Day 112

Been a few days since I worked on the bug.

Today I took the "oil canning effect" out of my driver's side front quarter panel.  It is named after that sound that an old metal oil can use to make when you squeeze the sides.  After welding in the A pillar, it had been heated up to a point where the panel started to flex.  I used my stud welder and heated it up in a concentric circle and then quickly cooled it with a wet towel.  Doing this causes the metal to shrink!  And the oil canning effect goes away.

I also took care of the passenger front quarter.  This is where that small collision damage was.  With some hammer and dolly-ing around the front bumper mount that area was relatively easy to fix.  However, the area that had crinkled was behind another panel and I wasn't able to get behind it.  So I had to weld studs to it (stud welder used in previous fix, multi-task!) and then a slide hammer which grabs the stud and then a weight is used to pull back on it to get the metal out of it's concave shape.

In this pic, you can sort of see the front passenger side quarter damage.

After panel beating the front part, I welded the studs onto the carb to pull the dent out.

Slide hammer.

Although it looks pretty rough in the picture, a light coat of metal filler and it will like new.

Now I need to weld the front apron and spare tire tray in.  Then onto some of the body parts!