oil can dent

I have an "oil can" dent in the door of the '49 (I can push it out a bit by hand but it bounces back) I dont mind using alittle bondo to smooth the area but wont I need to remove this "flex" in order for the repair to work??

Seems to me that your panel is stretched some which has resulted in that oil can "dent".

This would be an area that you might consider shrinking - either heat shrinking (torch) or one of those stainless shrinking discs.

I definitely wouldn't just mud over it - it'll haunt you later most likely.


Of course the Opposite may be true as well - you might have shrunk the perimeter also resulting in a "raised" dent. Stretching this out some might also be an approach.

What caused the "dent" in the first place???? Knowing this may make it easier to determine your approach - shrinking versus stretching (not to mention the exact panel constraints)



Jacin in Ohio




SOMB

dont know the cause of the dent as it was there when I got the car??

[Pete's Metalshaping]

It sounds like that there are some definate stresses in the door panel, either from a buckle or dent. It could also could have been created from the repair. It is very difficult to analize this situation, not being able to see the panel. It could be either stretched or over shrunk if the panel looks straight.

[Dutch Comstock]

An oil can dent is caused by stretched or shrunken area of metal on your panel. This will pull to the next strongest curve in the panel. You have to restretch or shrink the area originally damaged and not touch the oilcan area at all to repair it.This always confuses the beginner because he will try to work the oilcan and it will never go away unless you repair the source problem. Dutch

[Archie]

Dutch

This little piece of information is invaluable to me

"You have to restretch or shrink the area originally damaged and not touch the oilcan area at all to repair it."

Thanks so much

Archie

[rookie]

Hi Dan, Just saw your post, my operating system bit the dust, had to format the hard drive and reinstall everything so I've been off the net for a while. Dutch was right about fixing any dents first, but if the metal was just worked to much causing the stretch it must be shrunk. If anyone can tell him how to do it cold, I'd like to know how to do it also. However it can be done with an Oxy/acet torch, here's how. Clean off any paint, primer, bondo ect to get clean steel. Find the highest spot of stretch metal using an 0 or 00 tip heat that spot cherry red in a circular motion about the size of a dime. Quickly hand the torch to a friend and smack the red spot with a fairly flat body hammer knocking the spot inward, reach inside the panel and with a dolly knock it back up with one swift hit. Hold the dolly on the red spot and hammer all around the outside of the spot with a slight slapping motion always moving in a circle around the spot. You want to start hammering out a ways and move in toward the center of the spot. What you are trying to do is to get the metal to move in to the heated area. This must be done quickly while the spot is still red. You may have to do it a few time to get all of the shink out. But DON'T heat any more spots until you can lay your hand on the spot you just did or you will warp the heck out of the panel. Let it air cool, don't use water or it will harden. It sounds difficult but it really isn't. If any questions just post or E mail me, I'm in the profile. Hope this helps.

All the best, Phil

[John Kelly]

What helped me work with oil canned panels is to think about the tension in the plane of the metal. The crown a panel has puts just the right amount of tension in it to hold it in place without being so floppy as to pop in and out. Try pushing in on various spots around the perimeter of the area with your thumb while popping the oil can in and out. Once you find a spot that helps stop the oil can popping, check this small area for smoothness. You may need to hammer and dolly to get it back to a smooth but slightly high condition, then shrink to get the tension just right. There may be several areas that need this attention. It is easy to overlook a spot that is affecting the panel and spend too much time playing with the oil can itself. You can also try pushing out instead of in at various spots on the panel to see the effect on the oil can. If you are going to use a torch to shrink, try heating the metal to blue instead of red. It will shrink with very little or no hammering, and stay a bit more workable than metal that is heated to red. A shrinking disc is the best way to shrink an over-stretched panel because it heats just the high spots without over-heating them. You can stretch with the hammer and dolly and shrink with the disc many times without damage to your panel until you get it right. This allows you to free yourself from worrying about over use of the hammer and dolly which can keep you from getting the job done.

Oil cans can be very tricky. I recently spent about 7-8 hours fixing one on a quarter panel that I had flared. All the stretching of the fender had resulted in a different pull and tension in the panel, as well as a reverse curve that was not part of the original quarter panel. I ended up shrinking metal that had not been stretched to remove a large bow that inhibited the reverse I wanted, stretching various areas around the oil can, and pounding from inside the quarter panel against the inside of the door opening flange just a little for tension in the plane of the metal. The bow actually shrunk down 3/16" measured in the middle of a 20" verticle template of the curve before I started. I learned a few things on this panel that made it well worth the effort. Hope this makes some sense!

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

I had accidentally run across this post and found myself rereading it- I HAD to laugh because the origional poster (dan) was asking about a oilcan type dent in his DOOR - I origionally read this and thought he was asking about a oilcan dent in his FLOOR.

Don't ask me how I misread this - I dunno - but my comments were with respect to a FLOOR not a DOOR - and whwn I reread what I wrote it sure does look funny with respects to a DOOR


Oh well - I just didn't want you guys to think I was COMPLETELY off the deep end!!! :shock:



Jacin in Ohio



SOMB

[Pete's Metalshaping]

Jacin,

It doesn't get better as we get older <GBG>.