What gauge steel?

[NickF]

Made a start on the restoration today, and found some rust,bottom of front wing,lower dog leg, bottom of door shut panel (see attachment) and under the drivers seat. Nothing too bad, but was surprised at the thinness of the steel?

Have posted in gallery ,don't know how long it takes to get approved.

What gauge steel should I get to make the repairs?

Nick

[LanceM]

I think you are yet to see the really bad part. I would sugest cutting into that and see what is going on inside, maybe more than just a little sheetmetal replacement. If the pic is where I think it is, there could be a whole lot of work waiting inside....

I would guess 14 gauge, .080" thick. 16 gauge is .062.

[LanceM]

Ok,

Looked at your pic again then my car to be sure.

Pull the dog leg trim panel off from the inside and take a look with a good light down through one of the holes there. I think you may find that you have some serious problems inside. probably a hole through from the front of the wheelwell into that lower rocker area. I don't think there is a drain hole there so if anything gets in it stays and rots...

The problem with that area is that I don't think there are replacement panels available, you either have to fab something up or find a good doner car to cut the inner/outer panels from...

[mdbrandy]

Originally posted by LanceM

Ok,

I think you may find that you have some serious problems inside. probably a hole through from the front of the wheelwell into that lower rocker area. I don't think there is a drain hole there so if anything gets in it stays and rots...

I agree with LanceM. How does the outside of your rocker panel look? How about the wheelwell? That rust indicates that there might be some ugly cancer inside the rocker. Look for posts on this site about "Rocker Rust". There have been some spirited discussions with a lot of pictures in the last couple months on the cancer that happens just under the rust you're showing.

[Ed]

Most of the sheet metal is .032 which I think is about 19-20 guage. I bought some sheet metal that measured .040 and it was called 18 guage. I would think anything thicker would be too hard to work.

[LanceM]

First off thanks for your first post cause second, OH MY GOD, I had a little of that problem on the passengers side of my car but the drivers looked fine, till now!

I thought I'd better have a second look all around and took my trusty stab it screwdriver to the driver's side, poked right through the wheel well into the rocker and just finished up raking out about a pound of road silt! How does it get in it there??? Just when I thought I had all of this kind of stuff taken care of! I'll tell you one thing, that screwdriver is going to get a workout as we go everywhere else that "looked" fine and do some stabbing!!!

Ed was probably right on metal size, I was guessing and haven't had any experiance in having to form pieces, I think that is about to change....

[NickF]

Had a poke about

The top section of the rocker panel has a small hole, but other wise "seemed"

ok . The hole in the inner wheel arch 1/4" rest solid. the bottom of the dogs leg is patchable.

I'll cut out the offending rust and have a good look at the inside.

Thanks .

Nick