Posted by Kevin in Ohio [50.41.231.154] on Saturday, January 10, 2015 at 21:09:32 :
In Reply to: And Now for the Scary Part - Bodywork posted by Greg Coffin [67.176.56.96] on Saturday, January 10, 2015 at 18:59:31 :
My roof was a lot worse than that and this was my first attempt at trying to do all the body work myself. I would too, HIGHLY suggest, not cut it all out first.
Probably the best thing to do is start with a small spot and go from there. My truck build album may give you some tips too. Look in the cab and rear fender sections.
http://imageevent.com/kevininohio/cab?n=0&z=2&c=4&x=0&m=24&w=0&p=0
http://imageevent.com/kevininohio/rearfenderrework?n=0&z=2&c=4&x=0&m=24&w=0&p=0
Do you have a good body hammer and dolly? I basically used one hammer on the whole truck. The Comma dolly, curve on oneside/flat on the other dolly and the hand grip dollys were the best for me.
As others said, hammer to the side of the dolly to avoid stretching/thinning it.
This is what worked best for me. Once I had it roughed in, you have all kinds of waves, lows and highs. I used sprayable lay out dye, Dykem brand and LIGHTLY dusted the surface with it. I then used a normal mill file and lightly went over the surface. This will show you the highs and lows.
One thing I had trouble with was finding the exact spot on the inside to tap. At first I hit the wrong spot and make it worse. I then came up with using a Really small(about 3/8" diameter magnet) and placing it on the low or high. Then on the opposite side throw some fine metal dust and you could instantly see the exact spot. marked it with a marker and tapped it in. Slow but steady, repeat and repeat I got them there.
The curves are easier as mentioned. The flats will take you longer.
I bought one of those shrinking disks and had NO luck with it. What did work for me was a stud gun for pulling panels out. Used the same method to spot the high and low. Put the tip there and hit the heat. Once hot, quench with rag. takes awhile to get the process but that did work for me anyway. From having the back of the cab down about 3 inches in spots, I got it to where Slick sand ghosted was all that was needed.
Like I said, start on a small problem and build your skill there, The big stuff is too overwhelming to start out on. It takes time but you'd pay 50 - 100 bucks an hour for someone else to beat on it. They won't care as much as you either.
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