Hey guys 57 panel. I cut out the bottom of the door panel and welded in a new lowe innmer section and then did the front face. https://www.classicparts.com/1955-5...MPY9pJmDloSxQtxWFHR3coyR8tkTCC8BoCe-8QAvD_BwE Not sure exactly what I did wrong but the skin where I joined facing out it "pops" out a bit more than it should - sort of like a bigger curve. So Im guessing I havea few options. 1) Cut along the entire length of door at the problem area - say 10 inches above the bottom of the door ... and reweld. The removal of the ~1/16th or whatver material and reweld should tighten it and shrink it. 2) Shrinking disc - never sued one. 3) Heat shrink it - never done it before. 4) Say whatever -- and just add more boddy filler in areas to transition it. thoughts ? I wish I could take a pic but it just doesnt really show up on camera but its reasonable.
I ran into this exact problem on the r.h. cowl of my model A welding in a patch panel, I have a small wave in and out from front to back so I'm going to follow along ! Maybe find a resolution to my problem too! .
Have similar problem. When the shop repaired the drivers side door by cutting out the rear section of the door and adding a new piece. It now has a bulge in the door where it is no longer flat. If I were to bondo the door to make if flat then the trailing edge of the door would stick out a 1/4 inch and no longer line up correctly. Car will be going back to the shop when I am done with the rest of it to fix it. No idea how but not my pproblem
Welding shrinks. If a problem is caused from welding, more shrinking can make it worse. Has the weld area been hammered and dollied? Was it butt welded or overlapped
I bought shrinking disks a couple years ago to shrink the roof of my '52 DeSoto wagon. It looked like kids had used it for a trampoline, the PO had used about a gallon of filler on it and it was a wild mess. Oil canned. Pressure ridges. Hight spots. Low spots. I don't know how they got the filler smooth, it oil canned so much. I fixed it. The shrinking disk set I got worked GREAT, but, be advised your grinder has to be VERY high RPM or it won't generate enough heat. And, it's imperative that you use ICE COLD water to quench. I have a nice DeWalt multi speed 7" grinder that was ineffective, so I used the smaller 4.5" disk in my small angle grinder, which spins at something like 10,000 RPM. It worked a trick. Takes some practice, but I'd try that before I cut slots and welded them. That's likely to end up worse than what you have now.
X2 everything @flynbrian48 said above^. The shrinking disk is LOUD. My wife calls it "the shrieking disk of flatness". Wear ear plugs. Also, check your progress regularly; both close-up and from a few steps back, so you don't overdo it.
As anthony said it has already shrunk from welding so it puckered up. You do not want to shrink it more you will have an even bigger mess. It needs to be stretched hammer on dolly along the weld.
Really hard to capture in pic ..... But the blue is the weld area The red is the problem area where it pops put a bit .......
dont mind buying a small shrinking disc if it addresses this sort of thing ...... but not sure if I should just cut a gap through the red problem section and weld it to shrink it. https://www.amazon.com/Dog-River-To...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
Did you stretch the weld after you welded it? If not is DOES NOT need to be shrunk it needs to be stretched.
Not sure what that means I placed a patch piece on top of the old metal and then use the angle grinder with cutoff wheel to cut it in (like fitzee videos). If Im guessing I thin the issues are 1 - was done on truck ..... so metal from good section above cut was allowed to flex out a little. Meaning the good metal bove the cut kind of fell away from the door a little as it was cut and welded in. 2 - in order to fix 1 above I would have had to do it on a support with door off truck .... or when I welded patch in should have puished the good metal above the cut in a little so it all ligned up better. *shrug* 3 - the ;atched panel below the weld (new metal) is not as good a curve as it could hve been so it exacerbates the issue ...... but not main issue.
When you weld everything shrinks. To get it back to where it was before the welding you have to stretch the weld. You do that by using a hammer and dolly and hammering on dolly (google it) on the weld. If you haven't done that (I assume you havent by your response) then you need to. If you shrink it more you will make it worse.
ok ...... hang in with me 1) Cant access from the backside - its all sealed up .......... to use a dolly 2) wouldnt stretching it make it "longer" therfore making the curve and popout worse ?
Welding shrinks metal. The distortion from the weld shrinking can mimic a stretched panel. Any distortion caused from welding is reversed by hammer and dolly work along the weld seam. No access? Get creative.
if the metal shrank ... why would it flex/pop out above it ? seems counterintuitive ....... but .... hmmm
How can it stretch from welding? Physics is physics. A false stretch is the term used for over shrinking a panel during a repair. It’s not as common as a real stretch but happens. The oil can affect can happen from a stretch, or a shrink. Welding 90* angles in sheet metal also increases the chances of distortion.
Chances are the “oil can” could be caused from the mig weld itself being harder than the metal it’s welding. The weld doesn’t bend like the rest of the door. Hammer and dolly work can help that
It "puckers" when it shrinks so it pulls or pushes the metal either up or down. It pulled the metal from somewhere. Looking at your pictures it looks like it pulled from the sides as they no longer look to be parallel give the widening door gaps at the bottom. Take a straight edge and check the three edges of the panel I would be willing to bet at least one of them is no longer straight if they originally were.
Looks to me like he's shrinking, not stretching. Stretching requires the metal to be thinned (very slightly) by (gently) squashing it between the hammer and dolly. In that video I dont know what the hammering of the heated metal is doing. Chris
I don’t shrink like that. I’ll turn a small spot orange, hammer and dolly then cool with a wet rag. Repeat as necessary. But for your door, hammer and dolly first then figure out the next step.
I have a feeling you did not put enough shape into your patch panel. If your new panel did not follow the flow and shape of your door skin and you put pressure on your patch at the weld seam, your panel is now under stress. If I am picturing, it right I think you are going to have to stretch more crown into your lower panel below the weld and relax the high spot with a hammer and dolly. All door skins have varying degrees of compound curves and if the replacement panel is not shaped to match it will put stress in at the joint. Also, for future reference I would not use mutable peace's to make the patch. One straight weld and always have access to the back side to hammer and dolly to relax and shape the weld as you go. Even if you have to temporally gut out the inner door panel. Nobody gets it right the first time. Personally, I would cut out that patch and start again. That or try and old collision repair trick and take one of those spring-loaded marking punches and run it along the high spot, The little indents will actually lower the high spot much like using a body pick hammer but in a more controlled fashion. and then mud it out. Learn from your mistakes and take your time and do a better job on the next one. Larry
I was thinking the same thing as Larry’s post. Patch panel looks like it may have needed to be shaped before welding and may have contributed to the panel being warped (and possibly too much heat). Also may have been better to have made the patch panel the length of the door and approx 4-5 inches wide. But you may want to try and hammer and dolly first which may thin the metal enough to get it in the shape u need.
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