Can’t find old mudguards? So you want to widen what you have.

Thanks to Rick Field for this Article.

Stewart Smith shows Rick how it's done using an English Wheel.

Well all you need is an English wheel! Now that’s easy to say in just words, but what about the fact you haven’t got one? Today there is many on the market for sale in various shapes and sizes with a selection of wheels to go.

Now if you find you don’t have the room in your garage, then check out some options for mounting them on top of your bench. This alone will save you room and they are usually cheaper items. Suppose your bench is no option even the space for a floor mounted unit  makes for a tight squeeze.

Well there’s two more options you can channel your thought’s too. The first is to join up with a car club and get yourself known within the members, easy to do at each meeting and quite often you can put your thoughts across within there newsletters for any help.

Clubs can have a designated meeting point usually once a month and this can take place at a local member’s garage or workshop. These workshops can at times have these heavy pieces of machinery so it’s all in a matter of just ask the right question.

The second option is to join a local Technical school which may have night classes for panel beating. These will generally have all these types of machines and with a annual fee per term or year, it makes great sense to become enrolled and learn the skills from teachers. To have your self a coach is always a great way to start any project.

Within this article I will share the following photos of the widening of 1935 Ford rear guard’s using an English wheel. At first Stewart Smith the panel beater did the first guard, showing Rick the skills to perform this at home. Now it looks easy and it is once you have honed the initial skills on some practice panels first.

Wide rubber usually means wide guards.

Now these are the second set of wheels and tyres Rick has purchased for his 1935 Ford Tudor. Not happy with the first, on to ebay they went. Now with his new wheels above, he needed to perform improvements from the so called previous builder. I’m sure you will see why.

Yes that’s metal tubing used to strengthen the joins.

Replacing previous repairs that are just not to Ricks standards.

So out with the old:

Out with the old

And in with the new:

From flat stock, its hard to do this with out an English wheel.

By using an English wheel you can achieve results with a curve as above.

10 inch rubber will fit nicely under those guards.

As I have mentioned in previous articles, it’s all about the look:

Tack welds help make it easy.

Now you will have to widen the running boards to match, but remember its all in the look.

Nice welds make it easier to file finish.

Nice welds performed by Rick are done with the use of a Tig welder and experience I might add. These don’t throw out as much heat into the panels which in turn gives you an easier panel to complete.

No expensive tools here.

At first its easier to start the forming of tight curves with the aid of a domed mallet and a log of wood, generally cut to waist height to save the old back.  All you need is to create a concave affect in the top of the log as you can see here and start creating the curve.

Watch those thumbs!

Final shaping can be completed with the English wheel.

All that’s left is some final treatment with the hammer and dolly and final welding.

It started out as a sheet of flat metal.

Now take a look at a stock standard guard just to compare the difference with the wider look.

You can clearly see the difference.

With the use of an English wheel you can form the crease down the middle to achieve the crisp look.

Nice crease down the middle too.

Its hard to fault workmanship like this, with the amount of curves in these fat fendered rods it makes it easier with the use of an English wheel. As in a previous article I show you how it can be done by using the sections from donor guards but it all comes down to how many dollars you can afford to spend on your hot rod.

Metal finishing might take time though it sure leaves a great job.

All this fine work is the results performed by Rick Field. With plenty of practice he has now proven your can be perfect.

Beautiful workmanship in metal

Now for all those that think Rick is a metal craftsman from way back, you had better think again. This is Ricks very first Hot Rod , a 1935 Ford Tudor which he bought as an uncompleted project. A perfectionist he is and I have to admit after witnessing some of the repairs performed by the previous owner , I can understand why he gave up his time to learn and perform this fantastic metal work. It looked good from an untrained eye, but once you get them home and have a proper inspection, you can only hope you have not got your self a can of worms. The workmanship Rick has performed has all been done in his home garage, bar the stint with the use of the English wheel. So you can see the results you can achieve by learning a few skills with the guidense from a coach.

Now you don’t have to go out and spend all those big bucks on an English wheel either. This next photo will show you what friends are for. Ricks friend and buddy hot rodder made this English wheel for him. Why not he thought he was making one for himself , so why not make two. All they purchased was the hardened wheels to suit. All in the fun of this hobby we call Hot rodding.

Great job for made at home.

Your in Hot rodding:

Dave Ailey.

P.S…. Now sit back and check the operations in using an English wheel. Oh remember to count your thumbs before you start  your own project too. In case you would like to know : The English wheel was first used to make armour back in the days when the only thumpin you could here was from the horses hooves during a battle.

Ready to start your Hot Rods body work?

Hot rodding with patch panels. "Easy"

Well within this chapter we are going to be discussing steel bodies, and with steel usually there is the rust that tags along somewhere in the corners, lower sections and double panels.

So how can we fix this? There is two ways to which repairs are carried out. The right and wrong way. Let’s start with the wrong way and what I mean by that is a cheap and a quick fix, which usually means with bog or Bondo. Now these products are excellent when used in the correct manor and that is with a maximum depth of ¼ inch or 6mm. Notice I said maximum, now when used properly as a skim over a repair it can outlast the actual paint itself.

Now don’t be fooled, many a body shop will trowel the bog in give it a sand and apply the primer all before you have had a chance to witness the actual process of the work being done. And you think you have got a great job, I mean it looks good.

Here’s a quick story from my panel shop days:

I recommended the panel shop I was working at to a friend thinking I would do his repairs. But to our surprise we had a new employee start that week. Well he was given the task of repairing my friend’s car, and this was his project for a street machine. By the end of the first day the car was panel repaired, bondo applied, sanded and primed all ready for top coat. I could not believe it and informed my friend not to allow them to apply the top colours yet. To the boss it was quick bucks, to my friend it looked good and after all he was paying the money.

Six months later he understood what I was trying to explain to him, but it was all too late. Sand scratch swelling is what appeared, and that is like applying your top coat over a sanded repair with 36 grit paper only. Think of it as running barbed wire down the side of your car. Get my point. And yes he was disheartened by it all and sold the car, at a loss I might add.

The right way:

Sometimes we have to make our own patch panels

That is to remove the rusted area’s and replace with steel patch panels. These can be made from donor car panels or sheets of mild steel which you can purchase from any steel suppliers. With most car panels on hot rods they are curved so I like to find doors or a donor car where you can cut the patch panel you need from various areas.

Sections from donor cars work well

Now as with most hot rods they have decorative panel lines in them, something we call swage lines. These can be trying and tedious to replicate, but there is a way and that’s with reproduced patch panels from companies like EMS Automotives and Chevs of the Forty’s.

The finished cowl patch panel

These offer a great solution to a huge problem for many a rodder or restorer who is taking on the challenge of doing the repairs themselves at home. They offer many sections for most models even floor pans are available.

To have your hot rod or custom car repaired or built from a reputable repair shop they will at most times have all the tools to create those repair panels themselves. Though at an hourly rate with the cost of labour the reproduced panels still come out a great solution.

Are patch panels an exact match?

That’s a good questions, now due to the various body styles the factory’s produced they did make swage lines etc different shapes and sizes. Lets look at a 1936 Ford for example with the replacement lower ¼ panel sections you can buy this in a replacement that will suit these models though they come as longer sections for the 5 window coupes so you will need to trim these down to suit the 3 window coupes and the Tudors.

Repair panels do make it easy.

Not hard work I know, but as you can see in the photo above from an original piece on the left to the new panel on the right you can see the original has a curve where the new is straight right where the swage line is. Also the swage line is produced slightly wider which suits the exact match for the 3 window coupes but has to be narrowed for the tudor.

With all that said they don’t always make them exact. Well you still have to be happy for the fact that these are available to us, even if we have to do a little tweeking to suit.

Yours in Rodding

Dave Ailey

This video will show the fitting of panels on a Mustang: