Basic Home Fabrication - Tech Tools and More

One of the great things about working for Project Car is how we each pitch in to find creative ways to get a job done. It’s amazing what you can do with simple hand tools like a hammer, hacksaw, measuring tape, marker, drill, metal cutting file, bench vise and a little creativity. To give you a sample of how we use these tools, we’re showing you the highlights of some ghetto-fab work we did on Project Black Flag. Please put your safety glasses on and follow along.

The Bench Vise

These simple “C” brackets were whipped up with minimal effort starting with 1/8” strips of aluminum flat bar that you can find at a local hardware store. All our bends were made using a bench vise as a makeshift sheetmetal brake.

The purpose of these brackets is to mount our homemade aluminum air dam and our soon-to-be installed lower splitter on Project Black Flag. Note how we used simple 90-degree bends to mount the air dam to the bumper and to create a flat surface for attaching the future splitter. This “custom” set-up only cost us about 30 bucks!

The Rivet Gun-AKA Pop Riveter

01 The versatile pop riveter has been used over many years for building everything from toys and household items to airplanes and race cars. This tool allows us the ease of attaching two pieces of metal to each other “blindly” (no access is needed on the reverse side of the panel), as an option to using self-tapping screws or a nut/bolt combo. Plus, it gives you that cool “riveted” look. Here’s how it works:

02 Using a rivet gun is quite simple. We’ve already drilled holes in these scrap pieces of sheetmetal for a quick demonstration. The proper drill bit size should be listed on the packaging of the rivets. Place the two pieces of aluminum together and slip the pop rivet through the holes. Warning: Be sure to clamp down your work before drilling through it. Otherwise, as you drill through the metal, the drill bit could snag—turning any unsecured sheet-metal into a rotating blade. Ouch!

02 Using a rivet gun is quite simple. We’ve already drilled holes in these scrap pieces
03 Place the rivet gun over the rivet and squeeze the handles together. This will pull the bulb of the rivet up and snaps off, locking the rivet in place.

03 Place the rivet gun over the rivet and squeeze the handles together. This will pull t
04 The two panels are now fastened together.

05 To demonstrate the many uses of a rivet gun, our shop dog Roxy helped us modify this grille to direct more airflow through the intercooler. We started by cutting out the ribbing of the grille.

05 To demonstrate the many uses of a rivet gun, our shop dog Roxy helped us modify this
06 This grille came off a blue car from the junkyard, so it needed a little paint. After sanding it down, we sprayed it with a rattle can.

06 This grille came off a blue car from the junkyard, so it needed a little paint. After
07 Roxy came by to pick out every flaw in our craftsmanship; she’s such a bitch.

07 Roxy came by to pick out every flaw in our craftsmanship; she’s such a bitch.

08 After allowing the paint to dry, Yamz started the sheetmetal fabrication work. A thin strip of aluminum was cut with a pair of tin snips. This will make up our lower panel.

08 After allowing the paint to dry, Yamz started the sheetmetal fabrication work. A thin
09 With a little trimming, Yamz got the custom fit he was looking for.
10 Yamz even rolled the edge to align it to the bottom of the intercooler. This was done using the bench vice as a sheetmetal brake.

10 Yamz even rolled the edge to align it to the bottom of the intercooler. This was done

11 After drilling the necessary holes, the panel was riveted into place.
12 Not only do rivets look trick, but they’re much lighter than bolts and won’t back-out.

12 Not only do rivets look trick, but they’re much lighter than bolts and won’t back-out
13 To keep air from escaping around the top and sides of the intercooler, Yamz riveted additional panels around the opening in the grille.

13 To keep air from escaping around the top and sides of the intercooler, Yamz riveted a

14 You can see how in just a couple hours “we” created a functioning custom grille for only a few bucks in materials. OK…Yamz did a great job on this piece. Him taking the time to measure the location of each hole for the rivets made a huge difference in the end.

The Hole Saw

15 The hole saw is one of those really cool tools that can be used in lots of applications; anything from cutting a hole through a firewall for running stereo wires to lightening body panels on a race car. This particular hole saw comes with a threaded mandrel for interchanging different diameter bits.

15 The hole saw is one of those really cool tools that can be used in lots of applicatio
16 As you can see from the pictures we used a 2 1/2" hole-saw to lighten our bumper reinforcements. Keep in mind that this is a fully-caged race car we’re working on; we don’t recommend doing this to your daily driver's bumper.

16 As you can see from the pictures we used a 2 1/2" hole-saw to lighten our bumper rein