88 YJ-CJ Wheel wells Part 2

July 02, 2022

88 YJ-CJ Wheel wells Part 2

Multiple Pieces

I did a little more on the wheel well lips and did a test weld of two of the pieces.

The welded piece just wasn't flat enough for me, and this was just two pieces. I have a bunch more pieces to add!

There is some stress put into the metal when I shear it (because of my shear tool)

More stress when I bend it.

Then more stress when I stretched it.

Then getting it welded flat and perfect was challenging.

Most of it will be covered by the CJ rear flare, so most of this isn't critical. I could probably flatten it with a lot of hammer and dolly work. I also have a planishing hammer that would be helpful, but I think it would still be a big challenge.

Hammer Forming

So, I am going to take a friend's great suggestion and try hammer forming. I got several 2'x4' sheets of 18 gauge steel and MDF. We'll see how this goes!

Laying out the MDF using the flare as a template:

Offsetting the line to account for the thickness of the flare and lip:

Layout complete:

Cutting both pieces at the same time ensures that they will perfectly match. You can see the 8 screws used to hold the panels together:

Both pieces cut:

Detail view of cut:

A piece of 18 gauge steel was screwed between the two panels. Now offsetting the form to create the lip cut line:

Lip cut line:

Hammering!

More Hammering:

Hammering complete. The two end corners need work, but the lip is nicely formed and the panel is still flat. I'll continue to refine the lip and corners.