I went to the local steel-supply place in Redwood City, Alan Steel. It�s run by Alan (I didn�t know that there�d be a guy named Alan at the counter). They have a gigantic sheet metal cutting machine with a pile of scraps next to it, and I got a 30� x 60� piece of 22 gauge steel for fixing the rust spots on the car. There are a few that were under the stainless roof inserts, two almost identical rot spots at the front edge of the rear wheel well that will be mostly covered by the stainless trim, and the rotted areas and open channel in the rear window insert.

I knew that I was going to be working with the steel and trying to form it into curved shapes. The car is most likely 20 gauge, but I chose 22 so that it would bend easier, and that worked out really well.

I went shopping at harbor freight tools for my sheet metal tools. I bought a body saw and a nibbler.

The body saw (left) is awesome. It�s essentially a small sawz-all that takes a 3-inch hacksaw blade. At first I didn�t think that I was going to use it when I started in with the nibbler, but the nibbler is not as precise as this tool. More on that after I define what the nibbler is.

The nibbler (right) is a really fun tool to operate. I got one that is advertised as more precise. It gets this by being a punch instead of a scissor-action item. There is a reciprocating piston-like rod that is thin where it comes out of the tool. Part way down the rod�s length, the diameter of the rod doubles, with a larger cylinder forming the lower portion of the rod and a 90-degree flat plane being the transition. If you got a coffee can, drilled a hole in the metal lid, and put a broomstick into the hole, you have an idea of the shape, although the tool is pretty small and fits in your hand. There is a fixed anvil/collar with a horizontal cut in it that you feed the sheet metal into. When you push the lever to run the tool, pushing to tool forward, the rod runs up and down through the anvil that you are feeding the sheet metal into. The rod goes below the plane that the sheet metal is on and then the tool moves forward until the metal touches the smaller diameter of the rod. The rod then starts into its upward stroke, and the larger diameter cylinder punches out a crescent of metal, much like a paper-product hole punch. This is all happening repeatedly at high speed, and hundreds of little metal crescent punched steel slivers are popping out of the front of the tool.

The tool thus �nibbles� its way through the steel. It�s not capable of doing 90-degree turns, but comes close and functionally works just like a jigsaw does in wood. Nibbling is really fun, and using the tool to form the shapes of metal needed was a blast and really easy to do.