What gauge steel on frame rail and body panels?

[toddscharger]

Could someone who knows for sure, tell me:

What gauge sheet metal are the body panels are made out of?

AND...

What gauge sheet metal are the frame rails are made out of?

This pertains to a 70 Charger.

Also, would a Good lincoln or Miller 115 volt MIG welder be strong enough for the rear frame rail welds (complete rail swap outs with original MOPAR rails)?
...or should I get a 220 volt unit?
Thanks,
Todd

[AutoRust]

Frame rails thickness varies, but in general it is in the 14-16 gauge

Body panels also vary, but are in the 16-19 gauge range.


A 115 Miller or Lincoln  should be able to handle the basic welding, if you need to run long, extended beads, the duty cycle on the smaller machines wont do it

[flyinlow]

Just repaired inner rockers,(the heavier inner steel , not sure what it is called)  used 14 ga. welded with 135amp lincoln. welder worked fine. My 3rd gen body panels measured 19 ga.

[Mike DC]

           
 
I'd get the bigger welder whether you need it for this job or not.  I've had a 120 and later bought a 220 myself. 


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As for the factory panels it can be hard to tell.  The steel sheets started out at one thickness, and then they got stamped into molds that distorted the thickness in places.  And I think it was really more than just the two sizes we like to assume (one size for floors & body panels & the other size for loadbearing subframe parts).  I think there were multiple different thicknesses on various nooks & crannies of those unibodies. 


Essentially the body panels are around 17-20 guage, about 0.35-0.50 thousandths.  (More commonly on the thicker end of that range.)  They might measure out thinner on a finished stamped part in places, but I think these kinds of sizes are what were originally fed into the sheetmetal molds.

The subframe rails are more like 14-11 guage.  I can't remember the thousandths range of that one.  I think somebody from Auto Rust Technicians might have told me the subframe rails were stamped from 13-guage once, but don't take my word on that as gospel without checking it.