The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop smoothing pounded out dents

I have never done body work before. Following a friends advice, I used a small ball pien hammer to pound out small dents in an oil pan. It worked pretty good. Now the metal is pretty straight but sort of has an orange peel type texture where the dents were. How do you straighten this out and make it feel smooth? Thanks

All of your answers are right here in this article.... http://www.autobodystore.com/ms13.htm

Brian

bigmacdaddy,

My two cents. I would call it good with the little dimples. The pan is a mechanical part of the engine so to speak. Shrinking, grinding and chiseling in the name of bodywork might damage the integrity of this part and lead to a crack or a leak! All but new pans have bumps and lumps...it's part of being near the pavement. Save the 'metal bumping' for the body where it will be seen.

Stuart

Can you say, "obsessive compulsive" ? Yeah, you are right. I'm just thinking about how it will look and in the pictures before it goes in the truck. I'll be sanding it and powdercoating it w/ high temp clear, like my valve cover. I'll be doing the same with M.C. lid and the twin old school air cleaners.

you can tak jb weld put it on the dempled area and put masking tape over it shape it smooth with your hand let it harden remove tape sand smooth and its ready for paint wont take you 5 minutes

i personally would not use a body file or any on the pan as you dont want to thin out the most important part of your motor, that pan cracks or springs a leak an ya not payin attention to the gauge ...an ALL KINDA BAD STUFF COULD HAPPEN while out on a cruise ...I like the JB filler as above ...if ya want a smooth look for the Judge at the car show

bigmacdaddy,

You know more about powdercoating than I do, but it is my understanding that JB Weld or other fillers should not be used on a part to be powdercoated?

A Shrinking Disc might help you in smoothing out high spots. Sunchaser Tools was one of the first companies to market this type of tool.

Tim

You can shrink the area with a torch also.
There is a pretty good book called The Key To Metal Bumping that has helped me.

If done properly or even close to it, you are not going to thin the metal too much. I would be more concerned about the powder coating causing problems! Powdercoating or even the wrong paint can KEEP HEAT IN, that is NOT what you want from an oil pan.

Metal finishing or bondo (JB weld is not necessary) on a pan is no big deal. Unless of course you go over board and the article I posted explains it pretty well. You don't "grind" the metal to remove metal you do it to sort of "block" and see high and low spots like you do with a guide coat on plastic filler.

Brian

A method that uses no power tools at all, minus the shrinking disc but you dont need one to repair that pan.
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2093955818

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2103083895

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2099542273

The disc from sunchaser is WAY OVER priced and not nearly as effective as the smooth disc out there made by Wray Schelin or John Kelly. Both of the said discs can be bought for 35-40 bucks, a tad less then the 300+ that sunchaser wants.

That really is amazing to see those pictures. I wish I lived close to you I would want to come and watch that process.

sevt_chevelle,

Thanks for the excellent, illustrated tutorial.

Tim

70 Chevelle,
Great job!! With people like you and Brian it makes life easier and simplier. I've done both on and off bumping and shrinking and my hat is off to both of your handiworks. Thanks again
Dan

Cool stuff there Eric! Awsome!

Brian

Sure Eric, thanks a lot, because of you I just spent three hours looking at your pictures and reading about Shrinking Discs!!!!
just kiddin' guy thanks for sharing your skills with us. Makes me want to go out to day and find a scrap fender to practice on.
I'll be getting into the body work this comming winter. I've done some but not enough to become proficent at it. But even at 65, I'm still a quick study and your photo documentation really helps explain some things.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Excellent!

Guys,
thanks for the kind words!
Denny, if you do get a scrap fender make sure you get one from an older car/truck.
Steel used in today's cars are full of carbon making them hard to work with. They work harden fast and do NOT like heat.

I hear people all the time say you cant work it because the metal is thinner. Not true one bit, its the simple fact that most car panels are high strength steel, not the low carbon steel used on older cars. A piece of 20 ga is much easier to work then 18ga, thickness has nothing to do with it.

Trying to that quailty of metal work on a 2007 car is darn near impossible. Even the aluminum used is throw away stuff even when annealled(softened with heat).

Thanks for sharing what may be fast becoming a lost art. I swear that one day I'll get me a practice fender and if successful will rework all four of my '41 fenders. Patience seems to be the key here, in addition to pride of workmanship.

Thanks so much for the nice gallery.

Don

Thanks again, very motivating stuff. I guess the ball pien hamer by itself isn't enough to do the trick. I'm even thinking about classes and buying body work tools. I've always wanted to paint my truck when the mechanical stuff is how I want it. At my pace that will be 2 or 3 more years. I guess I better start practicing.