deadeyejedi

well i could use some help on this one! after removing the drivers side fender and door i was met with some ugly damage from years gone by .not sure where to begin with this one .the mounting points for the fender and door don't seem to be compromised although it explains why the gaps were so crappy. any advice would be appreciated

oldcutlass

Previous customization by crash, seen it before. Your choice is to fix it correctly which requires cutting, replacing, and welding. Or you can just hide it as it was before.

deadeyejedi

so meaning cutting out the section from a donor car and welding it in ?

oldcutlass

Yes...

NHolds

Pretty sure they make those. check auto body specialty.

deadeyejedi

i have been looking at some panels that are available it may be beyond my ability to make a repair like that,but ill give it a try.was hoping it was possible to pull out but it looks pretty bad

steverw

I think OPGI has those panels, im sure other companies do too. Not the easiest repair but doable.
Steve

oldsconv

I live in Delmar if you wanted me to take a look at it. As long as it did not tweak the frame, I think you could pull it out or cut out and replace and be fine. If you think it is beyond your skill, there are some old car body shops by me. On my 70 SX Convertible, I did most of my own floor patching and other welding, but had it painted locally by a guy in the "sticks" that can do those repairs easily and like an artist.

Thanks, Pete

deadeyejedi

thanks for the advice guys i think ill try to pull it out first then hammer and dolly,since the labor doesn't cost me anything .there is some access to it from inside the the car. if I'm not happy with it ill go another route.

coppercutlass

Buy some pull tabs weld them on slid hammer them out , tap the creases down afterwards then use a stud welder to pull out the smaller depressions . You could also use a hustler\pogo stick to pull it out with the pull tabs. Or a come along with a post or big tree. You could make your own pogo stick. Its called a hustler stick because you can sometimes use it in lieu of a frame rack for certain repairs and make bank of it buy hustling the repair hours, its called a pogo stick because you are usually bouncing on it for harder pulls. Very effective tool.

oldspackrat

A lot of that could be worked out. I might have some good donor pieces on parts cars if you need them.

deadeyejedi

using the come along method attached to a pole in the garage its working little at a time ill post the results thanks

coppercutlass

Tap the creases with a hammer as you have pulling pressure on the come along . the creases have tensile strength taping them as you pull will "relive" the tension in the steel and it will walk out so to speak. Also dont do one big pull., do various pulls the length of the damage trying to reverse it in the manner it possibly happened. You could use some vice grips and crank them on the pinch weld and pull from the pinch weld with the come along just be careful as when it lets go it will fly off. the same thing happens on a frame rack when a pinch weld clap slips of the chains go flying. The vice grip method is not for the "novice" so to speak and its dangerous but its common practice in body shops. you just gotta pay alot of attention.

69442C

I think there's a little more work here than it first appears. Aside from the side of the cowl being pushed in, the front face of the firewall in that area is bent and buckled. It may take a lot more pulling to reverse that damage that is being considered. Its definitely repairable but this may require a shop with heavier equipment to pull it correctly.

coppercutlass

You will be amazed what a come along and or a pogo stick will do. i pulled my firewall with a come along and concrete post after i wrecked my 72.

deadeyejedi

got the side of the cowl in pretty good shape .need to figure out this front lower .im thinking start with the smaller creases and work up to that big one

coppercutlass

Nice . cant you get to the second one through the blower motor opening.

oldcutlass

Looks great, so far. It looked very crushed and layered over initially in the picture.

deadeyejedi

no blower motor is on passenger side which is in good shape .this spot is lower driver side firewall all part of the same damage . I may try to pull it with my four wheeler winch a little at a time

coppercutlass

Sorry it was the way i was looking at it appeared to be pass side. Pull and tap would work . heating it a little will also help if it does not want to move much. those creases look to be sharp and getting them close to their original shape might require a little heat.

deadeyejedi

Yes I was thinking the same thing they are sharp but I'll keep at it until I'm happy with it . And here I thought I was almost done with metal work

deadeyejedi

just to update on the cowl issue.the creases proved to be more challenging than i expected so i switched gears and decided to cut out the damage and fabricate a new piece and weld it in .its not perfect but I'm ok with it

steverw

Looks much better, good work. Now on to the rest.

oldcutlass

Looks great, I didn't think you could unfold it from the pics.

69442C

Have you bolted the fender in place at the cowl to check the fit? You should take the time now to make sure it fits the way you want it to by shimming and bolting it at the cowl (top and bottom) as its easier to make corrections now.

deadeyejedi

I am picking up a new fender this weekend for that side so I'll test fit it . It's a repop so I'm sure it will be a challenge getting it right . The old one needed too much work