Swage lines in Alloy sheet.

[Gizmo.Y]

So i dropped my angle grinder accidentally in the boot of my car the other day and ended up with this huge hole...aha!

Anyone local-ish to the PE25 area be able to put some swage lines into a sheet of 1mm alloy to strengthen it up? as i don't really want the sound of Rolf Harris in the rear of my car during track days...

 

[mike 109444]

Come on that man... See 2nd page about half way down. http://web.archive.org/web/20090728...&start=0&sid=e94e541b5e4271eafded97960c1e8211
Dull chisel and a length of wood
And if you get time read the whole post well worth the time

 

[Gizmo.Y]

My skills are not that great! aha

 

[octo0072000]

track day car only is it ? cause it won't pass a mot with alloy plate in there too near the shock towers

 

[brightspark]

why did u cut it out in the 1st place ??

 

[Gizmo.Y]

Room for Diffuser. Being an "Estate", it had a full size spare wheel well with room for all the bells and whistles. But i also needed room for the exhaust and aux diff cooler.

 

[MattF]

My skills are not that great! aha

Time to learn? If it's a task you need doing once, it's likely something you'll need to do again, at some point.

 

[barracuda816]

Is it worth doing it in ally? I would be looking at doing it in steel, imho its easier. Also im guessing there will be a strut brace being put in so i would be tempted to keep it removable if its a track car to assist in maint/ repair of the diff and such.

 

[colnerov]

Hi, My vote would be steel as well, the weight difference on that would small. Plus you've opened that crossmember up that needs closing again because instead of a box you now have a channel which is weaker.

Colin

 

[barracuda816]

Good spot, i didnt notice that cross member.

 

[Gizmo.Y]

The Cross member will be boxed back in with steel. Due to a mis-calculation by myself I cut off a bit more than I should of. But a blessing in disguise really as it it uncovered a small issue that needed fixing - The captive nut for one of the Diff mounts had a small hairline crack. So that area will now be spot welded and re-enforced. before being fully enclosed in steel.

I would ideally like the floor to be removable, The rear Diff's are know to be quite Weak on these, so I'm expecting to change a few. Also planning to mount an Oil cooler for the rear diff to try and pro-long its live span. So ideally. I want this panel removable.

But also in a bit to keep weight down (As its quite a heavy car, coming out at just shy of 1100kg from the factory) I just thought Aluminium would be the best route.

There will also be strut brace put in after the sheet metal work has been completed.

 

[barracuda816]

The weight saving of a smallish section of sheet ally vs steel will be minuscule. Less than a good slash before a race.

 

[Gizmo.Y]

Spoke to several testers today, They said with the Box ive cut out, will be a failure. But if its boxed back in with steel and the rest sheeted with alloy - will be fine.

 

[Gizmo.Y]

Found a local-ish guy who will make me the panel i need from sheet steel for £45. Happy with that.