Classic car restoration is a hobby that requires know-how, creativity and patience to turn an old beater into a gorgeous show-stopper. Cars that were made a lifetime ago require special care and upkeep. Rather than letting them sit in the ba...

The automotive industry has grown to appreciate the potential of plastics as replacements for metal components within their products. The realization that plastics are,in their own right,engineering materials of high merit has led to rapid...

Plastic products can be decorated by vacuum metallizing and electroplating. They have replaced metals in a lot of automotive applications,such as mirror housings,control knobs and winder handles as well as decorative metallic trim. It is a...

An alternative classification of plastics is by their shape. They may be crystalline (with shape) or amorphous (shapeless). Amorphous plastics Amorphous plastics basically are of three major types: ABS:acrylonitrile butadiene styrene ABS/PC...

The simplest way of classifying plastics is by their reaction to heat. This gives a ready subdivision into two basic groups:thermoplastics and thermosetting plastics. Thermoplastic materials soften to become plastic when heated,no chemical...

The raw materials for plastics production are natural products such as cellulose,coal,oil,natural gas and salt. In every case they are compounds of carbon (C) and hydrogen (H). Oxygen (O),nitrogen (N), chlorine (Cl) and sulphur (S) may also...

Celluloid might well qualify for the honour of being the first plastic,though its inventor,Alexander Parkes,was certainly not aware of that fact. He made it around 1860 and patented his method for making it in 1865. An American,John Hyatt,fo...

The interior furnishing of a car is gaining in importance within the automotive trade. In response stylists are endeavouring to upgrade and soften the interior,using fabrics with the appearance and feel of textiles to appeal visually and fu...

Vinyl coated fabrics are now well established as trim material. Their vast superiority over the linseed oil coatings,and later the nitrocellulose coatings,of yesteryear are almost forgotten in the march of progress. Vinyl coatings are nowsuf...

Large numbers of motor vehicle users all over the world continue to specify hide upholstery when the option is available,and will gladly pay the extra cost involved for a material which defies complete simulation. Great advances have been ma...

The body engineer has a choice of materials,ranging from carpeting of the Wilton type for prestige vehicles,through polyamide and polypropylene moulded needle felts,to rubber flooring for economy versions. The main requirements of flooring a...

The type of material used for sound damping or deadening depends on whether or not it is also required to provide undersealing. A material required for sound deadening only will normally be applied to the interior of a vehicle,whereas one r...

The history of sealers is longer than that of the motor car. Mastic,bitumen compounds and putties of various kinds have been used since the invention of the horseless carriage. It is likely that early coach builders used putties of some kin...

The value of rubber lies in the fact that it can be readily moulded or extruded to any desired shape, and its elastic quality makes it capable of filling unavoidable and irregular gaps and clearances. It is an ideal material in door shuts a...

The choice of material and the condition in which it is required must depend largely upon design requirements and the manufacturing processes within the factory. The alloys most commonly used in vehicle body work are as shown in Table 4.9....

BSspecifications 147075 Material designations Unalloyed aluminium plate,sheet and strip: 1080Acommercial pure aluminium 99.8 per cent 1050Acommercial pure aluminium 99.5 per cent 1200commercial pure aluminium 99.0 per cent Non-heat-treatabl...

From the reduction centre the pigs of aluminium are remelted and cast into ingots of commercial purity. Aluminium alloys are made by adding specified amounts of alloying elements to molten aluminium. Some alloys,such as magnesium and zinc,ca...

Sheet products are first cast by the semicontinuous casting process,then scalped to remove surface roughness and preheated in readiness for hot rolling. They are first reduced to the thickness of plate,and then to sheet if this is required....

Sheet,strip and circle blanks are sold in hard and soft tempers possessing different degrees of ductility and tensile strength. Sheet is supplied in gauges down to 0.3mm,but it is generally more economical to order strip for gauges less than...

The metal itself has only been known about 130years,and the industrial history of aluminium did not begin until 1886 when Paul Heroult in France discovered the basis of the present-day method of producing aluminium. Aluminium is now produced...

In the present-day search for greater economy in the running of motor vehicles,whether private,public or commercial,the tendency is for manufacturers to produce bodies which,whilst still maintaining their size and strength,are lighter in wei...

The discovery of stainless steel was made in 1913 by Harry Brearley of Sheffield,while he was experimenting with alloy steels. Among the samples which he threw aside as unsuitable was one containing about 14 per cent chromium. Some months l...

A particular type of HSS is referred to as Boron steel,containing a very small amount of boron, typically 0.0010.004 percent. This steel is used by many of the major manufacturers such as Vauxhall and requires special repair techniques. To j...

High-strength steel have been introduced into automotive production slowly only because of the need for specialised press tools to form body panels from this stronger material. The die tools need to be harder than for normal low carbon (LC)...

Alloy steel is a general name for steels that owe their distinctive properties to elements other than carbon. They are generally classified into two major categories: Low-alloy steel possesses similar microstructures to and requires similar...

The automotive industry,in seeking to provide extended warranties,is turning increasingly to the use of zinc coated steels. Modern automobiles must be not only of high quality but also durable and economical,as perceived by their purchasers...

This can be hardened to give a very fine cutting edge,but with some loss of its ductile and mal- leable properties. It is used for metal and wood cutting tools,turning tools,taps and dies,and forging and press dies because of its hardness a...

This can be hardened by quenching,and the amount it can be hardened increases with its carbon content. This type of steel can be used for moving parts such as connecting rods,gear shafts and transmission shafts,which require a combination of...

This steel is basically a carbon-manganese steel having a low carbon content,but with the addition of micro-alloying elements such as niobium and titanium. Therefore it is classed as a low-alloy highstrength steel within the carbon range. A...

For many years low-carbon steel (sometimes referred to as mild steel) has been the predominant autobody material. Low-carbon coil,strip and sheet steel have been used in the manufacture of car bodies and chassis members. This material has pr...

Carbon steels can be classified as follows (Table 4.3): Low-carbon steel Carbon-manganese steel Micro-alloyed steel Medium-carbon steel High-carbon steel. The properties of plain carbon steel are determined principally by carbon content and...

The motor body industry uses many different types of steel. Low-carbon steel is used for general constructional members. High-tensile steels are used for bolts and nuts which will be subjected to a heavy load. Specially produced deep-drawn...

The temper rolled coils can be slit to narrow coil, cut to sheet,reinspected for surface critical applications,or flattened for flatness critical applications as appropriate. Material can be supplied with a protective coating oil,and packed...

During the process of annealing the heat causes a certain amount of buckling and distortion,and a further operation is necessary to produce flat coils. The annealed coil is decoiled and passed through a single-stand temper mill using a speci...

Coils used for the manufacture of a car body must not only have a bright smooth surface but must also be soft enough for bending,rolling,shaping and pressing operations,and so the hardness of cold rolled coils to be used for car bodies must...

In the cold rolling process the coil is rolled either ina single-stand reversing mill (narrow mills usingeither narrow hot mill product or slit wide mill product) or in a multiple-stand tandem mill to the required thickness. Most mills are c...

Before cold rolling,the surfaces of the coils must be cleaned of oxide or black scale formed during the hot rolling process and which would otherwise ruin the surface texture. This is done by pickling the coils in either dilute hydrochloric...

The steel is cast into ingots; these are either heated in a furnace and rolled down to a slab,or more commonly continuously cast into a slab. Slabs byeither casting process are typically 810in (200250mm) thick,ready for further rolling. Thes...

In the manufacture of steel coils,the raw material iron ore is fed into a blast furnace,together with limestone and coke; the coke is used as a source of heat,while the limestone acts as a flux and separates impurities from the ore. The ore...

Built-in dust extraction should be a must in any new equipment programme,for it is essential that airborne dust levels in body shops are reduced to a minimum for the safety of the body shop employees. Sanding,grinding and cutting operations...

This cutter (Figure 3.65) greatly simplifies what was formerly a time-consuming task for two people. With this tool,windows bonded in with polyurethane adhesive can be taken out without difficulty. There is no environmental hazard,and no fu...

Ratchet wrenches can have 3/8in or1/2 in drives (Figure 3.64). They are ideally suited to a wide variety of nut turning operations,either fastening or unfastening. Initial hand ratcheting enables a tight or seized fastener to be slackened o...

The impact air screwdriver has a quick-change bitholder for inserting different screwdriver bit heads:slot,Phillips and Pozidriv (Figure 3.63). It is ideal for removal of rusted-in screws and other fasteners in locations such as door locks...

This machine (Figures 3.54,3.62) has a 20mm wide belt and is designed to handle small and accurate convex and concave contours. It has an adjustable head feature for flexibility of operation. It can be efficiently operated in one hand owing...

This tool (Figure 3.61) can be used as a fine sanding random orbital machine or as a rough sanding machine; in the latter mode it can also be used as a polisher. As part of the process of repairing vehicle bodywork,old layers of paint can b...

This special sander (Figure 3.60) is an oscillating power tool,only available in this form from the company Fein. Oscillating means that the grinding plate here a triangle rather than a disc shape does not rotate,but moves to and fro throug...

The small angle grinder (Figure 3.59) is sometimes known as a mini-grinder or a grinderette. It is a versatile one-handed machine,and will cut away damaged metal,remove rust,grind down spot,MIG and gas welds,smooth infills and generally gri...

This is a multi-orbital action machine which eliminates swirl marks and allows coarse grit paper to be used for high stock removal rates (Figure 3.58). On paint and fibreglass it leaves a perfect key forprimers. The multi-orbital action red...

The dual action (DA) on this sander makes the pad oscillate counter-clockwise while the head revolves clockwise,resulting in a non-repeating surface pattern that eliminates scratches on the surface of the panel (Figure 3.54)....

This is a dual-purpose tool for either sanding or filing (Figure 3.57). For sanding,an abrasive paper sheet is clipped to the tool. It has a reciprocating straight-line action which speeds up feather edging or filing materials and results i...