Guage of body sheet metal

[AirborneSilva]

What guage is the sheet metal on the chargers body?  I would like to get me some sheet metal and start practicing my welds but want to get correct guage.

Thanks,
Tony

[4402tuff4u]

I think it's 11 gauge. I did'nt buy sheet metal, forget that, what I did to practice was, I took a ride behind my local mall and found steel shelves that the department store was throwing away and took them to practice. Even some of the cowling in some appliances or file cabinets are of the same gauge. It worked for me! 

[Blown70]

I think it's 11 gauge. I did'nt buy sheet metal, forget that, what I did to practice was, I took a ride behind my local mall and found steel shelves that the department store was throwing away and took them to practice. Even some of the cowling in some appliances or file cabinets are of the same gauge. It worked for me! 

HAVE YOU SEEN 11.  Try 18 to 20 I would be more prone to think.  11 is a bout 1/8" thick....

Tom

[4402tuff4u]

I think it's 11 gauge. I did'nt buy sheet metal, forget that, what I did to practice was, I took a ride behind my local mall and found steel shelves that the department store was throwing away and took them to practice. Even some of the cowling in some appliances or file cabinets are of the same gauge. It worked for me! 

HAVE YOU SEEN 11.  Try 18 to 20 I would be more prone to think.  11 is a bout 1/8" thick....

Tom

Tom, you are right, I meant 21 gauge (.0344") typo error. Thanks for the check.

[AirborneSilva]

Thanks to both of you for your replies and yeah I thought that 11 was a bit thick too  but can understand cause I make typos, and or have brain farts, all the time 

[Blown70]

Thanks to both of you for your replies and yeah I thought that 11 was a bit thick too  but can understand cause I make typos, and or have brain farts, all the time 

Well You may have been making a TANK.... m1 A1 abram? LOL

Its ok, I have screwed up myself.  I just was taken back a bit.


Tom

[AirborneSilva]

Thanks to both of you for your replies and yeah I thought that 11 was a bit thick too  but can understand cause I make typos, and or have brain farts, all the time 

Well You may have been making a TANK.... m1 A1 abram? LOL


Tom

I could always use that to roll over those cheby's and ferds 

[694spdRT]

The good thing about 11 gauge is you don't need to prime or paint it as it might take 50 years to rust through. 

A guy I know used some 16 guage and it was not very easy to work with either.

[hotrod98]

Chevy and GMC tailgates are very close to the correct thickness. Sometimes body shops have a few lying around in the scrap pile. With the price of steel, it would be a lot cheaper to cut up one of those damaged tailgates for practice. We keep a few around to make patch panels for these old cars. They already have a slight radius which helps sometimes.  Our scrap guy knows to leave them alone. 

[AirborneSilva]

Thanks, I think I know a guy who works in a body shop so I'll see if there is any scrap he can give me to practice on.

[Mike DC]

I think technically it's 18-guage steel that they started with (about .048" or so), although the panel stamping process often leaves the panels feeling thinner when a hunk of scrap Mopar metal is actually in your hands.  (Stamping panels is mainly an act of stretching the steel.)

18 or 20 guage is fine acceptable patchwork. 

I've gone as thin as 22 guage occasionally on small patches of just a few inches.  My feeling is that it's better to sacrifice the thickness occasionally but have it perfectly fitted & welded in, rather than end up with pieces that don't fit right in the tight places because you're trying to shape a hunk of metal you can't form very well.  (The Charger's rear window areas are a perfect example of this.)

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Once you start really paying attention to this stuff, you'll be scratching you head trying to figure out what's different with the various repro panels.  They feel somehow weaker, and yet when you lay the edge of a repro panel next to the old one, it doesn't really look all that different.

It's the alloy content of the metal that's missing on the repros.  Some of the Goodmark stuff is actually pretty thick, but the main difference is the grade of the steel sheets they're using.

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[hemihead]

HSLA (High Strength Low Alloy) Steel is what they use now in cars.It sux.It likes to crack with heat.I think it is because of a lot of carbon in it.
Probably a high percentage of recycled material.

[Nacho-RT74]

14-16 is original sheet metal...

16-18 for patches.

I think replacement aftermarket patches are 18.