Anybody have experience with repairing sheet metal (body panels) on a car that's been burnt? I'm going to look at a car that was in a garage fire and would like to know if there is any hope to bring this metal back from the dead?
If its really bad, seems there are always issues. Weather it being distressed metal or trying to get the paint to not have issues down the road.
ussually its warped way beyond trying to straightening out , and some features like bodylines will collapse because the stress that held them was relieved by the heat or will move other parts of the panel around and you will never get to stay
Look what Hot Rods and Custom Stuff did to Tom Medleys '40 coupe... Anything can be fixed, but is it worth it?
It all depends on what it looks like, how hot the fire was, and what they used to put out the fire. You will have the distorted metal to work with. Which can be enough of a problem. The worst problem I came across was that something changed in the metal and paint would not stick. It was a friends car, he was a knowledgeable body guy, The car was an off topic T/A. It was painted a few times after he fixed it. Paint would fall off in 6 months in a heated garage. The metal was preped different ways each time. Sandblasted, rough ground, and chemical preps all tried. All that anyone could fugure was that something in the environment of the fire changed the metal.
the bottom line is ,,, all the carbon is gone in the metal and paint will not stay , just pass on it , save yourself some trouble !!!
Can't find the thread but there was a 1932 Vicky that was hit in the rear and caught fire,the driver was pulled out but the car was a total loss. Some one bought the Vicky and posted the build photos here and it looked great afterwards. HRP
There is a '40 Coupe project here on the HAMB that was toast to start with, looks a lot better now. I think the paint sticking is the big worry. Bob
The reason paint doesn't is because of residual microscopic smoke residue stuck in the pores of the steel. The warpage is cause from shrinking, yes shrinking. The hot metal doused by the fire hose shrinks it. Some times the steel is hardened, sometimes it's annealed and very workable. If the theory of heat destroyed the steel and prevented paint sticking had the slightest chance of even being remotely possible ,,,, explain why paint isn't jumping off every weld ? Every heat shrink? Every place passed by a shrinking disk ? Every part ever heat treated or stress released Every part ever heated and bent It's only fire cars and its because of the smoke, chemically clean the smoke off and you can paint it. That's not an easy task and the smoke gets everywhere imaginable and even places you can't imagine. The particles are small. Polish up your metal finish skills and you can dolly it back.
Try this. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428737&highlight=yes+it+that+bad Saw this in person before, and it was scrap in my mind.
Smoke is very acidic, so if the metal isn't properly neutralized, then paint wont stick. The acids in the smoke go deep into the metal, so it may require dipping the metal parts affected to get paint to stick. The fire can either anneal the metal, or the dousing with water to put the fire out can harden it, so no way to say which happened to a particular car.
Hey, Ya may wanna do some research into the rebuild of the " EL Matador ''.............burnt and bent all to shit, and today it looks as good as it did in the 60s!
It can be done, if you're up for it. My dad did it. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/32-vicky-the-rise-from-the-ashes.546502/
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