Bodywork Tools suggestion

WOW!!!!! I stay off the PC for a few hours and the thread catches fire....

Thanks for all that, I'm printing this out to keep. Plenty of very good suggestions.
Talking bout safety, I was thinking about investing in one of those face masks when grinding/cutting as they look like they offer way more protection.
Like this:


What do you mean aviation snips? RHD, LHD? I got some generic tin snips and they were useless, spent most of the time bending the metal rather than cutting. Used the grinder instead.

Defo gonna invest in a self darkening mask, seems much safer for the eyes and means I only need 2 hands, not 3.

The 4 grinder idea is great too, really makes sense.

What is a Joddler? End clamps? (clamps the ends at the right distance to be able to butt weld?)

Need to invest in a load of clamps then. Just ordered a hammer and dolly set from ebay (not sure about quality but we'll see)

Thanks again

Those full face masks are ok if your standing at the bench doing something, but can be a bit cumbersome when grovelling around under a car and sparks have a tendency to bounce off things and come in from the sides and the top - they also mist up in cold weather, which is a real pain. A good fitting pair a safety specs is usually a better bet. Also, specs are easier to put down when you take them off - sounds daft, but if your swapping between them and a welding mask you tend to just put them on the floor and those full face ones get scratched up right in your sight line.

Snips-wise, I've always used straight cut ones - it really seams to be a personal preference thing and is very subjective. Just don't buy cheap ones, they're useless and frustrating and just chew rather than cut. All my snips are older than me (33) - shiny isn't always best!

You don't have to blow money on an automatic welding mask to begin with - they are great, but a pricey for a good one. Just get a head mounted one - it only takes a nod of the head to flip it down when your lined up and ready to weld.

A joddler is a crimping tool which folds the end of the metal, allowing you to overlap two pieces and get a flush surface. The one pictured has a built in hole punch, which allows you to punch out one side of the joint and plug weld it to the joddled edge of the other. The clamps you mention are sold by Frost and allow you to clamp sheet metal in a but joint (end-to-end) for welding.

I would also say for things like clamps, hammers and dollies that its worth looking at second hand stuff. If you're not looking to spend too much cash you will get some better quality stuff that way. You have to watch the cheaper hammer and dolly sets, as they tend to be a bit brittle and don't have the weight of good ones - a good substitute is offcuts of various different shapes of heavy steel - round, flat, square, etc. Small steel stockists usually have offcuts and scrap bins you can plunder for beer tokens.

Hope this helps clarify a few of your ideas!

Joe

Waveman - that looks like it might need a bit of portapower assistance to get that side back in line before you start dollying it straight. There's not much gentle about slide hammer work either - they're handy for pulling out areas that are awkward to get inside of, but they leave you with a fair bit of tidying up to do afterwards, especially if you attatch it through the panel (lots of little holes).

Joe

Thanks Joe. When I said 'gentle', I just meant that I was hoping not to have too many huge toolmarks to straighten out. My only real goal at the end of the day is to be able to bolt a fender to it and have the bonnet line up to within about a centimetre. It's going to be primarily a club motorsport car, so looks are not the number one priority. I could fairly easily get another side panel cut off of a car which I saw today in a local wreckers, but given that I don't have a welder and can't weld, I thought that bashing it back out would be the easier option. There are some rips in the panel which will have to be welded anyway. I thought that a slide hammer would be a more DIY-friendly and cheaper alternative to the portapower, and in any case it's not really that bad. I don't want to hijack the thread, but I'll put up some better photos of the damage with the panels off so you can see it, and add them to the car's thread as well.







Looks doable with hand tools I reckon! The floorpan is straight, so there's no need to go breaking out the portapower just yet!

Edit: Oh, and of course I'm putting a new front beam on it as well, I was just talking purely about the panelwork.