Auto Restoration 101

This is the next few steps to the spare tire well. I used a cheap curved dollie to shape the edges of the metal. I say cheap because it is one of those non-hardened dollies that you get in those cheap auto body hammer and dollie sets. I bought them for stuff like this. They really aren’t good for much because they dent very easily. It did work for this project because I didn’t feel bad about rounding the edges and smoothing it up a little with a grinder.
I don’t consider myself to be a metal shaping pro. I can do enough to make what I need with a little work. Almost everyday is a learning process. To do restoration work you have to train yourself to be a “jack of all trades”. You have to be able to do metal work, weld, body work, paint, mechanical, assembly, install glass and trim, a little upholstery know how, and my weakness…..electrical. Plus everything in between. The point of this blog is to help you see the basic steps needed to be able to tackle a restoration yourself, if that’s what you want to do.

This is the el cheapo dollie that I used. I have it clamped in my el cheapo vice.

After beating the metal over the dollie to round the edges, the center of the panel started to get lower than the outer edges. I used the english wheel to stretch the center of the metal which straightened the panel back into shape. I repeated the hammering over the dollie and wheeling several times to get the panel to fit like I wanted. When the metal was shaped over the dollie it would stretch the panel out so I also used the shrinking tool as needed. If you don’t have access to a wheel this could probably have been done by using a sand bag and some mallets to shape the panel, along with some planishing with a finishing hammer and a dollie.

This is my wheel. It was a kit that Ron Covell once sold which contained everything except for the frame.

This is what the panel looked like after several attempts to get it to fit. I used Clecos to attach the new panel to the old panel. This side fits fairly well.

This side I had trouble getting the metal to fit the shape. So I cheated a little. I used my torch to heat the metal and applied some larger shrinks. The old panel served as a buck, it really worked out very well.

Stay tuned…next I will start welding the panel on.