Doing my own panel beating: any others, or professionals?
 

Hello all:

Took some time to talk to John Kelley of Ghia Specialities (http://www.ghiaspecialties.com/) here in town about doing my own panel beating on the various dents in my SC. As far as I can tell, I believe I can cover most all of those that I can get behind, but will probably ask a body shop to postweld/pull the smaller dents that I cannot get behind. I do have a nice fold at the rear flare that I will leave either to last or give up and let a pro handle (compound curve is hard to do for a newbie).

Anyone else have this fascination with metal work? Could I hear from any pros about their most basic screwups and what to avoid? I'd also love to hear from anyone in the Seattle/NorthWest area who can lend me their time for pay to oversee my work. John is just too busy!

I'll be tooling up with quality hammers and dollies. If anyone out there is selling any Martin or SnapOn beating tools I would be very interested in hearing from you.

Thanks for listening and wish me luck. John (who beats BEAUTIFUL 914 flares http://metalshapers.org/cgi-bin/community/communityalbums.cgi?action=openalbum&albumid=99801 09691714) believes that any novice, with care and due diligence, can beat out a dent as well or better than a professional working against his clock and hourly. Certainly though any professional with lots of time could do this job to perfection.

John

Yes and no. Mostly no. Beating, however carefully, will stretch the metal. It will be longer than it was before. For example, if there is a crease, or a place where the metal has been stretched, one of the better techniques is to drill little holes along the most stretched part, so that when you beat it back into place, the extra metal has a place to accumulate. The holes are patched toward the end of the procedure.

Small dents, sure. But where the metal has been stretched, it's a tough job for anybody.

Super:

A technique to retract the metal back is called Shrinking Disk (see SunChaser tools). You heat the metal using a disk on a Makita at around 6K rotation and cool it with a wet rag as the metal blues up. Unlike most heat methods, this will not cause hard spots that resist working later.

I am also told to avoid the spike hammers. They are supposed to retract metal but can lead to more problems elsewhere.

John

Sounds like you've done your homework. When you're finished, I'll bring you the tailgate from my wife's SUV.

I had the benefit of having an entire tub to practice on, with room to make mistakes. Hmm. What can I say except that for all the tools you buy and books you can read, you will have to develop a "feel" for the metal. It will communicate with you as you shape it; you have to listen to what it is telling you or you will make mistakes that can be difficult to repair. Do you have any pieces you can practice on? I'd recommend doing some practice before tackling panels which have exterior visibility (ie flares, fenders)

What Super is saying has some truth to it. What's missing is, just as steel can be stretched, it can be compressed. The trick is knowing how to push on a dent to get what was stretched to be compressed.
Also, DO NOT DRILL! . . .you'll go from having a problematic dent to a problematic hole. Weld studs will give you the same type of pull spot; if that is needed.

John, I remember the one above the tail light. That one you should be able to get behind w/ a dolly and bounced out.

I'll be glad to lend a bit of time, for such a worthy cause. . . also, can (likely) find my hamers and dollies, but it's been a while.

Super (and DTW):

As the others have said, get a practice piece first (so feel free to bring that tailgate up SuperJim!). I will be practicing on whatever I can find at the body shops that sitting out back!

Island:
I am open to borrowing your tools for $$. I will also dress the tools when done.

The first thing I need to do is ID each and every dent, separate them into categories 1) Can't do 2) Can do, but need dent pulled by pro to start and 3) can do the entire dent.

A question on door: can you get right to the dent from the backside by stripping the door? I can't remember if there is body material or ? preventing backside access.

John

Whereabouts? The door shell has a few holes in it, yes, and your access will be enhanced if you pull the glass and other garbage in there. If you've never worked inside a 911 door before, you will be shocked at how much *****e there is in there. There probably won't be room for good solid hammer blows.

Dave:

Through the Past Darkly. I seem to remember all of this over the times I have stripped the door (twice now). I think you must be correct: everything must be lined up just so to get an effective whack at it.

Probably best to do the weld/stud method and pull it I am thinking.

John