finish edge on hole through quarter panel?

[suburban]

im asking for ways to make a nice edge or roll of some kind or something on the edge of the hole cut in the lower quarter panel of a car for exhaust exit. i was thinking maybe theres a tool that could roll the edge inward or maybe create a bead or something, instead of just filing the edge.this is on a 1955 car quarter panel cant be removed. this hole will be tear drop shaped.thanks for any thoughts.

[jlrussell4]

can you get to the backside of the panel?

[Peter Miles]

I'm sure that you will get a number of good suggestions on this.

For what is probably not a good suggestion, if you want to do something complex as opposed to simple, you could always cut out a slightly larger portion of the panel, do whatever you want with access to both sides, and then weld it back in place.

This seems like a lot of probably unneeded work and introduces a lot of metal finishing to get the panel back in an invisible fashion but it would provide more options.

[60 convert]

what car and how much of an arch is in the panel?
I would try it on a piece of scrap first.
I would try making a wooden male and female die set out of wood, I would back it up with some steel plate . once you have the male and female pieces and the 2 plates then assembel them all together and drill them as an assembly for at least 4 bolts as close to the edge as you can get.
Clear as mud?
Jesse

[Ron Naida]

http://metalmeet.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=288&pictureid=3331

[suburban]

theres a slight arch to this panel area. i have a three inch space between the outer quarter and inner rocker. i could cut the section out and fab it on the work bench,but these are new quarters so,i would prefer not. i like the looks of that tool i see posted pictures of,thats on line with what i was hoping for some kind of hand tools that can roll or shape edges. this is original heavy gauge sheet steel. i cant remember right now the exact gauge. thanks everyone you offered me good thoughts to get my frozen brain cells started.

[anders nørgaard]

sub,

I've thought a little about it today. I think I would use a router to make the contour in a piece of MDF. Grind the face of the MDF to fit the inside face of the quarter. Make a male part. Clamp the two of them together, between some 1/2" flat stock. Drill the lot of it and thread the inner of the flat stock. Bolt the quarter in the form and "wrench" the shape into it.
... don't know if it'll work, but you never know until you tryed :cool: :D ;)

[MP&C]

The quarter and rocker on that should be 19 ga. Here's a local Pro Street build that did a similar on the rear portion of the quarter......


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/Misc/Mvc-011s.jpg


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/Misc/Mvc-012s.jpg


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/Misc/MVC-014S.jpg


The detail doesn't show very well, but if I remember correctly, it was just a clearance hole, no flange of any sort. I believe the rocker to quarter area in front of the wheel is open to the inside behind the B pillar of the car, so you may have a secondary effect of increasing interior noise..

[suburban]

thanks for the help. im back working on the aluminum fuel tank build,i cut my .125 aluminum with a sears twin cutter. it cuts fast and easy but it needs a fence guide built for it.its basically like a 6.5" hand grinder with carbide blades spinning opposte so precise cuts are difficult as is. i will try to get results on here when i do the quarter panel work. thanks