Still waiting for the call to bring it into the shop for the body and paint work, so not really. I have finally decided on a colour though. No I'm not telling you. I am feeling very inspired by the PCH Rods C10...

I've spent the last little while on the BMW to prep it for winter. Priorities. Don't worry, I will update when I have an update.

 

Did i see a german license plate on the BMW

 

Wow, you have a really good eye. Yes, one of the first things I did to the car was install a European plate bracket and I sourced a pre-EU German license plate from my specialty importer. If you look closely at the fender you can see the damage and bare metal from the wheel hitting it. Bare metal is not ideal in a Canadian winter. :P

 

Just thought I'd chime in and show you guys what I'm up to in school.

I never took a picture but I've painted a couple things already and I really enjoy using the spray guns. The quality in a good gun is amazing and they really give a fine finish.

I've learned to weld. Never welded before. Started with oxy/acetylene and my lap welds at least look like they're done professionally... butt welds are a different story. I cheat and tack in a filler rod between the two metals and then melt it in with the torch. Oh well, no one uses oxy anymore and what I can take from that is that more filler rod is the cure. 22 gauge really likes to burn up if you're not careful.

Also I've done MIG. I made up a frame for an old 50-something Sedan Delivery that didn't have one. Here's a picture of my first ever MIG weld. Not bad. Always room for improvement. To be honest I was surprised that it turned out looking half decent. Now that I'm getting better my welder friend is teaching me what he knows to improve me even more. I want to learn and I'm paying for his wire spools and beer so it works out. (Don't need to be 21 in Canada hahaha)




I've also learned how to do patch panels properly. I hacked out a hole in the fender of the Sedan Delivery, cut out a new piece (thankfully these older vehicles use thicker metal), spent probably an hour trimming it to fit perfectly, tacked it all around (was low light so excuse the uneven tacks - couldn't always see where exactly the wire was), ground down the tacks, welded it, and ground down the welds. Time consuming but there's no way to rush this process or you'll warp the metal.





Another thing I've learned is polishing. I'll use my BMW's hood as an example with before and after pictures.




And here's the rest of the car all shiny. It's not easy to make a black car look good.





So yeah you can bet that I'm going to polish up the F100 too.

I also did my first paintless dent repair... or any dent repair at that. My friend decided to see what happens when sheet metal meets a tree stump. The tree won that battle. It needed another hour or two of work to really finish it off but I was hungry and I was working for free so I left. I told him I'd finish another day but you can see the general idea. I was only working on the box. The cab has no rear access and I'm not even sure if an experienced guy can do a PDR on that. To be honest I never actually learned dent repairs yet, but I've been paying attention in class and the teacher had mentioned a couple techniques here and there when he was going over body hammers. For the knowledge I had going into it, I guess I did alright. Anyway, here's a before and after. You can see how it's still slightly wavy and that's what I mean by it needing a little more time but it's almost there.




A lot of my time has been spent lately cleaning the garage. When I get my truck back home from school the body will be done but I'm going to do the frame at home. It's a three bay garage in an L shape. I'm completely emptying the front two bays so that I can have tons of space to weld on my frame and the rear bay will be the general work area as well as where I'll store the cab and box. I'm about halfway done. One bay is totally empty, the other two are almost there. Will update with pictures when that's done.

 

Your polishjob looks pretty good Black is very ungrateful to polish.

 

Attaboy!... welding, polishing.....it's all about skill building.

As I have said before, "Once you weld, you'll never look at metal the same way again".

 

When I was learning to weld, about 50 years ago, an old welder told me something I've never forgotten...

"If its metal, its all adjustable"

Baja

keep up the good work, but really amigo, I doubt that you ever settle for less..

 

Well now thanks for the update Prince 2! Been wonderin' where you've been. I think it's WAY cool you're learning those skills. Number 2 "Attaboy" to you. That black sure looks DEEP now! But your shirt should say Clutch...Bang Gear...Repeat. NICE on the weld and PDR. I've never tried it but I'll bet spooning out that dent took a toll on your wrist and fore arm. You and I aren't exactly 250# body builders.
Be well young Prince. School, truck, girlfriend, and life up north in General.

 

And even more ungrateful to maintain!

I really like welding thicker metals. 22 gauge will be the death of me. Stupid modern cars. Overall though I'm enjoying it all.

Thanks, Baja. I always love your positive thoughts.

It actually says Gas, Clutch, Shift, Repeat but my hand is covering the gas. I would bang gears if I could afford the repairs! My mom taught me that a good standard driver should be able to make a standard feel no different from an automatic. I get pissed off at myself if I go to shift and I see the RPM needle move. I like my clutch to stay intact! Admittedly though I am a young male driving a RWD car with a LSD in the back so... she spins 'em on occasion. Let's just say that this is my third set of tires.

As for the dent, I just made sure to heat it up really well to get most of it out. This does two things: one, it keeps the paint flexible and it won't crack when you go to bang out the dent and two, it kinda makes the steel a little easier to shape. Then I took a massive rubber deadblow sledge hammer to the back of it and got most of the shape back. After that it was a few hours with a hammer and dolly, both wrapped in masking tape so as to not hurt the paint. It was a little awkward though because I was underneath the truck holding metal tools above my head for a couple hours (I don't care how strong you are, holding anything above you for hours will get tiring) but I'm not a quitter.

 

AHHH. That would be quicker than what I've heard about what the PDR guys do around here. But I think they only mess with door dings and such. I heard they use tools called spoons. And massage the ding or dent out from the outside towards the middle. I would like to see this in practice. I know in every ding or dent the metal is "stretched" somewhere.
And on the T-shirt, I was joking and reverting back to my 83 Mustang GT days Built by me. Literally from a shell out. For being only 302 cubic inches that thing was a ground pounder. I LOVED rowing through those 5 gears and beating every single Camaro or Firebird that made the mistake of woofing on me. Once I totally destroyed a 1989ish Taurus SHO. OOOOO the old days....................

 

Correct. Every dent involves stretched metal. The low point would be stretched and the high point would be compressed. Fixing it is simply a matter of undoing what was done to the thickness of the metal, really. What you have to understand is that surrounding every low point is a high point. In a non-PDR situation what you'd often do is counter-intuitive. Your first thought would be to go behind the panel and hammer the dent back from behind, what what a bodyman would typically do is put a dolly on the back side and hit the high point of the dent from the outside. That being said, no two dents are the same. That's why bodywork is like an artform and mechanical repair is more of a science.

PDR is typically only used on shallow dents, such as door dings, hail damage, or when your drunk buddy decides to sit in the middle of your hood. On a lot of shallow dents what you can do is heat the high point which surrounds the dent and then you can sort of freeze the low point. This causes the high point to want to expand and the low point to want to contract. Pop. Here's a video.


There are many other ways to do it though, both more professional and less professional. Technically, any repair that involves not painting can be considered a PDR. If that involves using hammers and dollies with tape wrapped around them, sure, that too can be a PDR. It doesn't always have to be touchless. Usually though if you have to start pulling out hammers, it won't turn out perfectly without paint.

The most extreme PDR I've see though was actually on my dad's tailgate a few months ago. Someone parked the truck with a trailer's gooseneck in the box and then closed the tailgate. He wasn't paying attention and got in the truck without noticing. He went to drive away aaand... this happened.




How'd they fix it? They heated it up and drove on it. Yes you are reading that correctly. I don't have any pictures of the final product nor have I actually seen it in person but my dad says you'd never know it was damaged.

 

Imports and 22g metal is not an issue with .023 wire.

.030 wire and the needed amperage will burn through.

 

Yeah I use .023 but it still requires finesse. I can do it fine but it'll never be my preferred metal.

 

Trozei, you're a remarkable young man. Learn the trade well and it will serve you kindly.
As you can tell body work is an art form. I do aluminum grilles and aluminum trim pieces, this takes time and patience.
I get emails and phone calls asking me to teach someone how to reshape or just repair a dent/crease on an aluminum piece. Sometimes I have to ignore these requests as the individual does not have the tools to tackle this, nor is it something you can teach over the phone. I probably have 30 different body hammers, most of them I made myself. You have to have passion to do a good job.
Keep up the good work, soak up all that knowledge like a sponge. It will definitely pay off.

 

Thanks, Rob! I've always loved seeing your work.