Today, I'm gonna be sharing with you how I started this particular body line dent as you can see it hit it pretty hard and it displaced a lot of the metal and created this big lump, this big high spot below the body line. So I will be sharing with you what I did to get this metal moving.
The Damage
Okay, so looking at the damage, we've gotta chop here, looks like something's impacted the panel, pushed it down so some of this metal has been pushed into the body line itself and push excess metal below. So looking to try and reverse that in simple terms, we're going to take some of this metal, send it upwards back in towards the body line and back into this dip.
So I'm gonna start without the line board and just see how I get on and see how easy I can start moving some metal. My plan is to start tapping this, release some of that tension, Put a crease tab on with something like a Robo lifter and I can simultaneously apply some pulling force to the crease whilst tapping this high inwards and upwards.
The main focus will be moving some of this metal into the upper sections and trying to restore that body line.
Starting off by Cro-Carb tap down
So I'm going to start off by using a crow carb tap down to help me move some of this metal. It's got a softer leather tip which allows me to use a fair amount of force to move a larger amount of metal than some of the smaller refiner knockdowns. And I'm not tapping too hard at the moment, I'm just trying to kind of test the water, see how the metal begins to move.
So some of the metal is starting to move, just giving it a few gentle taps to kind of really gauge how much force to start hitting it with. But so far it's just starting to soften up just a tiny bit.
So along with tapping that main kind of lump the big high spot below the body line you'll see, I'm also tapping on the line itself whenever there's a crease or kind of like a dents on the body line, there's nearly always some hidden tension in that line. So I'm just very lightly tapping to the left and the right of my low spot, just making sure I've released any potential tension that's in that line. And that's just going to allow the metal to flow a little bit easier and a little bit smoother.
Glue Pulling
Now, the next thing I want to do is start a glue pulling process but I'm still working on releasing attention below the body line and feeding that excess metal above the line itself. So I'm not really looking to pull out the crease at this stage. I'm really just looking to help me direct some of the metal.
So I'm gonna do is set up a creased tab on the crease itself and I'm going to use my lifter and rather than pulling it with the trigger, how are normally kind of left out, dents in the low, I'm going to gradually tighten up the big screw on the top and that's going to just start to apply some pulling tension and then I'm gonna start tapping the high spot below the line, gently up towards my low spot in that crease.
And as I start to tap in the high spot and that tension starts to move, I'll gradually continue to tighten up the screw on my lifter. So as the pressure starts to move and that tension starts to move, there becomes less pressure on the lifter on that crease tab. So every time I feel that the metal is starting to move into the low where I want it, I'm just gonna screw the tab up, just a little bit more like this and just make sure I'm continually applying pulling pressure during this tap down process.
Lump Reduced
So definitely getting some movement on that metal, This lump has been reduced and some of that metal you can see has already come up towards the body line, so it's all getting just a little bit straighter, not much visible difference from the top side, although no doubt it will be slightly more reduced just by the fact I've started to release some tension.
I've definitely moved a lot of this lump, taking some of that metal to the sides, some of the upwards just redistributing it, which is going to allow me to start lifting that law. But as I'm tapping in these sections here and here, you can see that above the body line. We've got these kind of shoulders either side. So kind of coming up here and here. So I can feel the distance between the lines here. I can see the distance between the lines here and then that little section there where those lines get really tight. Same on that side.
So it's quite similar to the way that crease comes up and then it continues into here as a high good along with my tapping process, I'm gonna tap top side of the body line and just tap these shoulders down and out. So I'm gonna try and take this metal and push it that way, this metal push it that way. Just as with the bottom section, I'm trying to push it in and by releasing these shoulders it should allow some of this low to start lifting up.
Tapping Down The Shoulders
So now that I've opened up the dents by tapping down the shoulders on the left and the right. I released some of that tension. So I'm gonna go back to the process of trying to move some of the metal that's below the body line that shouldn't be there back up to above the body line where it should be. Now I'm using a similar process as before.
So again, I've got my crease tab glued to the main kind of low that crease, but I've switched to a smaller knockdown. So I'm using a little root beer knockdown. Just give me a bit more accuracy on just the areas that I'm trying to tap. So this time of the lifter I am applying pressure and pulling the trigger actively trying to lift the metal and I repeat that same process again. So when I start to see tension build up around the dents above the line, I continue to tap down their shoulders.
So each time I pull up the metal, the shoulders start to rise again and I'll continuously tap those down while trying to lift the low and then continuously trying to tap down the excess metal below the body line, Back up to the area it should be.
Bar Work From The Inside
So now I'm gonna switch to doing some bar, work from the inside. I've got my standard hockey stick style door bar, I'll wrap just a little bit of tape around that blade tip just to give me a really nice soft damper.
Make sure I've got some nice soft pushes. Now I'm still only work in the area below the body line so you can see just to the left and to the right. I've already started to clean up the repair and now the panel is starting to make a little bit more sense as we take a look with a line board, you can see some of those lines pinching together as I work on that kind of crest that semicircle below the line itself.
Working On Concave Panels
Now, when everyone working on concave panels, I nearly always have my board kind of straight onto the panel so as we know lines can get a little bit confusing when the damage is a little bit more complex, But even more so when you're working on a concave panel, it's a little bit like the crazy hall of mirrors where everything kind of back to front and upside down.
So personally I find it really helps to have my line board directly flat on facing the panel and then I have my head directly above the line board so that I'm also facing the panel as opposed to the usual technique of looking along the side of the vehicle with your line board kind of at a 90° angle. So whenever I'm working concave panels, that's what I'm doing with my line board, I'm having it directly lined up with me facing the panel.
Working On Semicircle Below The Bodyline
So I'm working across that kind of crest that semicircle below the body line, picking out all of the lows I can. Now, as you can see I'm bringing that metal up slightly high and that's part of my process of reducing these lows and completely getting rid of them. So once I bring up the panel high I know that I can easily start to tap it back down again, back into its right shape.
So this section of the door is really starting to come on now I was able to release a lot of the tension in those early stages and just following that slow process of following the dent, seeing where the tension is building up either shoulder to the left and right of my main low tapping down the shoulders and attention as they raise, lifting the lows even of a global process or with the rod from behind. And as soon as that tension starts building up again, switching tactics, going back to my tap down, tapping down that tension.
Shape Starting To Get There
And now as we have a quick look with the line board again, you can see the overall shape starting to get there. There's just a lot of small kind of micro lows micro highs to help me tackle this, I'm now removing the tape from the tip of my tool. So I've just got that blade tip, metal to metal that really helps me with my accuracy being able to pick out the micro lows and also with a smaller tip, I'm able to move less metal with each push. So I'm just gently picking out the low spots and you can see here where the lions pinched together. And I'm really just trying to tackle one at a time.
So there's probably about 15-20 small low spots. So I'm taking out all of the lows I can from this angle. Then I move my line board around and then take out all of the lows I can from the next angle. Within that process, I'm tapping down the highs and again as I move my line board a number of different times, it shows me the different lows and the different highs that are remaining. So just repeating that process, picking out the micro lows, tapping down the micro highs.
Creases Started To Lock Up
Now the creases actually started to lock up a little bit by taking this metal and putting it up so it's quite rigid. Not much give you can see perhaps some of the tension of shoulders either side. So I'm gonna tap on these shoulders, open it up a little bit, just soften the area and then put a glue crease tab on, do a little bit of lifting and see what starts to move.
Glue Pull The Main Crease
So now I'm gonna go back to trying to glue people the main crease so I'm just worn out the panel warming up my tab lining up a smooth series crease tab right in the middle of my dent and I'm gonna set up my lifter and just begin slowly trying to lift out some of that low.
So now that I've opened up the dents and released a lot of tension, this should make it a bit easier and start to allow some of that metal to flow into that low area. I can start bringing up the dent. Now quite often, when I am working on creases, use increased tabs, I'll turn the feet inwards on my lifter as I said before, it just narrows the gap so it applies a bit more pulling pressure to that specific area trying to pull.
Thus really reduced my crease length of it was to here and whilst that top section went out fully, because see it's massively reduced that section and just left me of this part. But now I've set up my a smaller crease tab on the lower section of that crease. So my first kind of pull was quite successful in terms of reducing the overall length and depth.
Now, my second pull, I'm just setting up the smaller tab, still using my lifter and gently trying to ease up that low that crease as I start to bring up the metal again, it starts to bring up some of their shoulders, so you'll see me switch to some tap down, work again, just releasing tension, open up the dents, keeping an eye on those shoulders that get raised with the lifting the pulling and I'm setting up now for my second glue pull of that lower section and just whilst waiting for that glue to go off and just fine tuning some of the little details to come out of that as well.
Double Bend Bar
So I can get my double bend bar in which is ideal for body lines. It's my kind of go to if I can get the double bend bar to the body line and have enough room kind of with my arms and my hands to really create some pushing power. That's generally my go to and then I'll change the tip accordingly.
So right now with a plastic bullet tip, I want to apply a fair amount of pressure to the line, push out the line. I don't want a sharp tip because I don't want to risk pit in small little highs into the line itself and I don't want anything too soft or broad that I'm going to push more metal than I want to. So selecting the tip is key, it really comes down to how much pressure you want to push and the part that you're trying to access.
Damage Gets Small So Does The Tools
So as the damage gets smaller so does the tools that I use so as I'm reducing the lows, I'm dropping down in tip size to give me more accuracy and push less metal and I'm doing the same with my tap down process.
So right now you can see I'm using a small kicker metal tap down, It's a fine tip and also that metal to metal kind of energy transfer. Just really helps. Just tap down the highs and not the surrounding metal.
Blending Hammer
Now that I'm getting towards the final stage of this repair, I'm switching to some blending techniques so I'm using my blending hammer with a small metal domed tip on the end with my left hand, I'm pointing to where the damage is and this is to show you kind of roughly the surrounding area that I'm blending out too.
So I'm currently taking some of that texture from my repair area and blending it out gradually into the surrounding existing texture of the panel and the paintwork and I continue on that blending process until I've blended out my repair area into the existing panel and as you can see I've switching tool tips as well. Just allowing me to match the existing texture of the paint work and then we'll take a final check with the line board. You can see I've restored the overall shape of the panel, brought back that body line, remove those micro lows, tap down those micro highs.
I really hope you've enjoyed this video as always.
That's it for me, so I'll see you on the next one.