Body / Glass: Any advice on removing dents HERE? Lucky day comes to an end with a BANG

[bsrosell]

Well, the day was going to good I guess. Found NOS front fenders from a good friend for my '57 Golden Hawk, and had finally gotten around to getting my old "visible gas pump" sandblasted and primed, trying to get it out of the shop and out of the way before winter. (See photo). All set up to do the priming/painting in a crowded shop. As long as no one opens the garage door, I'm fine! I even thought to lock-out (or hit the lock button, obviously didn't work) in case my wife hit the wrong remote in my van again, but wasn't too concerned as I'm the only one who drives it.....
9PM, my son asks for some electrical tape, I tell him where it is in the shop.... and you guessed it, he used the keyless remote on the big garage door instead of taking keys out to open the man-door. Never even occurred to me he'd do that, but should have, my fault, not his....
Anyway, any opening the door knocked that big pump over and the top pipes landed on the deck-lid seal area of the trunk (see photos).
It is all crimped and enclosed, no-where to pound.... how can I ever get that straight again?
I'm just sick about it, even thought about turning the breaker off for the door but thought i'd "protected" myself already... Live and learn, the hard way.
At least it didn't fall on him. Some things more important than old cars....

[(S)]

I'd clamp the deepest part with a small vise grip and hook it to a heavy slide hammer enough so you can re- set up and pull it out slowly. Start at the deepest spot, then move up and down the edge.

[Don Jeffers]

Hate to be a contrarian, but . . .

I'd start at the ends and work to the middle from both ends, together.

It will work out and look good. It isn't that bad. Start a new day and have fun!


Regards

[bsrosell]

Thanks guys, Sunday's always make me grateful (for more reasons than one!), and thinking over again how much more important my son is than a car; not that he was really in any danger, that big pump really could only go IN (towards the car) as the door caught it, but a good reminder none-the-less of how unintended and innocent ACCIDENTS happen all the time, he's 16 and driving now too, (heaven help me when the other four kids get their licences !!) and I'm just grateful for the gift of a great son and a good reminder to treasure him and the other kids more than 'stuff'. He did forgive me for my childish tirade by the way, good kid! :-) Now on to the minor annoyance in the great scheme of things, the dent:
I know what a slide-hammer is; but the only one I'm familar with I saw in a body shop years ago when I worked on my Model-A Ford in high school. The body-shop guy would WELD (spot-weld?) the thing (perhaps via an attachment?) to a door panel that had a ding, whack the slide hammer out and pull the dent out without actually cutting any metal (and reduce the body work to minor crease instead of big dent).
Is that what you are talking about here? I'm scratching my head trying to envision attaching a slide-hammer to a vise grip though. DID consider welding something to the deepest valley, buying an auto-body slide-hammer and trying that way, with a jack & 2x4 lifting up right underneath it and pushing up tightly enough to barely start lifting car off the ground but not denting the UNDERSIDE too :-)
Is that the same type of slide hammer? I guess I should go to Eastman or TP Tools website and look up 'slide hammers', maybe there are different options available than what I've seen.

[wolfie]

Better tool suppliers have a clamp made for this application. It is a clamp with holes to attach a pull point such as your slide hammer to. If the area behind that lip is also dented you will want a stud welder to pull that area. Steve

[rockinhawk]

There is a vice grip tool that the heat and air people use on ductwork. It has a wide flange(3"?) inplace of the jaws of regular V/Gs. I have a pair and use them all the time for such repairs. Good luck. NT

[sweetolbob]

Thanks guys, Sunday's always make me grateful (for more reasons than one!), and thinking over again how much more important my son is than a car; not that he was really in any danger, that big pump really could only go IN (towards the car) as the door caught it, but a good reminder none-the-less of how unintended and innocent ACCIDENTS happen all the time, he's 16 and driving now too, (heaven help me when the other four kids get their licences !!) and I'm just grateful for the gift of a great son and a good reminder to treasure him and the other kids more than 'stuff'. He did forgive me for my childish tirade by the way, good kid! :-) Now on to the minor annoyance in the great scheme of things, the dent:
I know what a slide-hammer is; but the only one I'm familar with I saw in a body shop years ago when I worked on my Model-A Ford in high school. The body-shop guy would WELD (spot-weld?) the thing (perhaps via an attachment?) to a door panel that had a ding, whack the slide hammer out and pull the dent out without actually cutting any metal (and reduce the body work to minor crease instead of big dent).
Is that what you are talking about here? I'm scratching my head trying to envision attaching a slide-hammer to a vise grip though. DID consider welding something to the deepest valley, buying an auto-body slide-hammer and trying that way, with a jack & 2x4 lifting up right underneath it and pushing up tightly enough to barely start lifting car off the ground but not denting the UNDERSIDE too :-)
Is that the same type of slide hammer? I guess I should go to Eastman or TP Tools website and look up 'slide hammers', maybe there are different options available than what I've seen.

The visegrip method should pull up the flanged area and a stud welder can get the rest.

This is the stud welder from HF that I've used and loaned out for four years or so. http://www.harborfreight.com/stud-we...kit-98357.html

If you plan on more body work it is a worth while investment. The puller (included) is not the most heavy duty but welding a bar on a cheap vise grip could get it adapted also. Otherwise, add $20 to the cost and buy the slide hammer also http://www.harborfreight.com/15-piec...-set-5469.html and connect it to a vise grip.

Bob

[junior]

There is a vice grip tool that the heat and air people use on ductwork. It has a wide flange(3"?) inplace of the jaws of regular V/Gs. I have a pair and use them all the time for such repairs. Good luck. NT

Those are called hand seamers, and I agree, they should do the trick. Junior

[gordr]

Could be a lot worse. The iron could have fallen on a freshly-painted trunk lid.

This is a job tailor-made for a stud welder kit. I bought a kit when they were on sale at a local tool dealer. It does a fine job. See if you can rent the kit. Good rental shops may have them, or FLAPS that are heavy into autobody supplies. Alternatively, see if you can find a body man at a local shop who will moonlight for an evening. This should take under an hour for trained guy with a stud welder.

If you are determined to do it yourself, without a stud welder, get a box of #8 by 3/4" Tek screws. These are self-drilling sheet metal screws. Best to get them with Robertson (square socket) head, and the driver bit to go with them. Drive them into the dent using a cordless drill for power (easy peasy), and then use them as pull points. You could probably use a claw hammer to pull on them, if you are careful that you don't push some other area down with the hammer. I have used these for years.

[bsrosell]

thanks guys, if the local body-shop guy here in Stillwater I know were not so busy, I'd try him (shucks, I still might call him and ask).
Definitely a job I'd be happy to pay for and pretend it never happened and not look close there again :-)

In liue of that, I appreciate the tips if I have to do it myself. But FIRST, to get that doggone gas-pump painted and out of my shop so I HAVE a shop again.
(by the way, I threw the circuit breaker on the garage door opener this time. At least it won't happen twice! And yes, at least it didn't fall on a freshly painted ANYTHING on the car. I'm much calmer about it today :- )

[SN-60]

To: bsrosell,-----Don't mean to discourage You, but this type of accident damage, although confined to a small area, is quite difficult to repair and get right by someone without bodyshop
experience and tools. If Your GH is eventually going to be sent to a body shop for final finishing, etc., stay away from this area,..... leave it to the bodyshop to fix. Once again, this is an example
of very difficult bodywork to someone without the correct tools or experience....whereas in a good body shop it can be made 'like new' in about an hour. Good luck

[rockne10]

I'm thinking this multi-layered channel stamping will be difficult to pull with vise clamps or stud welders. It can be accomplished but, due to the nature of the stout era steel I think a more aggressive puller will be required.

[63 R2 Hawk]

The double metal is too heavy for a stud welder. I would get a clamp, as mentioned above and chain it to an engine hoist. Start putting some moderate upward lift to the clamp (don't try to pick up the entire car!) while tapping the bulged out portion with a flat body hammer and maybe use a stud welder on the single panel area. You may have to use some judiciuos heat from an acetylene torch or even drill out the spot welds-you can buy a special drill bit for that- to finish reshaping the panels. Use plug welds to reweld the spot weld areas once you've got it straight. Takes time, patience and finesse. I used to work in a body shop and that's how we would fix something like that, except we'd do it on a specially equipped frame rack.

[Bordeaux Daytona]

This slide hammer at harbor freight looks like a copy of the OTC one I have. There's an adapter shown in the middle of the picture of the box that screws into the back of a vise grip when you take the original out. It works pretty good and the weight is larger. The other attachments have come in handy over the years too.

http://www.harborfreight.com/17-piece-heavy-duty-slide-hammer-kit-5223.html

[Jeff_H]

Before spending a lot of time on trying to pull out the damage, Id check for rust on the ends of this panel where it attaches to the fenders/trunk sidewalls on each end first. There was enough rust on this car's floors that would be worth going over with a pick hammer looking for thin spots. It would be worth making sure its worth fixing. Cary's Fabricating makes a excellent reproduction of this box panel should yours be found rusted out.