Pounding out a dent, Dent size = Hammer size Options

[Spoke]

I've decided to keep my wrecked red car until my new 74 2L 914 from Part Pricer is road ready.

I just needed to pound out a few dents to get Big Red back on the road.

Here's a couple of before pics.

[Spoke]

Here's some pics now. I don't have any special repair tools, just one heavy sledge hammer, a 20 oz hammer, some small body hammers and dollies, and an Audi scissor jack.

[Spoke]

Here's one way that I've used the Audi jack. In this position, the jack was able to pull the fender out quite nicely. I think the fender is still about 1/2 inch lower than the driver side, but it's getting close.

[Spoke]

From the back, the trunk is starting to look like it did before. First I'm getting the metal to the right position, then I'll work it to get it into shape.

The wood in the back of the trunk was used to support the Audi jack when pushing the back end of the car back into shape.

The engine seems to run ok, and the loud exhaust noise has been traced to a loose header bolt so it should be ok. I've driven the car around the block a few times without issue.

[Spoke]

I'll also pound out the rear bumper, haven't gotten there yet. The valence has minimal damage, just a few dents and one screw hole pulled out.

I will need a passenger side taillight assembly. I have extra lenses. Also need the rear trunk lock actuator.

[Part Pricer]

Nice work. A little bondo and some touch up paint and you're good to go. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smash.gif) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smash.gif) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smash.gif)

I thought that I may have had a trunk lock actuator in the parts stash. But, I went down and looked, no such luck. I went down to the garage in my bare feet. Damn, it's cold.

[Kargeek]

Nice work! I have done a lot of body work over my 30 years of fooling around with cars and at one time I was taught metal finishing and body repair by a top notch body man. The key thing to keep in mind when pulling out collision damage is to reverse the process of the impact. Look at how the vehicle was impacted, what damage was done first and the secondary damage. We would put unibody cars like 914’s on a frame machine and set up a pull say, for a right side rear quarter and apply initial pull pressure but not completely back to shape. Sometimes rear damage would transfer to the front of the car with a ripple to fender etc. and during the pull we would work out the front damage first as that was that last area of damage that happened to the car during its accident.

Same thing goes for managing a fender dent. Apply reverse pressure to the center of the damage and work out the dent from the outside areas that are least damaged. It's amazing with patience and the right body tools how you can manage metal back into shape. Good luck!

[bondo]

Dang, I'm impressed. I've got a porta-power and I don't know if I would have tried tackling that.

[John Kelly]

Nice job!

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

[Spoke]

Still working on the damage. Don't make much progress working 1-2 hours every 2-3 days. Here's the latest pics. I'm welding split seams and a couple of cuts and holes that I made.

Just welded the seam between the rear fender and rear panel just below the tail light opening. Also welded the tail light hangers.

[Spoke]

Welded the floor pan to the wheel well. The long weld on the wheel well repaired a cut that I made to make unfolding the wheel well easier.

[drewvw]

bringing her back slow and steady, I like it.... (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smash.gif)

Nice hammer collection in the trunk there (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif)

[Spoke]

The fender is starting to get back to its original shape. Some of the metal has been stretched by the accident. How do I get it to go back to its original shape?

[Spoke]

Nother side view.

[Spoke]

Tail light fits pretty well. I've used cardstock to make templates to get the proper shape of the corner.

[Spoke]

The trunk is the next project. The hinge on this side needs adjusted. The edge of the trunk with the paint knocked off is where the actual impact happened.

[Spoke]

I noticed this little crack by the passenger door before the wreck. It got bigger after the wreck so I decided to grind it down to find about 1/4 inch of bondo.

[Spoke]

Picked up a chrome bumper in Jersey. $10 from Ebay. Someone mounted a trailor hitch to the car so there's some extra holes on each side. The bumper's very solid.

[John]

You have done an amazing job getting the car back in shape.

QUOTE

The fender is starting to get back to its original shape. Some of the metal has been stretched by the accident. How do I get it to go back to its original shape?

I wish I could answer your question about shrinking metal, but I have the same question.

I have heard of shrinking hammers, but don't know how they work or how to use them. I have also heard of shrinking disks, but again don't really know what they are or how to use them. I know that there is a guy here that does absolutely AWESOME metal work and even he said you were doing a nice job. (John Kelly)

I would love to learn to do some of the metal shaping that he can do.

[Dave_Darling]

Heat will shrink the metal. Ask JP about how his car flexed a little when he welded in his roll cage. John Kelly (sp?) sells a "shrinking disk", which seems to be a large copper or copper-coated disk that you chuck into your drill and then spin against whatever metal you want shrunk. The friction heats the metal and shrinks it. (Going from memory, but I think that was what it was.)

The "rear trunk latch cam" should be available from most of the usual parts places. Hmmm... OK, it doesn't seem to be available from us, for whatever reason. I believe that Weltmeister makes a nylon version; we ought to be able to get it I would think. If not, I'm sure the "other" PP place in L.A. can--and GPR probably can as well.

Or PartPricer?

--DD