"Before I suggest to someone how to fix an oil can, it is best to find out what kind of oil can you are dealing with, first and foremost.
I consider there are two kinds, a tight oil can and a loose oil can, each will require a different method of repair."
Good morning Robert.
Maybe I should clarify how the term "oilcan" was used in the body repair class I took. It was used to describe an area where metal was stretched. The most obvious example is a dented (stretched) area of a flat bed side, bed front or tailgate. Since the metal was stretched to make the dent, the metal must be shrunk to make the metal flat again.
Here's the technique I was taught:
1. With an oxy-acetylene torch heat an area the size of a dime in the center of the dent to bright red heat, very quickly shut off torch.
2. The heat will cause the metal to expand upward to an extreme degree looking like the conical top of a volcano.
3. While holding a dolly block behind the still red hot metal strike the CENTER of the cone with a body hammer, making the center lower than it was and now surrounded by a raised rim.
4. With the dolly block still in place tap around the RIM of the raised area pushing the rim down towards the dolly block. By now the metal is no longer red but is still very hot.
5. Place shop rag saturated with water on and around the area just worked on.
That simple procedure has the effect of thickening the metal in the area that was worked on lessening the "oil can" condition. For a very slightly stretched condition once is enough. If the metal is very stretched the procedure is repeated as much as necessary. This obviously requires some practice on scraps to learn. It's like tig welding in that regard.
This is an example of actual "metal work". Bondo slathering is not metal work, it is plastering that hides defects rather than removing them. The thing that made actual metal work appealing to me when I took the class in the very early 1970s is that the instructor described it as a "lost art". It seems that our antique trucks are also at risk of becoming "lost art" and deserve to be treated properly.
To each his own but I can't even imagine drilling holes in a vintage vehicle body for fastening plywood stiffeners to the inside. To me that makes the problem vastly worse because what was previously a repairable stretched area is now full of holes and exposed screw heads.
Last edited by yar; 02/10/2018 2:47 PM.
