body work Options

[Dragondog]

what is the best way to do body work....tac weilding.......glue......screwin holes in body.........bondo.

on the driver side rear fender i have alot of dings and dents and creces...it seems over the years ppl like to hit that part of my car.....a guy told me that tac weilding a rod then pulling it would not be good cuz the weild process would warp the metal.......idk.....but im not looking for the cheapest....but the best.....

thx

This post has been edited by Dragondog: May 31, 2009 - 4:57 AM

[trdproven]

no such thing as cheapest and the best but really bodywork methods depend exactly on the situation such as level of damage, material, location, etc. Don't really have a true answer to your question. I wouldn't do body work unless you are ready to paint it.

[Dragondog]

oh yea im ready to paint it..................the whole fender looks like a wrinkled can......its ugly..........i can get to parts of it from the inside but the rest is a little hard to get to i have a tac weilder.....as well as the device that screws into the metal so it can be pulled out close to original shap then i can bondo the unsmoth parts sand and prime............but wich should i use? i noticed the pros use the weild......that wont warp the metal?

[dgbldr]

A proper repair involves straightening the metal to very close to original shape. This is done with body sheetmetal tools such as hammers and dollies, spoons, etc. There are extremely few spots on a Celica where you truly can't get at the back of a panel. In those places pros use tack-welded studs to pull the dent.

Body filler should not be over 1/16" thick anywhere if the repair was done correctly.

[Hanyo]

imo depending on how damage the area is. If there are seveal dents and creases it might be best to just cut away the dent and weld in a new one from a donor car. The reason for this is 1) it would require less bondo which translates to less paint chips 2) orginal shape will be as close as possible.

There are some faults to the cut and paste method of repair. 1) is you need to cut the new peice perfectly to fit the old peice 2) you will weaken the over all metal because its no longer a continuous peice of metal (but this can be over come by some good welding).

Tac welding studs and pulling them out requires some experienced hands, but it does not put holes/cut the orginal metal. Drilling holes and using a slide hammer seems very destructive to the metal material. What I mean by that is, when your finish with your work; you're left with a sheet of metal that looks like Swiss cheese.

last thing is, don't be afraid about metal warping. because an experience metal worker can unwarp metal. And when your car gets a dent in it, the metal has already stretched and warped. (again depending on how big of a dent is.)

some photo might help.