The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Sheet Metel Thickness

Can someone tell me what gauge sheet metal Chevrolet used in its body panels for their trucks in the 1940's?

-Mike-

I would like to know too

OK, maybe I should rephrase this. What gauge sheet metal are you pro and "do it yourself" body men using on trucks of this vintage

Your typical sheet metal (body panels) should be 19 ga cold rolled steel. This is hard to find in some areas, and some steel suppliers won't get it unless you buy in bulk (many sheets). If you can find it locally in small qtys, count yourself lucky. But with the steel manufacturer's trying to cut costs, as everyone else does these days, in many cases you will find the 18 ga CRS (which is more readily available) is rolled to the lower end of the tolerance in sizing, and if so it shouldn't be too much thicker than the 19 gauge and thus a suitable replacement. Floor crossmembers (structural stuff) will likely be 18 or 16.

Mike,

I have been patching holes, tears and damage on my 1942 g506 donor cab (ca~1942) and have measured the following:

Toe board, floorboard, engine lower side panels, outer cab skin, interior back panels, door skin and interior trim parts are 20 ga.

Engine side panels, dash, interior door panels, and firewall are 18 ga.

Cab bottom and front fenders 16 ga.

Why Chevy chose the thinnest gage for the toe and floor board is a mystery. The beds may be different gages due to the duration of the war effort. My 41 bed is 10 ga where later 1942 are 14 or 16 ga.

I am not an "expert" fabricator or body man, but I have been patching panels by matching metal thickness. At lunch time at least once a week, I cruse the scrap metal yard in search of post industrial production remnants. I have found that 20 ga is not very common, but does show up once in a while. At least in my location, 18 and 16 ga is plentiful (depends on the factories in your area). 10 ga is tough, but I happened to come across a piece complete with a needed 90 degree bend last week. My scrap yard charges 20 cents a pound for steel, so I typically walk out with about $5 worth of patch/fabrication material. It is kind of addictive, like a women collecting shoes.

Hope this helps.

Paul

Thanks Paul and Robert. While my cab and front end clip are in good shape the sides of my utility bed could use some work so I'd like to gather up the material and fabricate some panels.

Paul, how do you determine the gauge when metal hunting? Do you use a Micrometer and how many thousands equals what gauge if you don't mind me asking?

-Mike-

Mike,

I measured the metal thickness using a dial caliper that measures to the nearest 0.001 of an inch. A micrometer would be better, but it is an item I do not have. For "in the field" measurement, I carry a simple little "go no-go" metal thickness gage. The one I have is made by Hobart, but there are others. I use an old reference book for thickness/gage equivalences, but there are some on line like the random one I found below.

http://www.sheetmetalguy.com/sheet_metal_gauge_chart.htm

Good luck hunting, it is almost as much fun as hunting old Chevy parts!

Paul

I've been cutting up a computer tower case for several small patch jobs I've had. It mic'ed within a couple thou of the trucks metal and was just waiting for recycling so why not I figure. It was closer than anything I found for retail locally (the boondocks) and chances are that case was recycled old trucks anyway.

bump