Panel beating

[Wagger]

Here is a picture of the OS wing dent before and after I had a go at it.

At first I used a screw jack and a wooden block between the bonnet frame and the dent apex inside the wing. I then used a Sealey panel beating kit with Dollies and hammers inside the wing, and a rubber mallet on the painted outside of the wing.

Skills learned in metalwork at school, then in our apprentice training complex.

It needs a bit more, but can wait until the Winter.

[Graham C]

Very nice work, did you enjoy remembering old skills?

Graham

[Anglefire]

Many years ago I ran into the back of a landcrab in Sheffield whilst going down a hill in my 1200 beetle. He had a tow bar at the back so didn’t do him any damage but the numberplate had wrapped around the ball and put a big dent in the bonnet - which wouldn’t open. 🙄

Once I’d got it home I got my uncles dolly and beat the bonnet back out perfectly - so good it needed no filler before spraying. I was dead chuffed at the time. I would have been about 18 or 19 at the time. 

[PeteH]

Hi

One of the benefits of having a tow bar fitted?. Especially when `er indoors backs into the steel cupboard under the bench in the garage!. Never told her I had moved the "stop" blocks!!!. whilst sweeping up!. Dent in door not an issue, Backend repairs on a MK2 Granada? never cheap!.

Pete

[Peter Truman]

We brought a 76 2500TC saloon around 78, and around 80 the wife put the 2yr old daughter in the back passengers kids seat then forgot to shut the door and backed out of the garage, jacking the N/S rear door on the garage brick opening, buckling the hinges and the door, fortunately a local Triumph spares garage had the right coloured door (In Aus Toyota paint) with matching parchment door trim. 

A little straightening work on the hinges and refitting the complete new door all good, BUT I did hang the buckled offending door on the rear brick wall of the garage directly in front of the drivers line just to remind her, I think it hung there for a couple of years and the daughter just giggled every time she saw it & asked is the door shut mum, Aah she's has her dads wicked humour! 

[Badwolf]

I have been rear ended (car that is) twice. Both times major damage was averted by the tow bar. Worth the cost of having one fitted just to save the back end from idiots. Not so sure about the damage to shins when I forget it's there, can be very painful. I know that I could get a detachable style but then I would forget where I put the detachable bit or the bolts or it would be under the spare wheel or something.

[DVD3500]

Hmmm... I am currently combining a Californian spec 1500 with my MKIV.... the Cali car has a reinforced rear-end so maybe I should graft that over as well...

(or just use the Cali chassis...)

[thescrapman]

The US chassis should have extra boot riggers.

 

[daverclasper]

8 hours ago, Badwolf said:

Worth the cost of having one fitted just to save the back end from idiots.

I have wondered though, if a good shove on the tow bar, would damage chassis?, or are so many moderns more plastic based/impact absorbing, so not an issue 

[PeteH]

1 hour ago, daverclasper said:

I have wondered though, if a good shove on the tow bar, would damage chassis?, or are so many moderns more plastic based/impact absorbing, so not an issue 

It is in theory, possible to transfer the shock of impact to the chassis, and or the shell of the Vehicle such as to cause distortion. In practice the vehicle usually moves forward, even if braked, mitigating the impact. The type of impact envisaged is of the level that normally only causes minor damage anyway. A very high impact would have to be investigated and possibly jigged to ensure the shell had not been distorted, even if little evidence was seen of serious damage.

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

We parked a Ford Focus in a local town a few years back and came back to find that two cars had collided on the road, one had veered off and hit the rear of the Focus. The Police had left us a note to say there was no damage bar slight scuffing to the rear bumper. We opened the boot to find the boot floor sitting up like a pyramid. The crumple zones had indeed crumpled but the large rear bumper had sprung back out as the offending car had been removed, meaning that it looked ok from outside. The records stated that we had not made any complaint, due to the light nature of the damage. We had never been spoken to!! That took some sorting out and quite a bit of money to repair, by the end of things I think we were out over £800 that was never reimbursed.

[PeteH]

5 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

We parked a Ford Focus in a local town a few years back and came back to find that two cars had collided on the road, one had veered off and hit the rear of the Focus. The Police had left us a note to say there was no damage bar slight scuffing to the rear bumper. We opened the boot to find the boot floor sitting up like a pyramid. The crumple zones had indeed crumpled but the large rear bumper had sprung back out as the offending car had been removed, meaning that it looked ok from outside. The records stated that we had not made any complaint, due to the light nature of the damage. We had never been spoken to!! That took some sorting out and quite a bit of money to repair, by the end of things I think we were out over £800 that was never reimbursed.

When Ford brought the Sierra Out, it had a serious flaw in the floor pan structure, which allowed to floor under the seats to fold upwards, after the most minor of shunt, sometimes not even leaving a scratch in the paintwork!!. Ford actually made a "Repair" section to strengthen the affected area. A lot of Sierras had this welded in without the car being jigged and re-aligned. It is likely that the only indication would have been tyre wear and /or issues with tracking alignment.

Pete

Pete