No Bondo Dent repair 73 Vega panel

[vegawagon72]

Some years ago when I had my own shop I had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of an old school body man by the name of John Miller. While in the process of cutting down a large saguaro cactus it fell on him. There after he was known as Cactus John. As John has now passed on, I dedicated this thread to his memory.

Cactus John was semi-retired but still did repair projects on high end collector sports cars like 1954 Mercedes gull wings and such. John got this kind of work because in his type of bodywork, plastic repair putty, not allowed. Cactus John repaired everything either by the metal bumping process or lead work, two skills I had long wanted to acquire. When John wanted some parts for his truck we made a deal, parts for instruction, so that’s how I learned the almost lost art of metal bumping and lead repair.

I’ve had this 73 Vega header in storage for about 15 years. I always meant to repair it and at long last I have. I took a few pictures to chronicle the process.

This header had a crease in one of the worst places, across the body line at the very tip of the panel, right where everyone’s eyes are drawn too.

[vegawagon72]

Since I had to get to the back side of this dent with a target pick to “bump it” out. I first took my cut off wheel and sliced off this mounting bracket off to get clear access to the back, keeping in mind I would weld the bracket back on when the dent work was done.

[vegawagon72]

After the mount was off I used a small body grinder to quickly get thru the paint and define the dented area

[vegawagon72]

Using the target pick I slowly began bumping the back side of the dent, using very light taps with a swing arc of probably less than 4”.

[vegawagon72]

Slowly I keep working the crease with light blows from the target pick; with an eye toward working that body line back in. When doing this kind of work light and shadow is everything so I turn the piece back and forth using reflections to see where the metal is going

[vegawagon72]

Here I used my DA sander with some 120 grit paper to remove paint from a wider area and finally a 2” scotch bright wheel to get more reflected light to my repair spot. At this point in the repair instead of bumping I’m actually taking down the high spots by removing metal, so one has to by very careful at his point not to get the metal to hot while bringing it down nor to thin. Little steps and taking your time are essential to this stage of the work.

[vegawagon72]

Here I use some rattle can primer to change the light reflections and see where my high spots are.

[vegawagon72]

Using my DA with 220 paper and the little scotch bright wheel I smooth off the work. At this point I don’t want to overdo it and call it good. Anything else it needs can be handled with some primer paint and blocking.

Now I weld the bracket back on and sand lightly with the 220 DA to remove the blued color on the metal from the weld. And I’m done. Perhaps using bondo on this repair would be quicker, but that would not yield the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve made a high quality repair using a high skill method. It only took a few tools and didn’t make a dusty mess outta my shop. This type of repair work is not for everybody, but I could do it all day long and be happy as a clam!

[80 MONZTA]

That is awesome!
I thought I understood how you moved the metal back in position, until I got to the last pic. Is that large contraption surounding the sanding block what you call a target pick in your text? I thought you were using a small hammer pick. Was that a home-made type tool, or are they readily availible? Probably not anymore, as that is becoming a lost art.

My passenger side fender is just about completly rust free, but is crumpled up at the bottom with a long crease in it. I have no idea where to start repairing something like that. Would you use the same technique on a larger crease?

[vegawagon72]

That is awesome!
I thought I understood how you moved the metal back in position, until I got to the last pic. Is that large contraption surounding the sanding block what you call a target pick in your text? I thought you were using a small hammer pick. Was that a home-made type tool, or are they readily availible? Probably not anymore, as that is becoming a lost art.

My passenger side fender is just about completly rust free, but is crumpled up at the bottom with a long crease in it. I have no idea where to start repairing something like that. Would you use the same technique on a larger crease?

That target pick was made for me as a gift from Cactus John. I think you may be able to get one like it from the specialty cataloges like Eastwood Co. http://www.eastwood.com/ I have used it to bump out long creases in fenders, along with hammer/dolly set ups. One important tool I didnt mention is the big 2 sided leather bag in the last picture. It has about 25lbs of sand in it and functions as a soft back up for hammer work.

Sometimes with lower fender heel damage the inner brace must be cut out with a thin wheel and a spot weld cutter (or drill bit) in order to get behind it with a dolly and/or hammer. Thin cuts make it easier to weld the piece back after the straightening is finished. A lot can even be done with the cheap Harbor Freight Hammer and Dolly sets. http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result/?category=&q=auto+body

Pictures of your fender damage would help determine the repair needed.

[jon72vega]

Excellent work, Excellent tutorial!!!!!

[monzajer]

X2!!! Excellent work excellent tutorial.

This could qualify for "Best Of..." section. Whadda you guys think?

Keep up the very nice work!!!

cheers jer

[waybad]

very nice job,,, you have talent!! thanks for sharing!!

[gt350fme]

That was sweet! never seen that target pick used before, may have to get one of those.
Thanks for posting

[Vegavulture]

Great job, going to give this a try, thanks for posting this. I thouroghly enjoy reading these post's!