BLOWN240
09-15-2004, 10:01 PM
How To Shave Your Car
To "shave" a part in your car means to remove a part and finish of the body panel so that it looks as though the part shaven was never there.
The first thing you have to decide when shaving a car is what you are going to shave and what you are going to leave.
On my 122 one of the things I want to shave are the turn signals. Whatever is it you want to shave you first have to remove it. I removed my turnsignals & they each left a hole in the fender that looked like this:
http://www.hardcars.com/blown240/122%20pics/shave%20pics/starting%20hole.jpg
Once you have the part removed you need to make a template of the hole. The easiest way to make a template is to do it out of paper. Once the template is perfect you can use it as a guide to make a steel plate to fill the hole. I used 16 gauge steel because that is what I had, but its best to use the same gauge steel as the panel it will be welded into.
Here is a pic of the paper template and the metal plate:
http://www.hardcars.com/blown240/122%20pics/shave%20pics/template%20and%20plate.jpg
After you have made the plate then you need to shape it and contour it to match the body. This can be the most chalenging part of the whole mod. On a door handle this is much easier as the door panels are oftem flat or are only curved in one direction. This turn signal was a challenge because of the compound curve that needs to be matched.
Here is a pic of the plate shapped to match the countours of the car:
http://www.hardcars.com/blown240/122%20pics/shave%20pics/insert%20shapped.jpg
When the part fits the whole perfectly then set it in place:
http://www.hardcars.com/blown240/122%20pics/shave%20pics/set%20in.jpg
Knotice how the part isnt exactly how it should be. This is where good body hammers and dollies work their magic.
Once the part is in and the contour is correct then you can start to tack weld the part in. But make sure that you have removed the paint arround the hole before you start to weld. It is important to do this so that the weld is not contaminated.
Start your weld by tacking in the part so that it is held in place. Next go arround and put a tach weld every inch or so making sure that you dont heat up the metal too much. If the metal gets too hot then it will warp and will be a huge pain to straighten out.
Continue arround the part until it has tach welds every inch or so. Once you have done this repeat the taching process until the whole part is tached in, just always remember to make sure that the metal doesnt get too hot in one spot.
When you have completely tached the part in, the weld should look like this:
http://www.hardcars.com/blown240/122%20pics/shave%20pics/finished%20weld.jpg
I will cover the rest of this mod as I get it done.
TO BE CONTINUED..........
To "shave" a part in your car means to remove a part and finish of the body panel so that it looks as though the part shaven was never there.
The first thing you have to decide when shaving a car is what you are going to shave and what you are going to leave.
On my 122 one of the things I want to shave are the turn signals. Whatever is it you want to shave you first have to remove it. I removed my turnsignals & they each left a hole in the fender that looked like this:
http://www.hardcars.com/blown240/122%20pics/shave%20pics/starting%20hole.jpg
Once you have the part removed you need to make a template of the hole. The easiest way to make a template is to do it out of paper. Once the template is perfect you can use it as a guide to make a steel plate to fill the hole. I used 16 gauge steel because that is what I had, but its best to use the same gauge steel as the panel it will be welded into.
Here is a pic of the paper template and the metal plate:
http://www.hardcars.com/blown240/122%20pics/shave%20pics/template%20and%20plate.jpg
After you have made the plate then you need to shape it and contour it to match the body. This can be the most chalenging part of the whole mod. On a door handle this is much easier as the door panels are oftem flat or are only curved in one direction. This turn signal was a challenge because of the compound curve that needs to be matched.
Here is a pic of the plate shapped to match the countours of the car:
http://www.hardcars.com/blown240/122%20pics/shave%20pics/insert%20shapped.jpg
When the part fits the whole perfectly then set it in place:
http://www.hardcars.com/blown240/122%20pics/shave%20pics/set%20in.jpg
Knotice how the part isnt exactly how it should be. This is where good body hammers and dollies work their magic.
Once the part is in and the contour is correct then you can start to tack weld the part in. But make sure that you have removed the paint arround the hole before you start to weld. It is important to do this so that the weld is not contaminated.
Start your weld by tacking in the part so that it is held in place. Next go arround and put a tach weld every inch or so making sure that you dont heat up the metal too much. If the metal gets too hot then it will warp and will be a huge pain to straighten out.
Continue arround the part until it has tach welds every inch or so. Once you have done this repeat the taching process until the whole part is tached in, just always remember to make sure that the metal doesnt get too hot in one spot.
When you have completely tached the part in, the weld should look like this:
http://www.hardcars.com/blown240/122%20pics/shave%20pics/finished%20weld.jpg
I will cover the rest of this mod as I get it done.
TO BE CONTINUED..........