repairing the rear corner of my car.

ok.

as a few of you would have read in my wanted add, i need to fix the rear corner of my car.

some of you have said that it shouldnt be too hard to do with a mig and slide hammer.

well, i have some skills (limited)

I have a mig.

I have a slide hammer.

I have a basic panel beating kit.

I also have a detailed book on panelbeating, aimed at trade students, circa 1980 or so.

(i'll read the book soon )

Heres some close up shots of my corner.

now, some of it i can see how to pull it out, but some of it seems folded and creased pretty badly.

Im wondering if it would be easier to cut some sections out, and effectively stitch it back together with small filler peices?

perhaps some of you could give me some basic instructions or pointers?

I'll give it a go and post pics, and we can then work from there?

Im wondering if it would be easier to cut some sections out, and effectively stitch it back together with small filler peices?

That's what I would be doing, I'm no panel beater and I really hate paying others to screw up what I can screw up perfectly well myself!  So go for it.  I'd be looking at the rust repairs in all the different project threads to see how sections are first cut out and then, as you say, stitched back together.  Worst case is you are still looking for a donor corner.

Alternatively, do what had been done to my old MGB, (yes, I LIKE MGBs  )  belt it back into rough shape with a BFH and shape it in bog.  All front and rear quarters, boot and bonnet of my poor MGB had been repaired in such a fashion,  was impossible to tell without a magnet or until you attempt a bare metal respray 

hehehee, oh yes, i considered bog, LOTS of it

my biggest issue with just knocking it into shape, is its almost impossible to get into the back of it.

But yes, i may end up just cutting and splicing.

But after some others commented on it being fixable, i figure i have nothing to lose if i give it a go, and i gain valuable experience in the process.

Even if i botch it badly, i can still cut and weld.

'Porta-power' on the inside & a bit of heat would have most of that out...

Is that a big speaker I can see inside ? If so, does it have a hole cut into the inner panel for the speaker to fit into ? Take speaker out, cut a piece of wood (hardwood) to the appropriate length, shape the end of the wood to the rough shape of the panel and carefully hammer it out (or use a porta power as Lurch suggests)

I'd be trying to knock it out - even if that involves cutting an access hole in the inner skin if the speaker hole doesn't work out. If you try to weld a new piece in you potentially will suffer from warping, which will require you to be able to access both sides of the panel anyway to hammer and dolly it straight again.

There's an open cavity behind that trim panel - should be no problem getting access to it.

i had dent similar in my car was top of rear guard didnt go as far down as yours but couldnt get hand in behind to basg out neighbour is panel beater he had a machine that spot welded metal pins like nails to the panel then put slide hammer on nails and pulled it back into shape

well, got into it today.

I found that there was enough room to get a peice of shaped wood down the cavity, and still have enough room to swing a hammer.

I tried at first to push the panel work out, but as i initially suspected, the fold was too much for it.

Im sure someone with formal training and better skills could have managed it

But i found that an easier soloution for me was to slice down the panel, fold out each peice of metal, then stitch weld it back together.

I also welded a bolt to the lower corner of the panel, and pulled at it with my slide hammer, it pulled out a fair bit, but not completely.

Then i applied a very small amount of bog

dont freak out though, i fully intend on rebuilding this car again in several years time.

at that time, it'll be a full strip down and blast. I'll repair this corner correctly along with some 'other' areas on the car.

Good job.........

The joy of doing it yourself

mate thats what the "pros" will do besides the monkeys replacing the whole rear 1/4 for small damage. once u sand it into shape u will notice that there isnt much body filler left on the car.

if u get slight high point of metal shoving lightly tap it back with center punch or something like it.

dont build the shape from bog like ive seen some guys do, cause of a small high point

that corner (from pics) looks like its preety close to correct shape. wont need much body filler. just a skim to smooth it off.

good work now u can go back to panel shop and tell those monkeys how its done.

there are a few spots where the bog will be a little thick, but yea, i reckon i got it pretty close.

Q. You mention knocking down the high spots if any.

Will it crack the bog? Will i have to strip back a larger section and re-bog it?

i really did want to try to aviod too much filler.

I had a gemini "professionally" repaired once, (same rear corner) the panels didnt line up properly, so they bog shaped it all together.

it was almost 2 cm thick in some places

it lasted about 2 years before it began rusting underneath and cracked off.

for what i paid for the repair, i wasnt too impressed.

Put a rasping file over the high spots of metal or sand down with a die grinder and fine disk

problem with grinding or filing is u thin the metal or if its poking too high it will grind through.

answear about bog cracking well u dont hit it that hard hit the center point with center punch but tap it lightly back in. it shouldnt crack.

if it does just chip as much as u can till it doesnt chip than light sand and re bog it.

option two to reduce amount of bog if there is a dimple and cannot pop it out is to mig weld it. ie weld the dimple or fill it with weld. but be carefull do small amount at the time otherwise it will burn through.

basicaly using the weld to fill it in. than grind it down and just light coat filler to get it nice and smooth.

as for ur gemini "butcher" doesnt have a clue. no way u put 2cm of bog to align panels up. obiously something wasnt aligned properly or the panels were out of shape. panels shouldnt be out by that much. if they are something is not right.

anyway u still did a fairly good job for a beginer and should be happy and proud of your work.

keep it up next time u improve and before u know it u be a pro.

Good job.........

 

The joy of doing it yourself

I'll second that!

I would argue that, assuming you finish it nicely, the amount of bog used for that repair is perfectly acceptable for anything except a high dollar resto.  Don't get hung up on it! 

Well, update time, because we all want to see it finished

All the bog on the rear corner was shaped and smoothed.

All primed up.

Painted.

Obviously this isnt the final colour, its only my colour base coat.

But for the post, it demonstrates a finished job.

as for the amount of bog, there is quite a bit in there.

I tried to keep it to a minimum, but to get it out to the same shape as the other side required a litte 'extra' bog.

All up though, i doubt its any thicker than about 5mm at its thickest part.