Question for the hammer and dolly gods

[woodwright]

I'm working on the passenger door of my 70 chev.


It had a lite crease in it where the black line is. I've worked out most of the damage, but I still have a gradual indent in the door.

It's about 1/8" in the middle. The back side is really hard to get to, and there is a layer of undercoating(I think). I don't want to bondo this, but I can't figure out how to finish it. Any help would be great.

[rwolf9653]

Have you tried a suction cup puller?

[woodwright]

I've jerked on it with a welded stud and slide hammer. There is still some stress somewhere that is keeping it there.

[Driveway Dreams]

While pulling it steadily with a stud, tap around it lightly with a hammer. This will help to shock the metal molecules and may get it to move more for you. You may still need to do a skim coat of filler when you get it close.

[woodwright]

Originally Posted by Driveway Dreams

While pulling it steadily with a stud, tap around it lightly with a hammer. This will help to shock the metal molecules and may get it to move more for you. You may still need to do a skim coat of filler when you get it close.

Yep. did that too. I'm thinking it might take some sort of shrinking, but I can never make that work right.

[GruntMoanCough]

Get a piece of 2"x4" about 3-4' long and pry the body line out, through the big access hole in the door shell. Tap along the body line at a 45 degree angle, concentrating from the 15" and 30" marks outward on your lower pic. This should stress relieve the line and keep the panel where it shoud be.
Don't know for sure if this will work but, that's what I would try.

[sevt_chevelle]

Originally Posted by woodwright

Yep. did that too. I'm thinking it might take some sort of shrinking, but I can never make that work right.

Dont shrink it. You need to bring the crease up. If you can, place the dolly directly behind the crease and hit with a hammer from the topside. This will stretch the metal out and cause the crease to rise up.

If you need to shrink, try using a da sander and lock it in grinder mode or if you have a grinder use that. Then grab a piece of DULL sand paper or the backside of a flexible grinding disc. This will generate some very controllable heat needed to shrink metal.

[woodwright]

Whats the easiest way to get the black crap off the inside of the door?

[sevt_chevelle]

putty knife
oven cleaner
alittle and I mean little heat

[Frizzle Fry]

I agree with the pry action. You're gonna need a helper or perhaps a slim scissor jack.

[woodwright]

K. Thanks guys. I think I've worked it out enough to mud.

[Frizzle Fry]

So what did you end up doing?

[woodwright]

After I scraped all the crap off of the inside of the door, I hammered on dolly where the red line is, and stretched it up. It's not perfect, but everything is within 1/16" so now I feel comfortable mudding it. Now I'm tacking all the trim holes closed.
I started stripping the drivers door, thinking it was in better shape and found this:

The PO had roughed the dent out with screws and a slide hammer, and then covered the whole thing with 1/2" of bondo. I'm not even gonna attempt to straighten that. Classic Heartbeat has a lower door patch panel for a good price. Makes me wonder what else I'm gonna find on the rest of the truck.

[sevt_chevelle]

Why not just do a full door skin? That way you dont have to weld a seem shut done the length of the door and have to deal with the distortion that WILL come from welding.
IMO, a full skin would be best, you can also then have access to blast and epoxy prime the entire shell making a 100% rust free door.

If you do go the patch panel route it will be best to install the patch about 1in away from the lower body line. That line will help hold the panel in shape and lessen the amount of warpage...Eric

[woodwright]

I thought full skins were $2-300. But I was looking at Mikes site, And he lists the shell for $49. I'm wishing now I would have known that before I messed with the passenger door.