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Old 08-14-2020, 07:58 AM   #220 (permalink)
aardvarcus
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My first attempt at belly panning a car many years ago was with 0.060 aluminum from a racecar friend's contact. Long story short I had few tools to work with the material and ended up dissatisfied.

It worked ok to cover short areas that were well supported, but large panels would vibrate and required bracing. Probably about the same effort to form as steel, except it is much cheaper to get into steel welding.

My 1/4 (which are recycled pieces) is thick enough to self span between supports, but requires serious tools to manipulate. And relatively heavy (but I need the strength).

Whatever material you choose, you will probably need a way to accurately cut it, bend it, and attach it together. Cardboard templates can be your best friends on a project like this, and with an angle guage you could theoretically make your piece from cardboard, trace it on metal, mark the bends with angle measurements, and take it somewhere to be bent or welded if you lack those capabilities. Rivets work with thiner metals.

Julian has some nice photos in his book where he first built frames for the pieces, and then skinned the frames. Which isn't a bad option either.
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