Either approach will leave you with metal that bows outward rather than
inward, as the metal is stretched and will stretch further the more you
fiddle with it. You need to shrink the metal, and unless you have
experience with this and the right tools, I strongly urge you to seek the
help of a professional.
Dick Benjamin
----- Original Message -----
From: kenyon wills <imperialist60@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 12:56 PM
Subject: IML: Body repair/sheet metal Q?
> my 1960 was rubbed by another car's bumper at some time in
> ancient history. There is a gouge/dent that goes across
> the DS rear door and continues into the rear quarter panel
> above the R wheel. I am stripping the car and will repaint
> it, so this is a full-on paint project, not a local area
> repair.
>
> I can fill in the gouge, but an area the size of a manila
> mailing envelope is pushed in perhaps an inch in a very
> mild depression. The entire panel with the enveolpe sized
> depression is gigantic and is under the fin on the side of
> the car.
>
> When I grab the panel with a slide hammer or a hook through
> the trim mount hole and pull on it, trying to bow it back
> out, it "biongs" out into the correct shape but then
> springs back to its bent form. I tried to pull really hard
> on it, but it is not taking to manual or slide-hammer pulls
> because it is not a small crease, but a large curved
> depression.
>
> I figure that I can either:
>
> drill a hole through the body and the interior wheelwell
> sheetmetal (there's a 1/4" gap between them). I can then
> use a bolt with a really large washer or even a piece of
> wood to distribute the pressure, and then connect a
> come-along to it and pull/bend the panel out to the shape
> that I want, reversing the pressure of impact.
>
> OR
>
> remove the rear wheel and use a scissors jack inside the
> weel well to push/bend the panel outwards from the inside,
> deforming the wheel well metal in the process, which is
> just fine as long as it looks OK on the outside, which I
> think that it will.
>
> Any other suggestions before I start using force on this
> large-surface area panel?
>
> Do you know the address for the body work Email club that
> has been mentioned?
>
>
>
> =====
> Kenyon Wills
> 6o LeBaron - America's Most Carefully Built Car
> 73 LeBaron - Long Low & Luxurious
>
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