I've had good results by heating spots along the stretched area (like
right along the crease) and then quickly quenching them with a cold wet
rag... As long as the metal's not too badly stretched you might be
able to shrink it enough this way.
If it's really pushed around you'll need a device called a "shrinking
hammer", which looks like a conventional hammer except that the face is
designed to actually rotate when you strike the panel, which sort of
"pulls" the metal back together... It sounds weird but it actually
works. A little heat, a dolly on the back side for support and you're
off to flat panel land. Any decent body shop supply place will have
'em, but they're a little pricey for just using once.
Good luck,
John
DANMAS@aol.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 3/8/99 9:52:46 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> Flinters@picarefy.com writes:
>
> > But the real question comes here: The door still flexes if any excessive
> > pressure is put on it. It will pop inward, but you can tap it along the
> > bottom or edge of the depression and it will pop right out again, no
> > problem. I haven't tried the other doors, but I suspect that this is just
> > a general occurence with Spit doors. Am I correct? My concern is that
> > once painted, any flexing here might cause paint problems.
>
> Dan,
>
> That's a common occurance when you do body work on relatively large,
> relatively flat, panels. What has happened is the metal has stretched from the
> hammering you did to it to get it back into shape. The metal is simply too
> large for the area it is trying to cover. What you need to do now is to shrink
> the metal, probably using a torch, body hammer, and a dolly. Check with your
> local library for a good book on metal working. Most of them have sections on
> shrinking metal, as it's a very common practice in body shops. Or maybe a
> visit to a friendly body shop might get you the help and/or advice you need.
>
> The "technical" term for this is "oil canning," as the metal pops in and out
> like pushing on the side of an oil can.
>
> Dan Masters,
> Alcoa, TN
>
> '71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
> '71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
> http://members.aol.com/danmas/
> '74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition - slated for a V8 soon
> '68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
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