Expert: John Scharnhorst - 5/4/2007

Question
I'm getting ready to begin some body work on a 92 Toyota Pickup, to include shaving door handles, tailights, antenna, etc.  My question is what gauge sheet metal should be used for the filler plates and would a flux core mig welder suffice?  Thanks

Answer
David, I couldn't tell you off the top of my head what gauge metal to use for your project. You should use sheet metal as similar as possible to what you're working on. If you haven't bought the metal yet, the best thing I could recommend would be to call a few salvage yards and ask if they have any banged up hoods, or trunk lids that they'll sell you. Nice hoods and other body parts can be horribly expensive (often times as much as new), but parts with damage, even minor damage are almost worthless to salvage yards and will only be sold as scrap metal. If you priced out a nice hood off of a Toyota pickup you could be looking at $200 or more, but if that same hood has a crease down the middle or the corner is wadded up from a fender bender, they'd be more than happy to get $10 out of it. You're just going to cut it up into little pieces so what do you care if it's got a corner dented. I wouldn't recommend I flux core wire welder to anyone, but if it makes the difference of whether you complete your project or not, go ahead and use it. Flux core welders do not make very clean welds and leave a lot of spatter everywhere. Make sure you have a grinder or can borrow one if you're gong to go that route. I hope this helps. If not, let me know and I'll be more than happy to help you as much as I can. Thanks