Body damage, how would you attack this?

If your back panel was like this, would you beat on it and try to make it submit to getting it close? and than add body filler to hide what you cant get out? or (also im a novice at metal work) and it looks a bit worse in person..it looks like the previous owner put his tools behind the seat back and they continuously beat the shit out of the back of the sedan.



If you have a rear 28 tudor lower panel that isnt dented or in too bad a shape , would you cut out the one pictured above and put in 18" of lower panel from the good back panel you have laying around?

 

I say beat it out, practice makes perfect.

 

I'd try to beat it out too. It's not really that bad. Take your time. There's as much chance of you warping the heck out of the panel welding the new one in. Then you have a lot more work to do.

 

someone thats got skills should get that nice enough

thing is if youre a newbie you can make it worse , maybe theres a local hamber that could offer some help?

 

i say try to beat it out, worst case scenario is you screw it up and have to replace the lower section. which you are thinking about doing anyway, its a good chance for learning experience.

 

i would only have to weld it across the top..the sides , and bottom would still bolt in as originals do..

i guess i could practice beating on it, i just know it isnt going to come out "flat" like it should be, and there will be body mud used to make it look right, where as with stitching this other lower panel in it will not have any except where the seam would be..

tit for tat..proably the same amount of work..but i get the reason for trying to get the original panel beat into submission..i just dont think its going to behave too well..
the picture doesnt really show how fucked up it is..its fucked up..from about 20 inches up from the bottom its riddled with dents and kinks, a nice rust hole or 2, and an oil can at about mid panel

 

I wouldn't cut that out, I'd be patient with a hammer/dolly and possibly apply some heat to the stretched metal to shrink it back.

 

Just take you time and hammer it back in place . Don't beat on it with a heavy hammer , just take your time . It will come back to the original form if you take your time ! Help it back in place , don't make it go back in place . Get what I am saying ? Take your time !!!

RetroJim

 

well there must be some good reason why 99% of the people say to try and make the original panel serviceable..

Ive had other body guys tell me the same thing, most of them HAMBers, and 2 other guys that do this sort of shit for a living.

I want to learn, but dont feel like fucking this panel up worse to learn, than have to resort to cutting in a new panel, or making the job that much harder on the experianced body guy to iron out what i end up doing to it.

I got a set of Body Hammers, guess it wont hurt to play a little to see what happens

 

Most of us have more time the money..I say work it until you get it right. Win Win situation, you gain the experience/reward of doing it yourself, your car gets repaired. lots of information on body repair available from many sources. Everyone was a novice at what they do, before they became experienced at it.

 

yeah i fall into the catagory of no time and no money...lol

but i guess the dust collecting on those body hammers aint doing them any good either

 

and actually i woudnt be beating it "out"..it needs to be mostly beat "in"..95% of the deformation on the panel are "outies" not "innies"..(if thats even a word)..hey body guys what do you call em?
dents go in..what do you call em when they are out? dimples?

 

Ha..maybe the same jackhole owned both our cars?

I completely get what your saying Ryan..I have a fellow HAMBer pal that im hopeful he can help me make the right choice on how to attack this, i just wanted other opinions. I really want to learn how to work this out too, its an education i want to have..I have binked out the simple dents and such with out too much trouble..but this is something a guide would definetly help me understand more and help me develop a skill i dont have at the moment

 

is it just me, or is no picture showing up?

 

Hey, give it a go. If you really f it up you can cut it out and patch the other panel. It's all a learning experience either way.

Remember, when it comes time to spread on the body filler I have two motto's.
1) Put it on thin and win!
2) If you put it on thick, take it of quick.

Good luck

 

must be your settings..shows up here

 

I can see the picture in the first post.

I would get someone on the inside to hold a dolly that has the same or slightly less curve than the panel up and down (almost flat side to side) firmly against the surface while you hammer from the outside. A hammer that has a wide face with a low crown, not a flat hammer. If the dimples are pretty sharp (hard to tell from here), start with medium blows to slowly convince the high areas to flatten out. Don't try to do it all at once. Take your time. As the metal gets flatter, hit a little harder to smooth the area.

You might want to create some similar dents in a piece of scrap to get a feel for it. My youtube videos below show this type of work. Part 1 of Custom Metal Bodywork shows tool selection, parts 9-12 show dent repair. Good luck!

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

 

Hammer, dolly and a shrinking disk. Probably take a couple hours and 2-3 beers.

 

ahh fuck thats the problem...im outa beer

 

thanks John for those links, i'll check into them

one of the things about this body that i really like, is there is very very little filler needed, other than this and a few other small problem areas , the rest of the body is straight and rust free

 

Just like he said. Where the metal is stretched heat it with a small propane torch and then bump it down with your hammer with the dolly behind it. Go slow and take your time. Don't just wack it, it will move the deformed metal to another spot. Just knock down your highs and bump up your lows and just keep looking at it from different angles. When you get it real close put a clean shop rag flat on your hand and rub over the spot. It will tell you where you need to go next. Sometimes I close my eyes and just rotate the hand and rag trick until I locate the lows or highs and stop my hand and lift it. Thats where it will need more work. Also get yourself something flat and wrap sand paper around it and go over the surface and the shinny spots will be your highs. I usually finish with a flat file over the surface in different directions untill it's all shinny. Main thing is just take your time, don't make more work for yourself or stretch the metal.

 

"Innies" are called lows and "outies" are called highs. Your goal will be to move them to the correct contour. You are dealing with stretched metal. It will take hammer and dolly work and shrinking to restore the contour. If you remove the back glass can you reach in and hold a dolly with one hand ? Start slowly because this is a repairable panel. Learn the skills now and you can use them again. Luck

 

Hammer & dolly, adding heat to the really bad spots as needed.

You should be able to tackle that one with a little patience, I wouldn't go cutting out a good panel like that, you just end up with a different set of problems.

 

same thing another HAMBer told me..I think i was looking for the easy way out..(bad boy)
mostly because i know i dont have the skills, yet. To do it right. but i felt i could cut out the bad and easily put in the other back panel, but then more i think about it, you body guys know that doing so could open up a bunch of other problems

but before i give in, im going to play with it and see what i can get out of it.

 

You'll end up with a far worse mess than you have now if you try to weld in a new panel. You need to brush up a little on metal working, don't just wail away with a hammer and dolly. Get a text book on basic auto body work or one of the vids by Covell, etc, and learn what you should be doing. Blindly going at with a torch to shrink the high spots will make you humble in a big hurry.

That's very minor damage, don't make it worse than it already is.

 

thanks Brian..
I do intend to get some schoolin' , i wont just go at it like a monkey.
and i will keep the beer away from it

was just putting out some feelers to see what ya'all had ta say

 

I'm also a big fan of experience, if you have a piece of old metal to beat up you can actually learn and feel what you are trying to do before you attack the piece you want to have right.

I could mess up some metal for ya if you would like

 

thats gravy man, you can work the old tin so easy its not even funny, looks like it took a shot to the rump and someone just smacked it back out with a ballpeen hammer ? work it , heat shrink and work it, very little filler if any , watch that gastank !!

 

the easy way but it seems harder is to take out the whole rear panel at the factory seams. and then the damaged area can be put on a planshing hammer to work out the dents, but i would go to a pro on this as you could make it worse. but then you would have a nice panel