Technical Would this be a good way to learn metalworking skills?

Oops, it's a coupe.

 

Protective eye-wear like @chopolds suggested earlier is a great idea. Also if you're using
air tools, hammers, big drills, chisels, reciprocating saws, etc., then hearing protection would be on my list of "must haves"

 

I missed out on this one. I have no idea what brand nor how useful it is. But it's cheap, I'm pretty sure I could easily move that by myself, and it has a small footprint.

 

Yep....."It's just ARN..."
6sally6

 

I don’t believe that starting with a huge project is the way to start but the way to teach yourself how to do it wrong. I’ve hired several self taught bodymen before and the guys who learned how to paint cars, repair minor rust change fenders and quarters etc correctly and learned the difference between quality and quan***y would make a better metal man. A guy that had help or worked with someone else that had years of experience would have much better understanding of Techniques needed. I’d say start small and learn work your way up.

 

Most of the guys that teach the "proper techniques" learned how to do it by hitting things with hammers. The "proper techniques" they teach are simply the processes they learned from their own trial and error experiences, then they tell you how to avoid the errors.

Some people learn better by watching others and learn from their mistakes, but others learn from first hand experience and learn better by making their own errors, and then figure out how to correct the errors. I believe the people that learn from their own errors are better equipped to handle things when they don't go according to a plan. They also tend to be better teachers, but the trial and error method tends to take longer to learn the same skills as the learn the "proper techniques" process takes, for some people.

Learning how to protect your body when you do metal work are skills that are much better learned from the errors of others that have gone before you. The earlier you learn those safety rules that protect your body, the better off you will be in the long run.

My son is a better welder then I am, and he is better at body work then I am. He has an office job, but he helps his neighbor with his dirt track car, he does the welding and body work for them (I taught him good ). When ever he get in over his head concerning metal work, he comes to me for advice. He learned the proper technique, I learned by hands on experience.

I came from a household where dad didn't do much of his own automotive work, but his friend did it. I had the chance to learn from dad's friend. His teaching plan was "Get out there and mess it up. When you get stumped, come and get me. Then he would offer a few suggestions and send me back at it."

 

Most of what I need to know I learned in kindergarten:

1. ON Dolly
2. OFF Dolly
3. Be nice to people.

 

""Most of the guys that teach the "proper techniques" learned how to do it by hitting things with hammers.""

I disagree. here's a shining example. guy I knew with a Hot Rod shop had a 52 Chevy truck fender with a big dent. he was looking for a new one, told him I'll come back with a hammer and dolly and fix it. came back the next day and he "helped" me get started by beating the fender with a ball peen hammer, putting 15 - 20 new dents where all I needed to do was flatten the stretched part that he did not touch. I think this is typical of people who have never done any research.. you see it all the time on cars in progress.
no thought about what was actually bent or even knowledge that the metal was stretched, and there was no damage where he hit it. you need that basic knowledge as to what is going on and how the damage was formed or you just need more mud.
there was a few more ****py bodywork jobs he did. guess he figured since he had all the tattoos and I had none i didn't know what I was doing. he also used spray foam and bondo to do rust repair. people paid him to do this

 

I have found that rust mitigation has become very expensive no matter what method is
preferred. Media blasting, chemical dipping or like myself mostly wire wheeling gets
costly in a hurry. I realize you are referring to the metal work aspects of said vehicle.
The only thing in that pic worth touching are the chimney bricks.

 

The “new” technology is using linier pressure to repair dents. Gluing attachments on each end and applying pressure. The gluing attachments is new. The linier pressure has been around since people started fixing dents.
A great source is old body repair manuals. How to use Porta-powers, friction jacks…… any way to apply pressure to straighten old bodies.
I’ve used plumb bobs to align roof centers with floor centers using porta-powers.
There’s a new style floor puller that will suction to a concrete floor. Has a small adjustable winch to apply pressure. Heat guns used to warm metal to help repair damage. All using glue tabs in the same manner we would weld tabs to bodies.
Straightening bodies is very similar to fabricating parts. The metal will tell you what to do.

 

i always thought 'leaf' meant it was a finger brake-learned something new!

 

There’s better breaks out there.
I’d probably make a homemade one from angle before buying that one
Got this US made finger break for $200. Decent for 20 gauge or less. Ok on 18


This was 900. great tool
This shear was less than $200
Search around on marketplace
**** pops up regularly

 

I started at about 14 on my first car with just a few hammers and dollies my dad bought me. Back then, I had no instruction, books or video; so it was just trial and error. I learned a bit; but stretched the sheet metal in places and didn’t know how to shrink it. I had a small Victor oxy-acetylene setup, and read a bit; but did not master the technique. About sixty years later I still had the car and saw my old ‘trouble’ spots on the quarter panel as I was redoing every thing and getting it back on the road. This time I took the time I needed and learned shrinking. Now bodywork became much more fun.

Looking at the OP’s old car, I think it would be great to learn on. Get some basic tools, take the dents down to bare metal, watch some videos, and get started on a lifetime of learning.

 

Most big metal working tools have nuances that aren't easy to spot starting out. If something pops up, ask here. One simple rule though is if you can move it by yourself into the bed of a truck, it's not strong enough. Compare the one you posted to the others. Even the Eastwood benchtop model is big thick castings, not tube legs.

 

Watch 'Jap Hands' video's quite a talented individual & makes tools of the trade in kit form as well.

 

I might suggest both 'Jap Hands' & 'Bennet Customs' both of these guys are good beyond their years !

 

Watching these guys use the most basic of tools should give all of us wannabe metal shapers hope. lol!

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1AmV2jGjoU/?mibextid=wwXIfr

 

Jap Hands actually goes by Make It Kustom on YouTube. You are correct. These guys do excellent instructional videos for metalworking as it pertains to old cars.

 

Personally, I would want to start with something not quite that bad and that I was interested in. I have had the thought of practicing on junk stuff before and never messed with it because there was no real motivation to turn it into something I wanted. Now, similarly, I have considered pushing the top out on this even though I only bought it as a parts car.

 

As bad as that car looks, it's only going to get worse when you begin to try and move it! Lots of work there, but with so much missing there's going to be a ton of work tying to align and square up the car before you can begin much metal work.
I'm sure you can learn by attempting to get it back in shape, but just how much are you willing to spend on materials just to see if you can get this looking decent? I never consider time as I'm rarely building to sell. But I do consider cash output on any project I'm considering.

 

I'm a hands on guy, most of the old body guys I know learned "hands on" and some of them are excellent metal men.

I've worked with both, self taught and school trained, the self taught were easier to change their way of doing things, the school taught guys were harder to change.

The school taught guys always used this same line "well that's how they taught us in school" I can't say how many times I've heard that line.

I would hire either type if they did good work but I always preferred the self taught guys...

...

 

Hell yeah! That’s a cherry project where I am from

 

Just remember that perfect is the enemy of good, so while you should listen to experts on the subject and get as much information as you can, I say ignore the advice that boils down to “don’t do it because you won’t do it right”. Figure out what you want to do and go for it. If you want to have a perfect show car, that’s usually where the meticulous bodywork goes in and the experts are worth their weight in gold. However, if your goal is to just have fun or drive something different (like myself. I unapologeticly run a hazard fright welder for my stuff), then anything goes.

Something else to consider is that the only people that are going to give you grief on how the bodywork is done is auto body guys. The general public doesn’t care one bit. They either see “cool old car” or nothing at all. Case in point, I brought my Model T to a show to be funny. Worst car in the show but won best early truck because the people attending thought it was cool.

 

Other good points made here about not letting perfect get in the way of having something cool especially when watching some of the amazing metal working guys on youtube, etc. When I first started bodywork years ago, I pretty much ****ed at it. However, I still own one of the cars I built almost 35 years ago with some of that bodywork, and most people don't notice the issues like I do. It is still a cool car and a blast to drive. It was even in Hot Rod with the ****py bodywork...lol This hobby is supposed to be about having fun and learning stuff (at least in my mind), not perfection which isn't really achievable anyway.