Help with Oilcanning

I have a section on my hood that is oilcanning and need to figure out how to correct the problem. I am not quite sure if it needs to be shrunk or stretched. In the picture below the area marked with the 1 is slightly low but doesn't move. The circled area marked with a 2 is low. The area marked with the X is at the correct height but if I push on it the area marked with the 2 moves up as the area I push on moves down.The rest of the hood seems to be fine just these couple of spots. Any advice as to where to shrink or stretch would be appreciated.

 

I am no expert but I'd say its the weld seam to the right

 

My thought would be to shrink the low #2 spot, and then push them both up. But I'm far from the body expert.

 

If its already a low, shrinking won't bring it back up. Oil canning is tuff. Hopefully one of the experts will chime in. Good luck, You'll get it just another obstacle.

 

A trick they taught us at college many years ago is to use a stick of brass in the stick welder and drag it across the panel. As it arcs it draws the metal in and tightens the panel. It does work however I haven't tried it for many years.

 

I would have as well but the problem was there before the welded seam and I wasn't smart enough to take care of it before hand. It didn't really seem to make it any worse.

 

when did it start oil.canning? generally speaking if it was after welding then you need to stretch the weld back out by hammering on-dolly. you can hammer out to the edge of the 'blued' area but stay mainly on the weld.
however ...if the oil canning is due to a dent that your trying to remove...then look for the area or point in the metal where the loose metal 'hinges' and slowly hammer on-dolly (and i do mean slowly) till the low area will stay up where you want it.Oil canning occurs because of tight spots or tension in the metal....which is why hot shrinks may cause oil canning.
it looks to me that your working alongside a welded then leaded seam so i'm just guessing that in melting out the lead like it is ,too much heat was used which caused the adjacent sheetmetal to buckle somewhat .
from your description of what happens when you push down at the X, i'd say you need to hammer on dolly right about where your pen line passes between the X and the 2....I would shy away from shrinking the metal in case you introduce more tension into the area.
its hard to advise from a photo what to do specifically but jI'm sure if you proceed slowly you'll ease that buckle right out.
Hope I've been of some help to you K13, PB

 

yup that method works on flat panels but is the kiss of death for trying to run a file over the metal as it super hardens the metal where it touches...ok if you gona use a little filler tho.