Suburban, 53 Plymouth

[pflaming]

Fellows, I have a nice shiny bumper also, reread my post, the question was directed to the sticker and wat those numbers meant, to use it as a patina bumper was not stated merely referenced. Maybe sone one was on the Mare base and would want it for wall art.[

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[1952B3b23]

I'm learning how to remove a dent with shrinking hammers and a Dolly. I believe I'm about 85% to smooth! yet not bad for several hours work. Suggestion always welcome.

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These are my tools. I lost the handles in the fire. I didn't realize that the head with the Diamond pattern is an anti shrink hammer and I don't really know how to use that. I have also learned to move the metal, to pound it too much and too hard makes it brittle. I think the repair shown has some of that, maybe a lot. And so we learn.

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Hey Paul, good work so far on the dent removal.

 

Here's some useful info, polish up the faces of your hammers and dollies. This can be done pretty easily by using an air die grinder with Roloc sanding discs. Start with a coarser sand paper and move your way up to fine to get a nice defect free surface. This is very important because what ever surface finish you have on the faces of the hammer/dollies will be imprinted onto your panel. Also the faces of the hammers should have a convex shape to them. This is important in case you strike the panel at a bit of an angle the edges of the hammer face wont dig into the panel surface therefore creating more work for you.

 

Also a good way to easily spot the highs and lows on the panel is to take one of those Magnum sized sharpie markers and color the entire surface that you are trying to work. Next take a piece of sand paper (180 grit is fine) and place it on a flat board of wood. Rub the board/sandpaper across the entire surface that you colored in with marker. The sand paper will remove the marker on the high spots and leave marker behind on the low spots. Then you know exactly where to raise the lows and shrink the highs. Shrinking can be done with a shrinking disc installed on an angle grinder or by heating the high spots to cherry red with an oxygen/acetylene torch and then tapping them down with the hammer. I know that in one of your posts you talk about the metal becoming brittle and hitting it to hard. Something i was told when i first started learning metal work was, "remember you're not hammering nails." You really don't have to hit the metal all that hard to get it to move, it's more of a tapping action than an actual hammering. The fender on your car is probably made of 19 gauge steel so it doesn't take much to get it to move. Especially if you're using a dollie with a nice weight to it. In my opinion those shrinking hammers aren't the greatest, the face on them marks up the metal and is probably whats making your metal brittle from hitting it to hard. I never use them, i use the shrinking disc or torch. The finish you get is far superior. If the area you are working is getting really brittle then it's best to remove the metal and replace it with a patch.

 

Also another useful tool is a slapper, these can be made from an old car leaf spring. If you google it you'll know exactly what im talking about.

 

Sorry to go off on such a rant. Metal shaping/working is one of my favorite things to do. I hope i passed on at least a little bit of useful info to you and others who read this.

 

Good luck,

 

-Chris

[mrwrstory]

Hey Chris,

​Great commentary!

​That all makes perfect sense and provides, for those of us who are learning, an explanation for why our struggles for new skills are so daunting.  I also characterize it as "getting all the bad sh*#t out of the way before achieving satisfying results".  That, along with constructive comments such as yours, is how we learn.

[pflaming]

Thanks Chris nice to hear I learned a lot. Some say I flip flop, however to put together a finished term paper or graduate thesis or put together a coherent musical concert, 80% of material found is NOT used. Each piece leads to the next so in car building, I never rule out a new alternative. Read the history of WD 40, or the amount of ideas abandoned by Edison to make the light bulb. The Titanic went down because the captain refused to heed the warning. He had a SCHEDULE and a TIME LINE to beat, a record to set!

[Plymouthy Adams]

waders are available at your local sporting goods store for those trying to get through all this..

[49DODGEBOY]

Come on PP, stop torturing us and just paint it !!! ...

luv that color combo

[1952B3b23]

Hey Chris,

​Great commentary!

​That all makes perfect sense and provides, for those of us who are learning, an explanation for why our struggles for new skills are so daunting.  I also characterize it as "getting all the bad sh*#t out of the way before achieving satisfying results".  That, along with constructive comments such as yours, is how we learn.

 

 

Thanks Chris nice to hear I learned a lot. Some say I flip flop, however to put together a finished term paper or graduate thesis or put together a coherent musical concert, 80% of material found is NOT used. Each piece leads to the next so in car building, I never rule out a new alternative. Read the history of WD 40, or the amount of ideas abandoned by Edison to make the light bulb. The Titanic went down because the captain refused to heed the warning. He had a SCHEDULE and a TIME LINE to beat, a record to set!

 

 

You're welcome. Glad i could pass on some useful info.

[Dave72dt]

I use a slapper quite a bit, too.  Hammer and dolly for the rougher work, slapper and dolly and a light bumping hammer for the finishing work.

[pflaming]

What with stomach flue and wife's broken leg, things have slowed. I've been toying with several ideas on grille part swapping. To my taste I will stay with the 53 grill. To redress it, I've painted the bar chrome color. All put together, I think this will give a clean wide look, the vertical bars (teeth) will go back on.

Edited December 6, 2015 by pflaming

[pflaming]

Back in the shop today. Removed the seats then took out the leaf blower and cleaned the inside. Well almost, a good vacuuming still remains. I have traded one of my suburbans, really only the frame and body for a new floor in this suburban, for me a good trade. Aside from a front disc brake kit and tires I now have everything I need to mechanically build the car.

Will now move the truck to the house garage.

Happy New Year to all.

I knew there was a lot of debris in the corners, but was still surprised just how much. A dirty job.

Edited January 1, 2016 by pflaming

[Jeff Balazs]

Have you had a Halon system installed in the house garage?

[pflaming]

No, but it is cat proofed.

[Jeff Balazs]

You keep blaming that poor critter ...... when all the time it is the old cat that drives the truck who was to blame.

I hope at the very least your smoke detectors work.

[Don Coatney]

No, but it is cat proofed.

Do you know what a Halon system is?

[DonaldSmith]

Halon system: If the cat starts a fire, the system will extinguish it.  (The fire or the cat you may ask.  The answer is Yes.)  

 

Halon systems were used in computer rooms, to put out a fire without damaging the equipment. Apparently someone could breathe the halon, but I suppose that the halon could displace the oxygen.  Also, halon has some bad stuff in it, chloro-fluoro stuff, so think it has been banned.   

[casper50]

We still have it at our local hospital server room.  Inspected every year by the fire department.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Halon is no longer sold or filled as I understand it for resisdential use..has been this way for many many years...and that the Halon units in production and still in serviceable/charged condition were not recalled and can be in use...but I think you will find that one needing service will not be brought back to service.   I recall our fire department would not longer service these since early 90's..after the Halon alert for oxygen displacement many of these extinguishers was sold on the used market for a very good price....I also know these were pulled from our office workspace..

[Jeff Balazs]

OK OK........Halon is out. It was meant as a joke. It is the old cat and El Scorcho though........so some serious precautions need to be in place.

 

Jeff

[Plymouthy Adams]

PP needs all the protection he can get...I think that if his hands were tied behind his back prior to entering the shop that then safety would be best served in doing so...but then, we all I would rather pick on him than eat when hungry...as it is time for breakfast, I am laying off him now so I can go eat..

[Jeff Balazs]

I was going to make that my New Years resolution......... but ...but...but....it is just too easy.

[pflaming]

A very dirty task today. I removed the dash. I was fully surprised at how dirty and rusty it was/is. But it is out and now it can be resurfaced and rewired on my work bench. I am using a full wiring kit this time around.

[Plymouthy Adams]

good thing this is out of site when mounted..you do not have to pass it off as patina or even if you did try to refinish you could easily just hide this as it is..I would be careful...you may have found out where that fire starting cat was urinating..

[Don Coatney]

A very dirty task today. I removed the dash. I was fully surprised at how dirty and rusty it was/is. But it is out and now it can be resurfaced and rewired on my work bench. I am using a full wiring kit this time around.

image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg

Is the full wiring kit designed for 6 or 12 volt?

[pflaming]

Wiring kit is 12 volt. IMHO two items that are no brainers are disc brakes and 12 volt wiring. I want brakes that are as good as the car in front of me and while 6 volt is more than adequate, it is not new technology friendly.

I wired my truck two times yet would not sell any vehicle that I wired from scratch. I've gained a whoe lot of respect for the necessity to do electrical things correct. I may even replace what I put in my truck with a kit before I give it to my daughter.

[Don Coatney]

Wiring kit is 12 volt. IMHO two items that are no brainers are disc brakes and 12 volt wiring. I want brakes that are as good as the car in front of me and while 6 volt is more than adequate, it is not new technology friendly.

I wired my truck two times yet would not sell any vehicle that I wired from scratch. I've gained a whoe lot of respect for the necessity to do electrical things correct. I may even replace what I put in my truck with a kit before I give it to my daughter.

So I assume you are converting the car to a 12 volt system?