I'm AXracer and you're not. (old SNL joke for those too young to remember the original and only good SNL)
A really productive weekend of banging on sheet metal. I have updated my gallery with some pix documenting the events.
Started off Fri evening with the arrival of Kevin (ksmith302) and his truck building buddy Mike. They had driven 8 hrs from Ohio just to see the show. Now that's dedication!!!
A PO had bondoed over some good sized dents in Gracie's otherwise pristine sheet metal, mainly the rear 1/2 of both rear fenders and the driver's side cowl panel in front of the door. I could see there was some flattening of the fender bead that runs around the wheel well from what looked like a sideswipe on each side, and some feeling and tapping made it obvious the fenders had more than metal on them. There was a general lumpiness to the cowl panel. This just would not do, Gracie deserved a clean smooth complexion!
Last weekend I had removed the paint from the driver's side rear fender to expose the expected bondo. Whoever did the paint prep had no idea how to do metal repair (thank goodness, a poor repair is harder to fix than one left alone) and had put on filler up to 1/2" thick in the dents, and added a extra brace under the fender to push it out some. some careful grinding showed dented but otherwise nearly pristine sheet metal. The surprise was finding 4 spots of brass where small holes (bullet holes?) had been filled by brazing. In the straightening process the brass started cracking and flaking (NEVER braze bodywork!). The only solution was to cut out the brass contaminated sheet metal and weld in patches. While cutting the patches to shape there was an extremely rare sighting of the legendary "hole creature" to lighten the mood (see pix for an even rarer albeit fuzzy picture of said critter).
5 or so hours of hammer and dolly work and a heat shrink or two and the panel was returned to it's original shape. Time to test out the new shrinking disk! WOW! does that make small lumps and bumps removal easy and nearly polishes the metal at the same time revealing any low spots. The bullseye pick made short work of bumping up the low spots and that fender was nearly done.
This Sat we (Kevin, Mike and I with support from Donna, who got a rare replacement for her usual second bannana duties) tackled the other rear fender. The story was the same there, a sideswipe had flattened the wheel arch bead and left a couple deep horizontal dents. No brass this time, thank goodness, just a thick layer of filler to remove. The dent was a little higher up this time, nearly on top of the joint between the load floor, fender and wheel well, making straightening of the bead more problematic. I decided to leave the deatil work on that area alone for the time being so as to not waste the time tapping and working around the obstacles it would require while my "students" were there. I once again demonstrated the use of the shrinking disk and heat shrinking out a couple oilcans that appeared.
While I refined the surface a little more with the bullseye pick Kevin and Mike removed Gracie's driver side front fender and door to get ready to tackle that area first thing Sunday. We quit at that point so I could take them to experience NC's fine fresh seafood bounty at a local seafood house.
Sun AM we finished watching the Covell video "Basic Techniques for Working with Steel" that we had started watching during Saturday's breakfast, then headed back out to the Garagemahal to see what was going on with that lumpy cowl panel. A lot of pink dust creation revealed that some time in her history the driver's door had been badly sprung back leaving a perfect deep impression of the door edge in the panel. The hinges and possibly the whole door must have been replaced since neither showed any signs of the collateral damage that would have also occured with such an impact.
I was so glad that repair to the damage had not been attempted and the lumpiness I was concerned about was just in the 3/4" thick layer of bondo that covered it.
I demonstrated the best technique for repairing collision damage of analizing what forces and direction of those forces caused the damage, then slowly reversing those forces while tapping around the dent to unfold it starting from the outside working in to the center. We used my suddenly tempermental portapower and expanding jaw in conjunction with a series of wooden cauls to push the metal back into place from behind.
It was now time for our newest friends to leave for the real world of Ohio, so after some goodbyes and we'll do it again soon promises they were off, and Donna and I returned to tending to Gracie's "injuries". It took 3 heat shrinks to reduce the extra metal the stretching of the impact had produced, but the panel was soon nearly as good as new, and will only require a skim coat of 1/16" or less to erase all traces. That is well within my definition of a job well done.
I then turned my attention back to the still lumpy fender bead on the pass side. I made a tool out of an old long slender cold chisel to slip up in between the panels to work the edge of the bead back onto shape then with about 10,000 small taps with the ball end of a ball peen hammer and the small end of a plastic torpedo mallet I worked the concaved transition back into it's proper form while truing and straightening the edge of the bead.
I am pleased with the results of my efforts so far, next weekend I will tackle a bunch of smaller dents around the body. After that it will be time to finish the work on the dashboard and build a new console to house the sound system and controls. Stay tuned!
We now return you to the previously scheduled discussions...

 

Ax, when does the next class start? It takes a really dedicated builder to make the time to really show others the finer points of metal working and body work. I'm glad we have a member around here so dedicated. That said, I need to make the trip so I can get "educated" and start on the final body work on my 53.

Thanks for all of the tips and education you have given us, Jeff

 

AX!! He called you a member! Pfffbbbttt!!!

Good on ya AX. Gracie is gonna be very sharp! (Im still lovin' the fact that she still sports the solid axle!) As usual, looks great!

 

Any and all are welcome! Best hurry tho before I'm done. The next major project will be the console. It will be made from scratch and I expect I will be using a lot of hand forming, wood hammer forms, and wood buck to work over.

 

AX
I sure wish I lived closer than I do cause I'd be your #1 student. But I can't so if you'll just keep on with all the good wright ups your puttin on here. I'll try to keep up. RUSTY

 

well then, keep asking for help with specific questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

 

Ax did a great job of explaining metal work to me. I am extremely grateful to him for his patience. He explained to first determine what caused the damage, then reverse the damage back out. I have ordered my own heat shrinking disk and a set of torpedo hammers. I for one will be back for the class on console building. I want to build a console for the 51 F6 which I am working on now. We had a great time down south. A big thank you to Donna as well, she treated us like family.

 

That's where the term Southern Hospitality comes from.
Thanks for the compliments and the dinner!

 

Sheeesh! All these years, Ive been avoiding the South like the plague. I thought the term was "Southern hostility." I really need to have my hearing tested!
OK, serious for a second. AX, ever think of trying the console in fiberglass? You could use thin wall conduit for the shape and cover in resin and matting. Just a thought.

 

AX,

You're the man! If I were closer I would jump at the opportunity to learn some skills. It sure sounds like you all had a great weekend.

Your write up of the methodology is a big help to those of us who are too far away to see it in person.

Kevin, Now if you pull it off right, thenext time you visit AX you will have to drive your own truck down there and do the old Tom Sawyer thing and get all the dents banged out of your fenders.....just kidding. Glad you had fun.

This is a great site
Bobby

 

Amen to all the accolades. I'm mostly a reader at the moment just trying to get a clue, and all the tips and tricks from Ax and others are a huge benefit for those of us who lack experience. I wholeheartedly agree with the praise towards Ax, and the rest of you can pat yourselves on the back a bit too for your contributions. Thanks for sharing. I'll be reading.

 

Nah, I was doing the Tom Sawyering! Got Kev and Mike to work on Gracie...

Todd, I keep going back and forth on using metal or using FG, I'm pretty comfortable with both materials but the shape I've got in mind is pretty easy to create in metal, and would still utilize a conduit or rod framework. Metal is a lot less messy and quicker if the shapes are not too elaborate. I'll make the final decision when I mock it up in the truck and finalize the shape. It's likely I will use FG over stretch fabric for speaker pods and such where I want a flowing shape.

 

ax,i didn't get as much done as you did,but i did get the frame bushing's in my frame for the shackle's,primer,sand and paint the frame along with all other spring part's.on sunday i took the straight axle all apart.

 

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Your the man AX! Personally, I can't stand metalwork or bodywork. More than likely because I'm lousy at it. LOL... I spent the better part of the weekend removing those welded on bolts from the bedwalls and fenders of my truck. I recall, I think it was Albuq stating it takes him 5 mins to get one out? What the heck was I doing wrong? First I centered punched the bolt, center drilled, then drilled it with a 5/16 drill. Then used my hand grinder and grinded it flush and finally put a new stainless carriage bolt in. After the first 4-5, I started getting good, not to mention not frying my paint with the grinder. It took me about 45 mins to do one. So considering there are 20. It was a project. I finally finished them today and I like the look. Would I do it again. No way baby!. My right shoulder has had it and my body can't take it anymore. LOL... I think it would be easier for me to drive to North Carolina and let AX do it. Smile! Not really, looking back, I guess I could say it was an enlightening experience...