Does Anyone Know Of A Place In Melb Se Suburbs With A Chassis/body Rack

[aircobra]

i've got a slight nudge on my shell, must have taken a slight hit on the front bumper bar. the rails are fins, its just the inner wing is pushed in, say 4cm.

i thought of getting one of those portapower jigs and i reckon it would do the job - if i had a way to secure the car. as i understand it, you need to crimp it down on all the jack points to do it correctly

Once the car is on rack, i reckon its a 30 min pull job on the bumper bar mounting

i got a cheap and good towie ( thanks to this forum), so i'm all set.

the shell's a roller

[Sirpent]

If the damage is only isolated to the skirt area forward of the radiator support panel and there is no crimping of the metalwork to the skirt on the inner side of the radiator support panel, then the damage can be pulled without needing to bench the chassis.

 

The easiest way to accomplish this is by securing the vehicle at the crossmember to a secure fixture.

 

In the good old days, panel shops had plates dyna bolted to a concrete floor with welded rings, and then used a chain to secure the vehicle to those points and then used a fixed beam, or even a telephone pole out the front of the shop and use a ezi come chain winch or even a block and tackle set up to pull on the effected area via a fabricated and bolted plate.

 

You MUST pull the damage out in the same direction and angle as the initial impact. If you are talking 40mm I wouldn't hesitate giving it a go, the impacted metal will pull out.

 

As you pull, and the effected area is under tension, have a reasonably sized hammer on hand and give any folded metal gentle but adequate taps so as to assist in straightening out the fold while under stress, if you can use a dolly or a hand sized solid metal piece similar in size to a large solvo soap on the opposite side to the taps you give it, this will greatly improve the realignment.

 

Remember that the metal once pulled even to the correct position will most likely spring back a fraction so slowly experiment releasing and then applying tension maybe 5-10 mm past the realignment point.

 

Don't be scared, slowly but surely will bring it back into alignment.

 

Cheers

 

John

[aircobra]

thats awesome advice,

the only problem i've got is that i'd have to pull at knee height and i've just got a garage with no telephone poles

so i'd have to insert these rings so i can get the leverage on both sides

i've seen the jig guys use a vertical adjustable beam anchored to the floor to position the chain

surely its not expensive to rent an hour on a bench ? i'd been into $300 just to buy/rent  the portapower and all the fittings

i'll post some photos

[Sirpent]

If you have a garage, you can put a beam across the outside of the entrance and adjust the height of the beam and block and tackle to suit

 

seat belts are always a good way to secure a car without damaging things like cross members also.

 

When I opened my panel shop with my partner in 1989, we had 2 ezi comes, 3 porta power jacks,  a set vertical T beams as you mentioned, and oxy set, mig welder, a clapped out twin head compressor that produced more water than air, our own tool kits and a great big power pole at the front of the premises.

 

It took us a year to get a bench, racks, proper gear and oven but hell we had a lot of fun.