The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Roof ! Not dog sound

Ok guys just a little update on the 59 and (1) Really Big Question!!!

Been working on the underneath side of floor pan. What I have accomplished is, filling pin holes, installing and forming a 12" X 18" piece with actual bend (suport)in driver side floor area, learned to weld, braze, mold 22 gauge steel. Close to finishing all areas including underneath steps. Will finish filling,sanding, priming, painting, and Rhyno coating in aprox. 2 weeks.

Now the question. ROOF!! noticed big cracks on top. Area about the size of Ohio, so I thought I would just pry out the crack and huge piece of bondo fell out. Upon looking closer the ROOF has a dent in it the size of a cement block dropped from the Empire State Building. Need some simple directions a old farn boy can handle. Do I drill a hole and try to pull back, beat the crap from inside and fill and sand! Or Good Lord try to shrink the area and fill. Please help!!! While I'm finishing bottom want to start top. Ready to get Cab off roller and back on my beautiful frame, yes I said beautiful. popcorn The truth is Out There (Not enough brain cells left but not afraid of work) Ben

Try going to a paintless dent repair shop and ask their advise.
Scott

just cut it off, then you will be ready for summer,,,,you're welcome,,,,,,,,Fred

where's the dent - is it around the outside 6", where the inner stamping makes it so ya can't work from inside? first ya gotta clean out ALL the old filler junk good, see how bad it's stretched, if at all - while yer busy thinkin it over and scopein it out, metalman or martinsr will check in and give ya the right ideas!

Bill

I bought a neat dent puller the other day. I used it on the driver's door. It has a cup about 5" in diameter, and a lever on the handle that you sqeeze up, to create the suction. I pulled and tapped the edge of the dent with a rubber mallet. It came out about 90 % and when I get the door apart, I will do the rest.

My top was caved in and I was able to pound it out. It is very heavy metal and I used a large heavy rubber mallot. It took a lot of work to get the metal back where it belonged.

Thanks guys! The dent is in from the edge far enough that I can get to it from the inside. I have got the area all cleaned of bondo, and at the deepest spot it is 1/4" down. The PO had to use almost a gallon in the area.

I'll problay go to my body shop today (finally a day off) that did our Z28 ask questions and see If I can't use their dent puller. Never heard of a paintless dent repair shop?

The saga goes on 54 yrs old and the old dog is learning new tricks every day I guess that's why we do it. popcorn The truth is out There (Carolyn give Fred his White pill NOT the Little Blue one )

Ben what you need is a Practice truck. Some thing you can work on and get your skills honed. You are welcome to come up and work on my 49! Yep you guessed it. I have just about the same thing on my roof! The PO use a gallom maybe more maybe less, but it is a 1/4" to 5/16 deep. My guess is that someone stepped on the roof and well shouldn't have!. Hope all is well Down your way. How much snow do you have? UP here we are just cold no snow.

Brian: Thanks for the offer, think I might have it figured out. I might try the welded pin method. So if anybody see's an add for a person looking for a 59 cab then we will know ooooops.

The weather has been cold, no snow just flurries. It is so nice to have heated shop!!

popcorn The Truth is Out There (ready to sell some tickets for ya)

The flat panel basics below may be of help. If the metal is to streched it may need shrinking, this is a whole different issue. Don't do any shrinking or anything like that until you have given it a lot of thought following the text below. Don't do any pounding on it that may stretch it more. Think good and hard and fully understand what it is you are doing before you do it. This damage could be very easy to fix if it is not stretched which is very likely. It is very common for a roof to be caved in and there are only small crowns around the edge that are holding it. But it could just as well be badly stretched and it is far beyond that. Just take you time and don't pound on the metal stretching it more.

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"Basics of Basics" Flat panels.

When you have a large flat panel that is flexing the first thing you need to do is find out why. Sometimes you can stop it, other times you can’t. But if you can stop it, you’ll have a much easier time with the body filler work. Hoods, decklids, and the roof are particularly difficult because the heat and weight of the plastic filler can have an effect on the metal. The good news is many times it is very easy to repair.

First off, there is no such thing as a “flat” panel. All panels that appear flat actually have a slight crown or gentle bow up in the middle. Go to a flat panel and lay a straight edge across it. You will see that the straight edge in not touching the panel at the on the outer ends. If the panel were perfectly flat it would appear to the eye to be concave. It would also have no “body” and flex very easily. This is the problem with your large flexing panel; it has “lost” its crown and is now weak and flexible.

The first place to start your search for a culprit is under the panel. Many panels have inner structure that supports the outer skin. When the outer panel has been damaged the inner structure was bent down along with the outer. This inner structure can be in the form of just a simple inch or so wide support running across the panel to the complete support by a stamped panel that goes covers the underside of the panel. These full inner structures can commonly be found on hoods and decklids. The inner structure can sometimes be bent down, causing your flexing. It usually is very close to the outer skin, with just a thin layer of a foam or urethane adhesive. It may have small “dollops” of this foam or adhesive that has been squished between the inner structure and outer skin or even a thin piece of tarpaper.

You can push up on these low spots to return it to supporting the outer skin, as it should. But it is difficult because you can’t push it past where it needs to be. On this particular type of damage, the inner structure would need to go past the correct shape and then “relax” back down to where it belongs. It can’t do this of course because the outer panel is there and limits the inner structure from going up where it needs to go. Just as with looking at the “big picture” when you look at any dent, you need to search for a kink or bend that is holding the inner structure down in that area. If you apply pressure up on the low area and tap out these kinks, you may get it to stay back in shape. If these methods don’t get it back up to support the outer panel properly, you will need to “shim” between the two panels to get the outer panel up where it belongs. This can be done with sheet of tarpaper or more adhesive. As a last resort a thin piece of wood like a paint stirring stick can be used. Of course, this is a little on the funky side but if you are haven’t been able to correct the problem, something has to be done. What you have to watch out for is applying too much pressure in one area. If you were to force a piece of wood in there, you will likely be making a high spot on the outside. That would just give you in a whole new problem.

Sight down the body lines that are nearest the low, “oil canning” , or just plain flexing area. A body line is effectively the “edge” of the panel. Those crowns in the flat panel that I mention end at the body line. So each area in between the lines is sort of like an individual panel. Look to see if the body line is low, it may be holding down your panel. If it is, you need to push it up. To help you determine how straight the line is sometimes you can use a metal ruler as a “straight edge”. How can this be done on a crowned panel you ask? A metal carpenters yard stick will bend very easily, right? So what you do is lay the yard stick on it’s back against the panel and apply a little pressure on the outward edges low area where the metal is OK. You will then have a “curved straight edge”. I have a drawer with a number of these metal or aluminum rulers in it and find them very useful. I treat them like rice paper and they will last a lifetime.

So lets say that you have found that you have no low spots in the body lines or there were one or two and you repaired them. Now you have to look for something else that is holding the panel down. This can usually be found in the form of a “crown” or “brow”. When you put a dent in any panel the metal has to “go” somewhere. All panels have this crown, right? So as an example picture a metal rod that is 3 feet long. This rod has a slight bend to it. The center of the rod is up from the ends about three inches. If you were to push down on the center, the rod would get “longer”, right? So, if the ends of the rod were clamped in vices, the “extra” rod would force the areas on the sides of where you were pushing to go up. You panel does the same thing only on a much smaller scale. Most brows will be found on the outer edges of a panel, this includes of course at the edge of the body line. They are VERY common around the outer edges of a roof. Search around the outer edges of ANY bent roof and you will find them.

The brow or crown is a U, C, L or even I shaped high spot. In the center of that curved high spot is a low spot, sort of like a “pocket” in the brow. Just one or two of these will make a panel, especially a large panel look like a cotton sheet! What you have to do is to push up on that low spot while tapping down on the brow. When I say “tap” I mean TAP. Just the weight of the hammer bouncing off the brow will do it sometimes. Use a large VERY flat body hammer or a flat body spoon for this repair. If you are careful you can repair these brows with little to no plastic filler. Just take you time and keep checking the area with a block with sand paper or a vexon file if you have one for low and high spots.

Now, if you simply can eliminate the brow and low spot, you have won the battle. If it takes some plastic filler, so be it, you have given the panel it’s strength back and that is what matters.

MARTINSR: I understand exactly what you are saying, printed your response just for follow up. Looks like a tree limb smacked the roof. In my language; there is 2 valleys with a hump between them. So I'll follow directions and THANK YOU for the help. popcorn The Truth is Out There (I can do this. I can do this.)

I had the same dent on my 46. Looked to me like someone's fat arse, what a silly place to sit. The weather here in vancouver yesterday was 72 sanding parts in the driveway getting a tan, cherry blossom's and dafodills already out and cut the lawn for the 3rd time

We have paintless dent repair in our shop. They use special tools to massage the backside of the dent so not to damage the paint. It's time consuming, but a good PDR person can make most dent disappear for chump change. It's a popular method here in hail country.
Scott