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  #1  
Old 09-16-2020, 09:53 AM
abarthdave abarthdave is offline
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Location: so cal
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Default Fixing auto sheet metal damaged in brush fire ?

there have been lot of brush fires and we are having them now , many cars were burned or damaged by the heat ,

what happens to automotive sheet metal when it gets heated in a fire ?

How strong is the metal in the chassis., does it loses it temper ?

does the outer sheet metal lose its temper / strength if the heat is high enough to burn off the paint but the car did not catch on fire inside ?

This is older cars with conventional cold rolled steel , not HSLA steel

Also old cars that had an engine fire that was hot enough to warp the hood and fenders etc but not burn end to end ,

at the Malibu fire a few very rare cars were burned to the ground and even melted the alloy brake drums , while other cars just had the paint scorched and windows cracked ,

Thanks for your ideas
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Last edited by abarthdave; 09-16-2020 at 10:03 AM.
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Old 09-16-2020, 11:43 AM
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Jim Stabe Jim Stabe is offline
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I redid the right rear side of a VW bus that had one of the infamous fuel injector hose fires. The metal had gotten pretty wavy but I was able to get it back in decent enough shape that I could paint it. It took a massive amount of shrinking and hammer work to get it there but it can be done.
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MGB roadster widened 11.5", Corvette C-4 suspension, 535 hp supercharged LT1 V8, T-56 6 speed.
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  #3  
Old 09-16-2020, 11:47 AM
weldtoride weldtoride is offline
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Default Just my personal experience

Several years ago I was looking at purchasing a burned-out Model A. The car was complete, in that it had been a stock restoration, and everything that remained after the barn fire was still available. The tires were burned to the steel bead cables, the seats to the bare springs and the body panels all badly warped, and by now totally rusted, with no paint remaining. But, hey, you could see there was no plastic filler!

In talking to several restoration pros the consensuses I got was that how the fire was put out made a difference in the work-ability of the metal. If the fire burned itself out, the metal was more likely to be annealed, and so it might be workable. If a lot of water hit the sheet metal while it was hot, it was more likely to be hardened, and less workable.

I was advised to see if I could test it with hammer/dolly first, and with the permission of the seller, that's what I did. It wasn't easy to work, and I passed. I heard later it was purchased for yard art.
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Last edited by weldtoride; 09-16-2020 at 04:58 PM.
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Old 09-16-2020, 05:07 PM
jhery jhery is offline
MetalShaper of the Month May 2015 ,Sept. 2017
 
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Default Repairing fire damage

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Picture 3661 Standard e-mail view.jpgThis is one of the many fire repairs I have done in my 40 plus years of restoration work. This 23 RR had major fire damage to not only the metal and body but also the chassis. I repaired this in 2001 and it sold last year for $550,000. The most important thing is cleaning the pores of the steel out by sandblasting so the paint will stick. This body was aluminum so many of the panels were warped but could be repaired. I disassembled the car down to nothing and cleaned everything good to make sure there wasn't any carbon on or between the joints. The hood was the only panel which had to be made but that should be obvious from the photos. All the bright work and copper and brass engine components which were all soldered together no longer had solder in the joints and all had to be disassembled and cleaned before resoldering. The radiator shell and the core also had to be taken apart, cleaned and resoldered. In short almost any body can be repaired it just depends how time you want to spend and how many panels you will need to replace. The chassis was plastic media blasted all together and then disassembled and further cleaned and polished and painted before reassembling.
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Last edited by jhery; 09-16-2020 at 05:09 PM.
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Old 09-16-2020, 05:20 PM
jhery jhery is offline
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I forgot to post finished photos.alghost.jpg

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Old 09-16-2020, 08:05 PM
foamcar foamcar is offline
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Very impressive James. Beautiful work. Thanks for posting.
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Old 09-16-2020, 08:42 PM
metaldahlberg88 metaldahlberg88 is offline
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Wow. Amazing
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Old 09-17-2020, 01:12 PM
weldtoride weldtoride is offline
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Inspiring, thanks for sharing.
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Old 09-17-2020, 02:34 PM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Fires vary quite a bit in temperature, duration, and what subsequently falls upon the "target."
I've turned down a number of "burn jobs" because the perceived value of the remnants was simply not enough to warrant reconstruction efforts ... 550 spyder, Dual Ghia, Packard twin six ....
Jim Hery pulled off a heroic save with his Rolls ... long months of serious details for stellar results!
But that fire was not nearly as hot as the Santa Rosa Tubbs fire was, when it went through one home and shop, leaving aluminum wheels as puddles and a complete Tesla gone - 2200F disappears aluminum sheet, extrusions and batteries.

When steel is left to cool slowly in the ash it will soften - this includes machine parts, castings, plate and sheet. Fire scale / carbon will be an issue, as Jim describes in his professional recovery processes.

I would think over any proposed burn recovery process carefully, insuring that the procedures and equipment on hand were at least close to being sufficient, before taking on a "burn job."
"Burial jobs" (whether by cost or difficulty) are not uncommon in the auto restoration world, here in the Lower 48.

The 7 P's apply : Proper Prior Planning Prevents Pretty Poor Product


Other than that, have at it.

P1040971 Tubbs 10_17 c.jpg
steel Air Motor remnants, 2200F Tubbs Fire, Oct. 2017, Santa Rosa, Calif.
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Last edited by crystallographic; 09-17-2020 at 02:37 PM.
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