The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Take apart glove box door

Want to fix some dings in the front stainless part of glove box door on my 51 panel. In order to gain access to back side of stainless will need to separate front from back. Looks like the front is held in place by a flange going around the perimeter. My plan was to bend back the flange separate the two halves, fix the dings, then put the two halves back together by bending the flange back. Just wondered if anyone has attempted this and with what kind of results?

I've thought about doing the same thing, but have avoided the job so far. I think that bending the flange open to release the two parts will open up a can of worms when trying to bend the flange back in place, potentially leaving it looking way worse than when you started. Depending on how bad your front side looks, and the results you expect, it might be better to just replace the door with a repop. Let us know if you attempt it and your results.

Possibly cut a section out of the back, leaving the crimp alone. Tap out the dings and reweld the piece back on.... grind, filler as required, sand, paint.
The real problem is fixing the dents. Not as easy as you think. After tapping out, there is a lot of work to do. Filling, Sanding, polishing and polishing and polishing.
They are not overly expensive to buy new if all else fails.

Maybe the paintless dent technique could help. A couple of small holes for the tools used to push the dents out would be easy to cover up. That assumes the dents aren't that big.

If time and the challenge is on your side, attempt the above. If not, Bartamos post makes the most sense.

Thanks for the ideas. I am also afraid that once the flange is bent may be difficult to bend back without breaking or botching the whole door. Cheapest unpainted repop I found was $95 on ebay.

Mine has just two small dings on top stainless.

You might be able to push those back out with some sort of pick thru a hole in the back. It would take some patience to get them unnoticeable. Adds to the "charm" to leave them in.

Too bad your dents are in the no mans land. Not really in a place where that rear back panel covers it.

put add in parts wanted..............someone may just have a good one laying around. then try the repair just to see if you can make it good!

Check these out... if not dented you could use 0000 steel wool with brasso...it will look like new.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/293493503145
https://www.ebay.com/itm/383446711789

That's what I did with mine that had paint falling off..

Here is mine before & After

Stainless steel is a bear to work out dents, or bend flanges in such a way so that they can be bent back to where they are supposed to be.

I did exactly what you are trying to do. It didn't work out. I peeled the flange back on one end and spread apart the other sides just enough that I could slide the back side out the end. The bigger problem was getting the dents out smooth. I intended to bump them out and then file the surface flat and buff it back to a shine. I got almost there but the steel got too thin. I bought a repro.