53 F500 Roof Dents
 

The roof of my 53 Ford has some dents closer to the back. I have smoothed most of them out. This is one large piece of metal. The metal is fairly thin here. Just by applying light pressure, I see the metal move. I have no headliner in yet. Should I tack a metal bar on the underside of the roof to give it mor support? There is not much support at all for the entire center. The center bar/channel does not the the roof at all. I put a piece of wood in between the channel and the roof and thats gives a little more support. Is this a concern? Or should I not worry about it?

I am not a body man but I think as long as no one stands on the roof or hay bales or construction material are not dropped on it the roof should be OK. The roofs of my two trucks are fine after being repaired and painted.

That's exactly what I thought may have happened, hit by hay bale. There were a bunch of little dents that I hammered out and will need to hit with some filler. I was going to put color on the doors on Saturday, but 16 degrees and 8" of snow prevented it

I'm no body man either, but I've seen those large "oil can" dents pop right back out.

I pushed up on the oil can and slightly dolly hammered the edges. Also heat shrunk the center of some. Then finished with a shrinking disc - that takes some time to do. Rest was minor filler.

The complex curves on a roof panel make it very strong...think of an egg shell. That said, a sharp downward force will cause the curve to buckle inward. Lawrence Petty has the right idea...apply pressure in the opposite direction of the cave-in while gently massaging the creases back down. If after you have restored the shape of the roof you still feel that it needs more support, I would suggest using some structural/panel adhesive to affix some sections of sheet metal to the underside of the roof skin. You may also gain some significant strength by applying Noico or Dynamat to the underside of the roof skin...this material not only dampens noise/vibration but it also makes it more difficult for the panel to oilcan.