New guy from Chicago suburbs

[MattBo]

Hey all-

My name is Matt, I'm from what used to be a little farm town about an hour south of Chicago, Il. Like what has happened many places over the past couple decades, the corn and wheat has been slowly replaced with houses and asphalt.

I'm a mechanic by trade, specializing in late model small ford trucks and diesel power.

I'm a child of the 90's, and I'm sure you'll be able to tell from the list of projects I've had! I wish I was around for the muscle cars and rock and roll from the 70's, but since my feet are firmly planted in reality there's not much I can do about that one.

My hobbies include pretty much anything with at least two wheels, and making these things work better or faster. My current toys are an 88 mustang LX and a 91 mustang GT. The 88 will eventually be sacrificed to make the 91 whole.

Previous projects worth noting are a 81 Camaro berlinetta, 85 Z28, 87 IROC, 92 Camaro RS, 2001 Pontiac TA, 06 kawi Z1000, 79 Suzuki GS750e, and an 84 kawi GPZ. All have been loved and then moved on to the next project, or sold to make way for new responsibilities in life (wife, family, house, etc...) as I'm sure the majority of those reading this can relate to.

I'm here to learn more about the art of metal forming. My cars need various parts and pieces, and the aftermarket for many pieces is either non existent or quality is severely lacking. Being that I'm dead in the middle of the rust belt, many salvage parts have to be shipped in from out of the area.

My skills in this area are currently rudimentary at best. I see videos on youtube of guys that can take a flat piece of sheet and form it into a beautiful panel that doesn't require any filler, and not only can you not tell that it's a non oem piece, once its welded in you cant tell where stock ends and the new piece begins. One day I would like to approach this level of quality with my own work.

Anyways, hope I didn't bore anyone too much with all this. I'll be around here much more than you know, lurking and learning. I will chip in where I feel I can be an asset.

[HEATNBEAT]

Hi Matt and welcome!

[Peter Tommasini]

Hi Matt welcome to the forum
With a bit of patience and lot's of practice you will get there, and if you not sure just ask some one will help
Peter

[David Gardiner]

Hi Matt, it takes practice as Peter says but you also need to know some techniques to practice.

David

[tdoty]

Welcome aboard Matt! Good to see someone else from "the old neighborhood" showing up. I spent 30 some years in central Illinois (Leroy, Paxton, Rantoul, Champaign-Urbana) before moving to Alabama a little over a year ago.

Practice, studying and perseverance are everything with this hobby! There are a lot of ways to get the results you want, but practicing something that doesn't work makes you feel like you're chasing your tail! While there are plenty of right ways to shape metal, not all of these ways "click" in everyone's head and you might find one method works better for you than others. A couple of the guys with plenty of information to share have already chimed in here - Peter and David are professional, world-class metalshapers. That being said, there are a LOT of folks here with some excellent information and ideas.

Read up, join in the discussion, ask some questions - we're a friendly bunch.

[Bob Foster]

Welcome Matt, you'll be amazed at what you find here!

[MattBo]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!