I’m trying to figure out the best way to repair this rear quarter panel on my 1947 Chevy. I have very little dent repair experience, but I’m willing to learn. I tried doing some hammer and dolly work on the front fender of this same car. I found that either the sheet metal on this car is very thick and strong, or I am very weak. I can access the backside of this panel from the bottom, but there is only about 2 to 6 inches of clearance behind the dent. I’m think about maybe drilling holes in it and pulling the dent out with a slide hammer. Do you guys have any better suggestions? ps. I blacked out the non hamb friendly wheels. They will be gone soon anyway.
you need to remove that fender to fix it, but I see it's molded to the body somehow. easiest is to remove and replace with a good one, I have several for sale
It looks to me that you may have rust in the fender seam already, I would clean the paint and filler from that seam and see about removeing that fender, hopefully it’s not been welded to the car.
You need a porta-power, Some small blocks of wood an a handful of patience, Absolutely do not drill holes, Once you get it pushed back to close, Then... Start the finesse with hammer/dolly.. You might surprise Your self!
Start with a 4" Chunk of 2x4, pushing off frame, Starting at the rear, an work forward, Easy does it. Don't try to take the whole dent out in one push..
I out on the road now, but I think I’ll take a closer look at doing this when I get back home. This car is going to be a low budget daily driver, it doesn’t need to be perfect. My buddy has a porta-power I can borrow. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll look at removing the fender. Thanks.
most people will put more dents in the parts that are not stretched in a effort to fix the dent. the blue squiggle part should not be touched, the metal wants to spring back to normal in that area as soon as you remove the stress caused by the stretched part which I colored green. I'd start by pushing from the inside where the purple X is.. maybe use a bottle jack with a rounded wood block on the end so you don't make a new dent. your worst part in the lower green line. that is stretched pretty good. that should put it much closer to correct than it is now. what sort of access you have on the inside would determine the next part. I think the damage would be minimal on the upper green line part. push and prod it back to shape, then some hammer and dolly on the stretched parts. I always say go into something like this with the intention of using no bondo and you results will be better than if you start it with a can sitting next to you. I'm no pro and my stuff does not always come out perfect without a bit of mud but I have read "the Guide to Metal Bumping" book (written in the 40's) several times and watched a bunch of videos of people who know what they are doing. that guy who invented the shrinking disc "Sunchaser Tools" at one time had some great videos on VHS!! I'm sure there are new ones out now but the rules have not changed. old metal is still the same. that dent is not as bad as it looks.
Jack it up. Remove the tire. Set car on jack stand Wedge a screw or scissor jack and start pushing it out Or the already mentioned 2X4 as a leverage bar. Then start hammering.
The dent will come out but what will you do about the welded, moulded fender? I see your in a pickle. I'm with rusty, replace the fender but you will have to re-weld it and re-mould it to the body. I may be wrong but when you push it out, you will crack the filler above the area that is damaged. I've been wrong before. Lippy
Rite-On.. You said the Key word, Driver... You go to take that fender off it's gonna get ugly would be my bet! 49 above gave you, A Great Fisher Price way to approach it...
I used to work with a guy that had a dent like that, he inserted a half deflated basketball between the body and fender behind the dent then started to inflate the basketball. When the basketball put enough pressure on the dent he pounded on the crease (green area on 49ratfink pictures above) and then some more inflation, more pounding, etc. In about 20 minutes most of the dent was looking pretty good and the fender held the original shape pretty well. Hammer and dolly after that..... just a thought. Mark
Like others have said , tricks & working the metal , the book is nice & easy understanding Guide, worth the purchase, ""The Guide to Metal Bumping "" or "" Bumping Metal"" The copy I have has Martin Tool.
I would get a pro to do it. With the right kit its a couple of hours work to get the shape back to a condition where you could skim it with filler. You could spend more than that on kit to do it yourself.
I think you mean, "The Key to Metal Bumping" by Frank T. Sargent, put out by Martin Tool & Forge. Just ordered one from Amazon.
As mentioned, HF has stud welder kits. I bought one awhile back to get a dent out of my daughters car. Her dent wasn’t near as large, but I had no access to get a hammer on the inside to knock it out. but with some time and patience, you could keep bringing it out enough to get more access for a hammer. I think the HF kit was 79 or 89$.
I appreciate the input, but I’m 55 years old and I’ve never hired anyone to do any work on any of my cars, other than the machine shop, transmission shop, and the lettering guy. I don’t plan on changing my ways now. Tools are a one time purchase, and I almost always end up using them multiple times.
Yep, and learning a new skill is never a bad thing. Sure, you might mess it up, but if you never make a mistake it just means you're not doing anything.
Ok, granted trying to remove the fender will probably create more problems than you want for a daily driver What I would do is employ both a push and pull at the same time using the basketball as it’s cheap and durable, the stud guns an excellent tool, just get the gang clamp for pulling multiple studs. Park the vehicle next to a large tree, be sure to leave your self room to work, I’ve found a small chain hoist to have better control for pulling but a come along works too. Be aware the push acts in both directions, your going to want to back up the inner structure or you could create other problems , a couple sand bags against both inner sides of the trunk with a post wedged in between is cheap insurance. While you’re applying the push and pulling you want to be hammering the face of that hard fold at the rear of the fender, not too hard, work your way all along it, small steps will produce the better results. Prying works too just be sure to knock the corners off the 2x4, nobody wants more dents than they started with. Good luck
only a "pro" at a collision shop would need filler for that dent. a craftsman at an auto restoration shop would make it perfect with no filler needed. someone mentioned a stud welder. one could possibly come it handy at that bad stretch at the lower part, but you would not know until it is almost back in shape, it would not be the first tool from your toolbox.
anyone who feels the need to do their own body work should buy this book. it was written 70 years ago when people did things right.
You can totally do this. Start with the basketball method, and get the major distortion out. Once you do that, it will free-up space for a hammer and dolly. Take your time, and you will be fine.
I remember in a interview Chip Foose gave, when Chip was young starting his dad brought Chip a fender that was dented up, Chip spent time repairing metal finishing, after showing to his dad, dad took a hammer / sledge & banged it up again & told Chip to repair again , I took it as a teaching corse .
This reminds me of when I took my pre employment autobody course back in 1979. Each student had an old body panel that the instructor would give some minor damage, and we would have to repair. After a few weeks, these panels were like our pets. One day he says we are going to have some fun. We each drew names out of a hat and got to take one swing with a pipe, at the person's panel. Everyone was having a great time trying to cause as much damage as possible. Once everyone was done, the instructor says "ok, now go fix the panel you just damaged"
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