To bead roll or not ??

[Snowman]

Was thinking about doing some bead rolling on some of the aluminum panels. Mainly on the larger ones that have larger areas between rivet locations. I'm still waiting on the kit delivery in early December, but I'm curious if any of the panels have an oil can effect after they are installed. I was thinking it might cut down on some noise, just curious if anyone has any experience?

Cheers,
Patrick

[John Dol]

Patrick,

The panels don't have the oil can effect at least not on my car. Look up Russ Thompsons coupe. He did a bunch of bead rolling on his panels. Looked really good. Depends if you are planning on keeping bare aluminum or using some kind of upholstery.

HTH

John

[edwardb]

No oil can effect on any I've done. Once bonded and riveted, panels are surprisingly rigid. Plus if you're adding insulation and carpet like most, even less chance. I'm far from an expert, but did play around with bead rolling some of the .040 aluminum for an engine cover I was playing around with. It curled and changed the shape enough I abandoned what I was doing and went another direction. Maybe mainly my own inexperience, but does make me wonder how much bead rolling would affect the already precisely cut and fitted panels. My vote is look elsewhere for your own custom touches.

[Snowman]

No oil can effect on any I've done. Once bonded and riveted, panels are surprisingly rigid. Plus if you're adding insulation and carpet like most, even less chance. I'm far from an expert, but did play around with bead rolling some of the .040 aluminum for an engine cover I was playing around with. It curled and changed the shape enough I abandoned what I was doing and went another direction. Maybe mainly my own inexperience, but does make me wonder how much bead rolling would affect the already precisely cut and fitted panels. My vote is look elsewhere for your own custom touches.

Thanks Paul! The warping and distorting of the panel shape were things that gave me reservations about it. Also, I've never done it before so I'm sure there would be a learning curve that would best be applied to practice on non-precision cut pieces, lol. I'll save that idea for some other future project.

[Presto51]

FWIT: Maybe this will help you decide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGSMj6f75JU

[Snowman]

Yup, any remaining thoughts I had for bead rolling for this project are now gone. LOL

Thanks for the video, gave me a much better understanding of bead rolling and how much of an art sheet metal really is. Huge respect to anyone that undertakes any sheetmetal work.

[Snowman]

Patrick,

The panels don't have the oil can effect at least not on my car. Look up Russ Thompsons coupe. He did a bunch of bead rolling on his panels. Looked really good. Depends if you are planning on keeping bare aluminum or using some kind of upholstery.


Thanks John!

When I was researching the Russ Thomson steering column turn signal I saw his panels and that sparked the idea. So very glad I asked the question on the forum. I'm pretty sure that would have led to a lot of frustration in the build and/or a very long time extension to completion.

Cheers,
Patrick

[Bob Cowan]

I used a bead roller on a lot of panels. The tools are not very expensive, and it's not difficult. It's actually kind of fun to do.

There are really two purposes for bead rolling: Cosmetic, and adding stiffness. Some people say it will make the panel stronger, but it doesn't. The material will have the exact same strength it always had. But it will add stiffness; not the same thing as strength.

If the metal is deformed enough that it doesn't fit any more, you're doing it wrong. All you need is a slight bead, about 1/8" high.

I couldn't find any pictures of the FFR panels, but this is a different car I built a few years ago.

http://www.racingtheexocet.com/?page_id=352

[P100DHG]

I agree it’s not necessary. But it is super slick. I was considering doing a belly pan and bead rolling it but I am concerned about over complicating the build. Good news it I can do this when the car is done. So my advice is wait to make that decision. Maybe if you decide to do some under hood panels you might want to try it there. It’s small enough that if you screw up starting over isn’t a huge waste of material and time.

I say give it shot this whole thing is about learning and experimenting . Go for it! And share what you learn.