#1
|
|||
|
|||
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
__________________
Dave Last edited by abarthdave; 09-16-2020 at 10:03 AM. |
#2
|
||||
|
||||
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.
__________________
Jim Stabe MGB roadster widened 11.5", Corvette C-4 suspension, 535 hp supercharged LT1 V8, T-56 6 speed. Pictures here: It goes to Part 6 now Part 1 http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?13,7581 Part 2 http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?13,22422 |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
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.
__________________
Mark from Illinois Last edited by weldtoride; 09-16-2020 at 04:58 PM. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Repairing fire damage
Picture 3658 Standard e-mail view.jpg
Picture 3659 Standard e-mail view.jpg Picture 3672 Standard e-mail view.jpg Picture 3673 Standard e-mail view.jpg Picture 3675 Standard e-mail view.jpg Picture 3674 Standard e-mail view.jpg Picture 3677 Standard e-mail view.jpg Picture 3676 Standard e-mail view.jpg Picture 3662 Standard e-mail view.jpg Picture 3678 Standard e-mail view.jpg Picture 3663 Standard e-mail view.jpg Picture 3664 Standard e-mail view.jpg Picture 3665 Standard e-mail view.jpg Picture 3666 Standard e-mail view.jpg Picture 3668 Standard e-mail view.jpg Picture 3660.jpg 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.
__________________
James Hery Last edited by jhery; 09-16-2020 at 05:09 PM. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
__________________
James Hery |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Very impressive James. Beautiful work. Thanks for posting.
__________________
Phil |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Wow. Amazing
__________________
- Tom D |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Inspiring, thanks for sharing.
__________________
Mark from Illinois |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
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.
__________________
Kent http://www.tinmantech.com "All it takes is a little practical experience to blow the he!! out of a perfectly good theory." --- Lloyd Rosenquist, charter member AWS, 1919. Last edited by crystallographic; 09-17-2020 at 02:37 PM. |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|