Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion My BOTW. Sheetmetal guys needed.

So I picked up this awesome Sunoco cabinet off Craigslist for a rather reasonable price. I absolutely love it and what I'm assuming is it's rarity, however, the bottom, along with some of the side and back panels, are roached!!
So I can fab a new bottom and rivet it in and repaint the cabinet portion, (I will not touch the door other than a cleaning).
But what hope is there for the roached portion of the side and back panels?
Can they be cut back and new metal welded to them to extend them to their original lengths in prep for a new bottom?
Or best just drill out all the rivets and fab all new pieces?

Check any nearby sheet metal shops and show them what you have as most of them can fabricate replacement panels. But best bet from what I can see it's best to replace the complete rotted panels cause their way to tinny to weld up without other problems.

Yah your right Mike! I took a closer look at the sides and back are all actually just one large piece of bent sheet metal. I could probably make the piece myself and just re-rivet the shelves, top and hinge back on.
Going to be a nice little project when I find the time.

I do a fair amount of this kind of thing. Welding in repair panels would be inefficient and difficult. Entire new panels where there's rust makes sense, especially if your ok with repainting the inside. You could cut back the rotted metal nice and straight and overlap new metal and rivet or spot weld too I suppose. You could extend the flaps on the bottom panel such that they reach "good metal" and rivet or weld there. Be different than original but no one would no but you. I'd probably do that.

Depending on your comfort level in fabbing and how you feel about 'correctness' and originality really is the question.

'Recreating' the box isn't difficult, but essentially all you have left is the less than perfect door which you're only going to clean. And it's going to mounted to a painted cabinet that's going to look new. And you'll have to ensure all the shelves perfectly align in the new box, etc.

On the other hand if you simply create a filler liner that extends 4" from the bottom inside the box with the front having the 1" edges and create a new bottom you can simply straight-edge cut the rot back evenly across the base. If you've got a spot welder you can spot the corners and across the flats 3"-4" between and spot in a new base box. Alternately you can mig the panel, grind and smooth. You save most of the deconstruction/fab work you'd be doing and not have to disturb the originality. If you've got the right tools the bottom edge of the filler panel can be stepped.

Either method you still have to paint match, but restoring what's left results in a more 'authentic' box.

If you go the other route and build a box you could always customize that box/shelf setup to your liking rather than reuse the original shelves which may end up warping on you when you remove them.

That's a neat box Steve .

I would have picked that up in a second. Make it functional/hang it/and enjoy.

No matter what you do , it won't be original. Why not cut it down at the bottom , including the door , and put in a new bottom. Then the remaining paint will be matching.

I like Roy's idea.

My original idea of cutting it clean. Butting up new metal. Somehow stick welding it. Grinding, sanding, painting...
Way to much work.

I like Roys idea. Nothing really lost in that except some height in the bottom shelf.

Lastgas15 Bob also gave me the idea of buying a new cabinet, assuming I could find the correct size, and just mounting this door to it. This would result in a very clean cabinet and still retain the money shot door. After all, if I replace the back/side panel, all I would be saving would be the shelves.

Not sure what direction going to take right now. Going to look into the new cabinet thing just to see what I can find.

Thanks for all the ideas/help!!

Steve, been down this road on some other things with this problem. For what it is worth I used fiber glass (not a big fan of this stuff) made a form and made an extension. You could do this on the side walls and then refab the bottom. This way you can keep most of the original metal whats left and not have to repaint everything. Just a thought. Lots of dinking around but with patience it can be done.

Its a cool little cabinet. I probably would just clean the exposed rusty areas then make the bottom with three slightly higher returns, paint it in advance then slide it inside the existing box. maybe some epoxy, JB welb, panel adhesive , along the bottom edge of the rusty area. Clamp it and just be done. no chopping of the existing three sides or anything. I think youd be surprised how well itll blend in with just that little bit of exposed new stuff that would be visible. Whatever you decide to do keep us posted.

Find an old recessed medicine cabinet and just use the door.....door will just look like a sign on the wall with a hidden cabinet...LOL

Wow now that's an interesting idea Mike. And the good news is, I already have a med cabinet that I was planning to put in the garage anyway.

My wife keeps telling me to toss it. But I tell her, If you've ever gotten something in your eye while under a car, and there is not a mirror close, well it's not fun!!

Although it will 86 my mirror theory, I'll give that some thought. I could mount a mirror on the inside of the door. Hmmm...