Thought I'd share with the board that I did my first bodywork job yesterday. I didn't have great expectations knowing my talents towards these kind of things, but in the end it turned out quite nice. I made replacement panels for the trunk in my 48 Olds. The original trunk is mostly gone, I'll have to build a completely new one. I used my brother's planishing hammer and it did a great job. Here's the original marked where the new panel should be made: And here the patch panels I made for both sides: I've already cut the big flat part, too, just don't have a photo of it. This is the right side of the trunk pan as it is now:
Can't think of a better place to start out with it. Slow and thoughtful and it will work out. I have had to go back and cut something back out, slice it and re-tack to take out a wrinkle, etc... ain't and won't be an expert. But good enough for my girlfriends. They do the paint, "putty" work, I get to sand it. Impatience, speed will spoil the job and fear will keep it at a standstill, I stay somewhere in between.
Dumb question time! How did you bend the pieces in the second picture? The stairstep-shaped ones. I've bent up a few pieces like that, where you've got one bend running perpendicular to the others, and they never seem to come out right.
First I bent the edge on the side that's a bit shorter, then the one with the wider sides. Then I made a notch along the marking using a cut-off wheel in a grinder and bent it on an anvil with a hammer. The hard part in making this piece was that the angles are steep so it's completely flat on one end and almost rectangular on the other. So I bent the whole angle first and then flattened it progressively with the planishing hammer.
Hey, Great job on your trunk floor. do you have any pictures of this project completed, and especially any pictures of your brothers planishing hammer . What brand is it? thanx, swankey devils c.c.
Hi, It's not finished yet, I still have to fabricate the rear part of the pan and then weld it in. I'll keep you posted in this thread. The hammer is nothing special, just an ebay pick I bought last year. It's more or less the same as this one: http://cgi1.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260056575507
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