feeling the body

[mtn goat]

Hi, havent been around much and have just enough time to pop off a question before i need to go back to work. As you may have guessed this is for the body work guys.

I used to have a big dent in the rear quarter panel that I pounded out. worked out pretty well, the cuves match the origional lines and contours. the only problem is the small hammer dings that are here and there where I have reformed the curves and such. Normally I think you just use a little bondo to smooth these minor dings out. Here's my worry, the rear quarter panels are seem to be quite "flexy" meaning you can push in on them and they will push in and then come back out. Do you know what I mean? They're not really solid....Flexy. well, here comes the concern. wont this motion make any type of filler crack if it happens to get leaned on and "flex" the quarter panel? How do you deal with this.

[ March 31, 2003, 07:56 PM: Message edited by: mtn goat ]

[Chrome]

Take a piece of wood like a 2x4 and wrap it in a shop towel then stick it inside the body panel and use a rubber mallet to gently bump the places back in. You may have to use a high-heat heat gun to heat the metal up so it will flex easier when working with it. Just be careful not to hold it in one spot for a long period of time or it will scorche the paint.

[The Anti-Chrysler]

There are flex additives and special fillers that will conform to flexing panels, but in general, bondo can take a little flex. Do as said above and try to hammer out the dings first, so you would only need a skim coat of bondo.

[Rogue]

dented metal has been stretched so a shrinking hammer and dolly would be one way to work it out - check out Ron Fournier's ( i think i spelled that right ) book "Metal Fabricators Handbook" - he is an ex Indy car builder that lays it all out in simple terms - I've read it three times and still learn something new every time I read it. I have used several techniques with success that I learned from his examples.