Morris Minor Owners Club

Over the coming month I have tasked myself with getting the Moggy back on the road. (& then it'll prob be up for sale , may be moving to LA for a little while )

Question is, where to get some steel plate. I think 1.2mm is the best gauge?? Am I right??

Anyone know anywhere local (ish) to the SE9 area of London. I only need a square foot or so, two at most.

Cheers,

Dan

Question is, where to get some steel plate. I think 1.2mm is the best gauge?? Am I right??

Well, the steel guage used in the average 50 gallon drums is about that kind of thinkness ;-). The lids are nice and flat and if you have a big hammer - the sides can end up fairly flat too. (skipdiving - don't you just love it)

There was a motor factor 10 miles from where I used to live that sold sheet steel, but I doubt that many do it. You could also try a local garage to get some stuff or a sheet from them (at a heavily marked up price, I would guess)

Best bet for such a small amount would be a sheet metal shop and cross someones palm with silver.

I don't know any steel stockholders up your way but most don't seem to have the odd bits lying about that they used to.

1.2mm should do it unless your welding to a chassis member or inner sill if so I'd go for 2mm

Paulk

Yeah, sheet metal shops are probably best. A foot square is quite a small offcut for them so you might end up with a bigger bit. They might let you rumage around in their metal skip (or guillotine bin). I used to get a LOAD of steel from my dad when he owned his own sheet-metal work shop and it was good stuff too. The galvanised stuff was excellent but a bit hard to form.....

Actually, a lot of 'old-fashioned' motor factors round my way sell sheet steel too. It's dirt cheap as well (about £4 for a bit that you struggle to get in your car! ).

Cam have you bought any recently?

I got 1m x 2m sheet 1.2mm and that was £16 + vat and we buy tons of steel (literally)

Steels gone up about 100% this last year
Paulk

Ps have used galv sheet for some inner sill repairs and it's a bit spitty and don't you just love those Zinc fumes ?

don't you just love those Zinc fumes

I especially love the funes that leave bright yellow powder

Hello all,
Frost's of Rochdale sell sheet steel and aluminium in useable sizes. www.frost.co.uk. Unfortunately they also quote mm sizes and car bodies are(of that era) S.W.G., commonly 20 for skinned areas and 18 for folded structural areas I think that 1mm and 1.2 respectively. 1.6mm is near enough 16S.W.G. or 1\16" approx. Jaguar MK 2 sills were this gauge but that is exceptional.
Zinc coated steel is nasty stuff to weld and a health hazard, have plenty of milk to drink if you must weld it.

Alec

"I especially love the funes that leave bright yellow powder "

Yep and that white fluffy stuffs good too!

A coughin' and a splutterin' Paulk

When I get it up on stands and the rubbish cut away I guess I can measure the edge. 3 patches are just floorpan type stuff & one is on the chassis rail right at the front. If 2mm is recommende for that bit then that's a good thing as I have some! Don't fancy my chances of forming it for the other bits though, they are going to need a fair amount of "tack & hammer" technique I think!!

Must be somewhere working steel plate ound here where I can get an offcut... back to searching I guess!

Salty,
I reckon your best bet would be a local engineering firm (thats where all my steel comes from)

paulk wrote: Steels gone up about 100% this last year
Paulk

And it's still going up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Talking to someone at our local engineering firm the other day, he told me that the Chinese are buying up all the scrap metal they can get their hands on and this is pushing up the price of new steel.

What are they buying it for????????

Talking to someone at our local engineering firm the other day, he told me that the Chinese are buying up all the scrap metal they can get their hands on and this is pushing up the price of new steel.

What are they buying it for????????

They are buying it to melt down and make new steel as they are struggling to get enough steel imported. They don't just import, they are also increasing their steel production capacity by building enough steel plants to put Sheffield of the olden days to shame.
For the last couple of years they have had industrial growth of very large proportions (ever since joining the WTO and making the right noises about stopping their technology stealing and ignoring patent law).
Since 2004 they have the 3rd largest market for cars, and if the growth had continued at the same rate, in 10 years they would have been #1 (buying more new cars than the Yanks!!!!).
Fortunately the Chinese Government has introduced a lot of restrictions to slow down the growth as it is damaging the world economy and when things become unsustainable, everyone looses out.

Anyway - the days of the Scrap man wanting money to remove derelict cars is long gone (despite what they might say) as the present price of scrap steal should makes it worthwhile to be a breakers yard ;-)

Willie came up with a good suggestion... a lid or side panel from a washing machine & then strip the paint. Very inventive!! (I needed to go to the tip in any case!! )

DAN, an older type may be suitable but the modern machines
are probably a bit flimsy!

Just go to your local club branch meetings- befriend people there and ask and professional welder types (after buying them beers) where you can get steel of the appropriate gauge from (1.0ml or 1.2ml is fine).

Martin from the local club kindly cut me up a load of scrap steel sheet!

Its great for practice and those small little bits you have to make up to patch the car.- or should I say "let in metal!" (now I cut and fit the patch precisely and butt weld it in).

For large bits- just buy the panels from ESM or the like. Many body panels/ repair sections are so cheap that its not worth the hassle of trying to make them up yourself.

For example, inner front wing cover panel (behind the front wing, covers the door hinges), £4.

and the one I got fitted nicely and was rather thick steel too!

Just some small ones to "let in" as you say...

paulk wrote:Cam have you bought any recently?

Umm..... last time I bought some it was about 3 years ago I think.

I got 1m x 2m sheet 1.2mm and that was £16 + vat and we buy tons of steel (literally)

That sounds stupidly expensive.......

Ps have used galv sheet for some inner sill repairs and it's a bit spitty and don't you just love those Zinc fumes ?

Yep, used galv sheet for some of the MG repairs and it's much better if you grind off the galv where you are going to weld! Otherwise you get the lovely white powdery residue that wafts gently in the breeze! Oh and bad lungs.

Parker steel in Canterbury (local to me steel stockholder) will do a 1m x 2m sheet of 1.2ml for £30 inc vat and cutting it into 2 manageable 1m x 1m sheets. So, unfortunately the price above for the same sounds quite reasonable in todays expensive steel market.

It actually makes the cost of ready made panels look reasonable.....................

DAN, I have sent you a PM re the steel, it's your lucky day.