Porsche Body Repair, What Type of Steel?

[N882928]

Hello,

I need to make a sheet metal repair to a 1970 911 body. Can anyone tell me what type of sheet metal to use? Not as far as thickness but actual type of steel. Did Porsche use some alloy that I need to try to match? if so, where is a good source to buy from? Or can I just use any cold rolled carbon steel? Is one grade better than another for this application? The repair area is a small hole in the firewall. Not bad enough to require a new panel. I'm new to welding but this will be a MIG w/gas repair.

Thanks,

Nate

[ppetion]

I am doing the same , I tried using 16 G steel from Home Depot and it ws a waste , didn't feel the same . , in my case I had a parts car , I use steel from the good organs of the parts car .

If your area is not too big , I may be able to send you a small organ . Send me the dimensions .

[N882928]

Thanks for the offer. I don't want to bother anyone to donate a portion of their parts car. Unless it is a must to use some alloy I should be able to order small sheets online if I could confirm what grade or type of steel. It looks like the firewall is about 18GA steel. There is another area by the rear bumper mount that I need to replace that is .01 thicker than 12GA. With all of the rust on pre-gal. cars, what have restoration shops and others used aside from donor cars and factory replacement panels?

[jjeffries]

Autobody supply stores - those that supply real body shops - sell sheets of nice mild steel. Nice because it can be shaped and manipulated as required. Modern cars use high carbon steel, which is why using an old hood from, say, a 2005 sedan of any brand to cut patches from is a bad idea...very brittle and tough to work with.

I'd say 16 gauge is too thick for panel repair, and thus a bear to try to shape. 18 gauge is my preferred. I'm not sure what 10 gauge you're talking about....that would be VERY thick....like armor plate.

Others with more experience may have better advice than me. Best of luck, John

[962porsche]

what you would want to look for is cold rolled 4130 .
being annealed it will offer good workability with good welding characteristics .
you would be looking for .050" = a 18 gage
in the common rust areas of a porsches chassis it would be the 18 gage.

the .040" is a good gage if you are making patches for things like doors .

you could go with the .032" = about 21/22 falls in between the two gages .
this is a little thin for most sheet metal panels of older cars .

auto metal direct offers small sheets because our orders are such large quantities we buy our metals from a big metal supplier so i have not used auto metal's sheet products yet but they are a supplier of autobody sheet metals and panels .