How to remove a dent (Part 2)
Taking out a massive 30 plus year old dent in a left rear quarter of a 1957 Porsche Speedster ( see introduction to this article below in earlier post)
The purpose of this article is to shed some light on the technique of proper dent removal. First off there is no magic, there is no one tool that you have to have, and you don’t need five plus years of experience. It will become apparent that nothing more than good information, good eyesight, feel, and most importantly lots of passion and patience are required to get flawless results.
To head off the debate, I will first state that there are many ways to take dents out. Here are a few techniques that would work that I won’t be addressing in this post.
Mobile planishing hammer:
A valid method but it requires ownership of a mobile planishing hammer. You might also need an assortment of frame hoops to have enough reach.
Mobile English wheel: Same drawbacks as the mobile planishing hammer.
Cut out the damaged area: Correct dented area on a English Wheel or planishing hammer and weld the smoothed panel back into the rear quarter.
Make a new panel: Use an English Wheel, power hammer, or planishing hammer to shape a new repair panel and weld it into the damaged area.
The method I will use: A simple inexpensive technique with few tools that will yield perfect results. I believe that most people who have collector cars that they work on themselves do not want to spend thousands of dollars buying tools. If that description fits you, you will especially like this article.
Tools used in this method: a shaping mallet, a dolly, a slapper, a fine cut file, a magnum magic marker, and a 9″ shrinking disc.
I have roughed out the dent which was originally about 4 inches deep and 24 inches long with one of my shaping mallets from the inside of the panel ( time to rough out dent about five minutes, see first picture of original dent).
I’ll post the information about what is happening step by step on each picture to lessen the potential confusion. The whole process will take me a few weeks to cover
HOW TO REMOVE A DENT (PART 3)
HOW TO REMOVE A DENT (PART 4)
HOW TO REMOVE A DENT (PART 5)