qtr fender, door skin). Grafting SS onto steel may avoid rust in the one area but for the trouble, a SS patch is not eliminating the problem. Hey, a good steel patch will probably last longer than the owner.

It`s not real hard to weld the two together, just watch your heat on the mild like mentioned above, but i would say the cost and workability makes it less desirable. If you had the spare cash, it might be a good thought if you were doing an old a-bone floor or a t bucket, but to make panels for 50`s-60`s rods would suck unless you had a really equipted shop.

much more difficult to work, slow tig instead of a quick mig, Hot Rods are normally painted and or rust proofed on the bottom and seldom driven in inclimate weather anyhow....

thanks for the reply's and i see there would be a cost and time issue...and i'm not saying my friend is right and the masses are wrong, by no means...its just the way he does his body work...i guess combined he and his father have been doing classic restorations for over 50 years...before his folks passed away you should have seen them cruise down the street in their cherry 56 belair in their late sixties she still sat next to him in the front seat...so cool...

For the restoration types who are into the numbers matching stuff---seems it would be a departure from stock--and lower the finished value to use stainless as a replacement... Heck, the numbers matching crowd wants all the old style clamps and wiring and everything else.... Can't really see them substituting stainless for an OEM panel...

the old man did not use it...he was for sure a pruist...everything he built was back to stock...the son has the reputation for stainless replacement...i agree with you Dave, the restoration types would not give it a second thought...i'm not trying to start a pissing contest...just wondering why other folks didn't use it...and got some good answers...cost, time, workability, no off the shelf patch panels, not everyone can tig, departure from stock...thanks

Your question did get me thinking though.....If I were to ever build a genuine "keeper" type of Hot Rod that I was actually going to be driving on a regular basis.....guess I would probably go with the stainless.

Most of my stuff is built to race or to sell, on the race stuff I use aluminum and on the stuff for sale then the economics of stainless kicks in.....and I use steel....

As with the planning stage of any build, I've got to keep in mind what the final outcome of the build is going to be....

I don't mean to sound like I'm bad mouthing the idea of stainless panels, I'm not, think it's a great idea in the right situation. Heck, I prefer 'moly over dom tubing for frame and cage work....we all know the economics of that but I let my obsession with light weight and high strength take over there....

Far from being any form of contest, I really like to see a thoughtful exchange of building ideas and possible materials going on here.... Tends to keep me from just sitting back and using the stuff I've always used and not considering other approaches and materials to use.....

thanks Dave,
i know you and many others here are great paint and body people...and i only ask because i value your opintion

We've got a company near by that uses the mirror finish stainless steel for building tanks and other such stuff....it sure would make some gorgeous federwells or firewalls for a show car! I've got a few pieces of it laying around, used some of it for some dash panels on a customer's car and it makes for some great eye candy.

Think it was Dobertin(sp) or one of the big builders a bunch of years back used all polished stainless on the intake and exhaust tubes on a twin turbo setup of some sort...talk about eye candy!!!!

Back in the sprint car days we used to put a brushed type finish on the frame and cage of the car and a couple light coats of clear---the raionale being that paint was so heavy...wound up really looking great. Gonna do me a frame and cage for a drag car with the same method someday---Kind of labor intensive, but absolutely gorgeous when done correctly. Of course that was also back in the days when I could actually see and my tig welds looked nice, now that my vision has me welding by braille I'd have to hire the welding part of it done!!!!!!

Lots of really good paint and body guys on here, I certainly don't consider myself to be one of them. I do most of my own paint work cuz I'm the only one I can afford!!!!! If the cost of the build weren't such an important consideration I'd be the first to hire all the paint and body work done!!!!! Like I said, maybe someday I'll actually build me a "keeper" (my Ranchero is the only thing under cosideration now as a keeper) and just say to heck with it and do one of the best of everything, money no object builds....but so far resale potential always has to remain a consideration.

welding by braille.. ...well i'm out the door for 2 - 2hr flights and 1 - 16hr flight...good lord willing i will be back in the good ole' US for a few weeks...

peace everyone

john