The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop sharp body line

anyone know how to restore a sharp body line in sheet metal?

It's got about a 3 inch dent across it that i've pounded out fairly close, but I cant seem to get the line flat now.

sounds like your panel is stretched and needs shrunk ...I'm far from an expert that is why I hired that part out.
I'm sure the metal Head Guys with the KNOWHOW will chime in soon on the best way to approach it.

hood line 1

Here is a link to the pix of the area i'm messing with.

That's a very difficult repair, a lot of people just sharpen up the crease with body filler.

Those pick marks look high to me and unless you really know what you're doing it may be too late to metal finish it, which would be ideal. Just get all that hammer work low and carefully work the line with bondo or body solder.

4's right... tough repair, unless you're a skilled repairman.

my problem is i'm not patient enough, and I start whaling the crap out of the dents and usually end up going too far...

I did learn a technique that uses light and shadows to find the high/low spots, which has helped me quite a bit... that and "TAP", "LOOK", "FEEL" repeat as necessary.

You will need to be patient! The pick marks don't look too severe. Try to dolly them flat. If you stretched too far try heat with a torch in a dime sized area to a red hot and quench. It May work. I haven't used a shrinking disk but it looks like it would work also. That line is a hard area to match. Try building one side with filler, sand and finish and tape a straight line on and match with filler. Sand and finish. Go slow and remove a little at a time. As all said above not a easy repair. Take your time and you should succeed. Good luck and have fun
Dan

'Bolters, thanks for the advice, especially Denny's essay!!!

Yes, I can get to the other side.

This is THIN sheetmetal, as opposed to the rest of the truck, and it doesnt take much to make it bend!! (as i found out when I lost my grip on a dolly)

What technique were you refering to using light and shadows. Im to the point now where im takeing off all body parts to do repairs. Any tips and tricks would be great

The big thing here is do not rely on over the counter dollies for everything. On the lower curve I would have a piece of steel pipe or better yet cold roll steel. If I am right I think your thumb would lay in the roll just about right. Round the ends with a grinder. Lay it behind the high pick area and with your shrinking hammer tap it back down moving back and forth with hammer and dolly (your home made dolly/pipe). Don't be aggressive and wail away, medium bangs and check your progress every minute or so. Always moving your dolly so you are centered on it. The same with the big curve of the upper hood. If you have a store bought curved dolly that is close to the curve do the same, moving the dolly as you hammer so you do not hit a part of the dolly that does not match your curve. You may want to practice on a junk part. For the crease I use a flat steel stock that is about 1/2 inch thick and about 3 inches long on, on the right side of the metal and the same size piece on the back but using the edge of the metal only at the crease you are trying to put back right. Best if you had someone holding and moving the back piece as you hammer (lightly) on the front piece moving back and forth on the crease...Make any sense? Its hard to explain and takes some practice doing. Practice on a junk part not the actual part.
There are some really good videos of John Kelly showing lots of different techniques for doing body work. I really like a lot of them because he is not doing things with high tech equipment. I think there are 40 in all. If you think they should be posted somewhere else or maybe they already are, feel free, I am just not familiar as to where the best place would be. Anything to help others learn to DIY and hold on to their $$ for other things that need to be taken care of.
I can not get this post to copy the whole link for some reason so go to Google.com, select videos, then search Custom Metal Bodywork John Kelly, and that will bring up the videos.

Highlight address in the address bar, control C to copy, control V to past into your reply and make sure you put a space in behind it. That's all there is to attach a link to your reply.

Denny G

I tried to attach it but it would only attach part of the link and then it wouldn't work when you clicked on it. I finally gave up after several tries.