warped panel

whats the best way to repair a warped panel...i have 2 places on my 54 chevy door that i carelessly warped tring to be in a hurry welding patch panels..1 in front of the door and 1 at the rea of the door...i tried my stud welder to pull 1 out but it didnt work like i thought it would....a demoastration or a tech would be great...thanks

 

the warp was caused by the metal shrinking from heat. you need to stretch it back. the stud welder really doesn't stretch it like a hammer blow would.

if you have no acess from behind I'd cut a bit of the backside out with the thinnest cutting blade you have, then I'd knock it back out to where it belongs and weld the part you cut out back in place.

 

yea i tried to hit it from behind .no swinging room...i was thinking of splitting it but was unsure of doin that..thanks man

 

dont split it. cut room out of the back to get a good hit on the panel that everyone will see.

 

metal on metal will stretch, if you can get a dolly in the door and strike it directly your metal will stretch, doing this "effectivly" is the hard part without damaging more of your panel

 

Can you post pictures of the warps?

 

coming up

 

heres the pics

 

if ya cant see them that well let me know and i will retake them

 

I'd try a hammer and dolly. Take your time you should be able to work it out.

 

i cant get a hammer in the back and get a good swing on it

 

As allready mentioned push out from the inside. I have different bars and screwdrivers I use to bump the tough to reach dents. It works best with an extra set of eyes and hands. One inside the door working hammer and poker and one outside watching each blow. Go slow....a little here and a little there will get you there. You will find your weld area is much harder to work than the area around the weld.

Once you get it all poking out and looking close to flat you can go to the next step. Get a dolly bar (heavy flat piece of steel, leaf springs sections work good)on the inside. Now you can hammer the area flat from the outside while being backed up inside.


My thinking is for every minute saved in welding time creates about 5 minutes of extra metal working time. I have been doing it for years and it still happens to me. Steve

 

i think im gonna cut the back of the door so i can get there from inside the door and then weld the piece back in

 

I think you should be able to get a dolly on the back and hammer it from the outside. Remember, you're trying the stretch the metal back out by squishing it between and hammer and dolly... not popping a dent from the backside. When that access panel is unscrewed on the backside of the door, you should be able to get a dolly to pretty much any spot on the door panel.

 

screwtheman has a good idea. try it that way before cutting and smacking from behind. striking from behind off dolly will stretch it, but so will striking it on dolly from the front....

when striking on dolly the metal does not know which side is the hammer and which side is the dolly.

 

You put the dolly on th back side and tap on the outside. The door doesn't care what side the dolly is on.

You may stretch the metal too far and have to shrink it a bit afterwards. That's why you don't get in a hurry with it, peck at it a bit and check then peck at it some more.

 

do you have a torch?
weld a stud to the lowest piont of the dent, heat the dent, pull on the stud to make it a slight high spot and hold tight untill it cools.
once its a high spot you can slip a dolly behind it and do some hammer work.

David

 

cutting from the back worked out good...its a done deal now...thanks for the replys

 

i would cut the inside of the door shell out like talked about before...i did the same to my plymouth to get extra room to work out some monster dents...make sure you cut it straight so it will fit back in to weld.....

 

this is what i would do.... before cutting and welding more metal out.

 

Ahh, he got it. Good job slamdpup.

 

thanks man

 

any after pics?