Metal thickness

[Nobby 110]

Hi - I need to repair some of the box section above the rear spring hanger (under the rear seat) in my 1966 saloon. Can anybody advise the gauge of metal needed to fabricate replacement box sections?? (Thickness in mm makes more sense to me) Any other advice is also appreciated!
Thanks, Nobby

[Willie]

Lo. I have checked my underseat box section,
very awkward to measure but it reads 42thou"
on my micrometer. I don't speak metric so you will have to convert it.
Willie

[LCV Charlie]

Willie;
I dont speak metric to well myself, but sometimes have to use it at work. As a general rule you can take the measurement of 0.040" (Thats 40 thou for metric readers) to be equal to one millimeter.

Charlie.............

PS Thanks for the info on hinge pins. The pin in one was so worn and tight,& would not budge so I used some heat on it, a bit to
much and melted part of the hinge itself.
Lucky for me it was a spare one that I had so I will be more carefull with the one from my van!!.

[LCV Charlie]

[ This Message was edited by: LCV Charlie on 26-02-2002 22:19 ]

[Nobby 110]

Thanks everybody! I'll go and invest in a 1 mm sheet!! That'll keep me busy for a while. Anybody got any tips / pointers on rebuilding the box section? My plan was to bend the sheet into L-shapes before welding as this will be stronger with the seam along the neutral axis of the beam, does anybody disagree ??

[an_avenger]

No I don't dissagree, from a structural point of view keeping a single piece of metal intact sustains it's strenght - if it is cut and pasted this can weaken the metal and join!

[fweddy]

Re metal thickness - I've just spent two weeks working on my MM ute and used 1.2mm panel steel. It was slightly thicker than the original as the welding grips tended to grip on the thicker steel only. (it was all I could get locally). Also to add to it, the panels had been blasted on both sides before I got the vehicle which also thins the metal.

I used it on the rear wheel arches which is the common rust spot - so I figure that with the exra thickness I have a while longer before the rust busts through. (Although I do plan to prevent it through more serious measures too).

[Arfron]

Use 1.00 mm - 1.2 for most . 2mm fior chassis repairs Ref ;Morris Minor Repairs Jim Tyler

Cheers John

[Cam]

I always use 1mm on the Moggy, but much thinner stuff on more modern cars, as 1mm is a bit of an overkill on the modern cars considering the original panel thickness, plus the thinner stuff is easier to form.