M.Brane
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I remember many years ago walking into the Ford dealer to get one of those for my Ranchero. Before I was done describing what I needed the parts guy had one in his hand.
MP&C Shop Projects
- Thread starter MP&C
- Start date
Had an insurance job in the shop, a collaboration with a local collision shop. One of those fancy, old-time looking hearse had a backing up run in with a yellow pole. The mirrors on this thing are on top of fender mounted spare tires, and let's just say they leave a lot to be desired. There is also a backup camera installed in the rear tag frame. So one end of the bumper wrapped slightly around the yellow pole and just barely hit the rear fender. My job was to straighten the rear bumper, which is made from flat polished stainless.
(file photo)
This close up shows how much the end moved.
Not having a tree in the yard the right diameter, I opted for some 3" diameter wooden hand rail and some flat strap to make a leverage tool.
This worked well to remove most of the damage, but the end where the vertical rod is welded still wanted to curl outwards. So our tool was modified to hold the rod end, the other hand rail moved over snug, and this held things sufficient to unwrap the end. The relief cut was added using a rounded router bit..
There was a slight crease by the outer mounting bolt, so a suitable punch was made from a scrap 2x4
A profile template was cut out of an old shipping box and used to monitor our progress...
The damaged end was wet sanded up to 2500 grit and polished out on the buffing wheel to remove any trace of the yellow paint and subsequent scratches.
At the collision shop, waiting for the hearse to come out of the paint shop...
(file photo)
This close up shows how much the end moved.
Not having a tree in the yard the right diameter, I opted for some 3" diameter wooden hand rail and some flat strap to make a leverage tool.
This worked well to remove most of the damage, but the end where the vertical rod is welded still wanted to curl outwards. So our tool was modified to hold the rod end, the other hand rail moved over snug, and this held things sufficient to unwrap the end. The relief cut was added using a rounded router bit..
There was a slight crease by the outer mounting bolt, so a suitable punch was made from a scrap 2x4
A profile template was cut out of an old shipping box and used to monitor our progress...
The damaged end was wet sanded up to 2500 grit and polished out on the buffing wheel to remove any trace of the yellow paint and subsequent scratches.
At the collision shop, waiting for the hearse to come out of the paint shop...
Last edited:
zimman
Well-known member
Nice work. I've spent a lot of time at PAX River. Camped on base a few years ago too.
Zim
Zim
Bowtie4life
Well-known member
Awesome work Robert. You can't even tell that it was ever bent.
larry4406
Well-known member
The guy can even raise the dead!
Great work Robert!
How would you go about manually bending a 1x3/16” flat steel bar into a hoop with 22.5” inside diameter without a roller? Bbq project for a friend.
Great work Robert!
How would you go about manually bending a 1x3/16” flat steel bar into a hoop with 22.5” inside diameter without a roller? Bbq project for a friend.
PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I know a guy...
PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Larry, you can bump a curve that size pretty easy. That is how I did the fenders for the rolling tool bench- 1/8" x4" flat bar. I just clamped a piece of angle to the bench frame and bent it by hand.
Take your time, and use a radius template to ensure you don't overbend it. I would do it in two halves , calculate the diameter thru the neutral axis and trim each piece to half that length. Allow an extra 4" on each end for the flats that get trimmed off.Good luck. Post your progress.
Sorry for the thread hijack, Robert. We now return to our regularly scheduled excellence.@larry4406 the “leverage” tool that I used to take out the incorrect bends was also used to add the correct ones back in. It’s nowhere near as consistent as a slip roll, but you’re welcome to try it out if you think it would do the trick
More insight is a good thing
More insight is a good thing
Anyone in the area, we’ll have the 66 along with the speed boat at the Fathers Day car show at the Sully Historic Site, located at 3650 Historic Sully Way, Chantilly VA. 10 am to 3:30 pm. Stop by and say hi!
@larry4406 let me know if you want to try the “leverage tool” on your flat bar, I can bring it along.
@larry4406 let me know if you want to try the “leverage tool” on your flat bar, I can bring it along.
larry4406
Well-known member
Thanks for the offer Robert!
Would love to stop by, but I won't be able to make that show.
Have lived in this area nearly all my life, and I have never been to Sully Plantation....
Would love to stop by, but I won't be able to make that show.
Have lived in this area nearly all my life, and I have never been to Sully Plantation....
RifleA
New member
Robert, any update on the wagon? Is the milk truck still in the queue?
I‘ve been following this thread for a few years now and have reread it several times, learning something new with each pass, thank you for sharing your incredible skill set. I hope all is well with you and your family.
Just to share our collaboration with a local collision shop on the insurance repair job on a 33 Chevy Master sedan, here we see the pitfalls of driving a vintage vehicle amongst the crazies. This car has been owned by the same family for decades. Their family travels twice a year the 3-1/2 hour drive to Ocean City, MD and back. On their last trip they had stopped for a red light, as had the car behind them. The next car back did not. The car in between was totaled, and this one needs a bit of work. One of our local collision shops is on the hook for the paint job/repair and the shop owner reached out to me to do the metalwork.
We had the tail pan and two fenders media blasted to get a better view of what we had to work with. Both fenders were bent up, although the drivers side took the brunt of it. There were some previous repairs to the running board attachment area that we'll address while we're here. These pics are after some hammer work to rough out the damage and get a better sense of where to proceed.
The fender brace for the passenger side had been hit with a tire chain or perhaps a retread that let go, and the driver's side was in pieces from the collision.
Time to make some parts. Beading dies in the Lennox...
We found it better to run the bead in the flat first and then add the side folds on the press brake, the next pic was a test run.
Where the originals have two bends, we thought a gradual curve that better matched the fender would give us more room for tires. This "roll" calls for a bead roller die in the wheeling machine, and some like sized spacers were used to support the brace across its width.
Then the right application of leeverage...
test fit...
This design shows a bit more tire clearance....
The fender brace for the passenger side had been hit with a tire chain or perhaps a retread that let go, and the driver's side was in pieces from the collision.
Time to make some parts. Beading dies in the Lennox...
We found it better to run the bead in the flat first and then add the side folds on the press brake, the next pic was a test run.
Where the originals have two bends, we thought a gradual curve that better matched the fender would give us more room for tires. This "roll" calls for a bead roller die in the wheeling machine, and some like sized spacers were used to support the brace across its width.
Then the right application of leeverage...
test fit...
This design shows a bit more tire clearance....
larry4406
Well-known member
I hope the customer knows there is a metal master behind the curtain.
Fantastic Robert!
Fantastic Robert!
stinkity stoink
Well-known member
outstanding.. you are gonna put a lot of pressure on that body shop to match the level of work you’re doing
Thanks for the comments!
And here's the benefit of posting pictures online of your work. Ted (tb33anda3rd on the HAMB) had seen pictures of the rear fenders and reached out to see if we needed any other parts. He put me in contact with someone who had an original tail pan. It has a couple of minor repairs, but for 93 years old was pretty straight and solid, much better than the ripped sample we had.
The smack in the rear end didn't bode well for the exhaust hangers either, the rubber isolators had ripped
So the hangers were replaced and the tailpipes pulled upward a bit so we could add some relief openings for a more finished appearance.
This "anvil" was fabricated to add the cutouts in the tail pan. The notch provides relief area for the side flanges while hammering the opening.
For the long chrome tips, I think this makes it look more finished and less an afterthought.
We turned in about 5/16 to add some strength across the opening. Still needs a bit of fine tuning.
And here's the benefit of posting pictures online of your work. Ted (tb33anda3rd on the HAMB) had seen pictures of the rear fenders and reached out to see if we needed any other parts. He put me in contact with someone who had an original tail pan. It has a couple of minor repairs, but for 93 years old was pretty straight and solid, much better than the ripped sample we had.
The smack in the rear end didn't bode well for the exhaust hangers either, the rubber isolators had ripped
So the hangers were replaced and the tailpipes pulled upward a bit so we could add some relief openings for a more finished appearance.
This "anvil" was fabricated to add the cutouts in the tail pan. The notch provides relief area for the side flanges while hammering the opening.
For the long chrome tips, I think this makes it look more finished and less an afterthought.
We turned in about 5/16 to add some strength across the opening. Still needs a bit of fine tuning.
jimkinney
Well-known member
Very nice
67CarGuy
Well-known member
All those (seemingly little but not at all) little details really make a difference. Nice work as always!
Slednut
Well-known member
Looks great, I weld a piece of rod stock to bend the sheet metal around.Thanks for the comments!
And here's the benefit of posting pictures online of your work. Ted (tb33anda3rd on the HAMB) had seen pictures of the rear fenders and reached out to see if we needed any other parts. He put me in contact with someone who had an original tail pan. It has a couple of minor repairs, but for 93 years old was pretty straight and solid, much better than the ripped sample we had.
The smack in the rear end didn't bode well for the exhaust hangers either, the rubber isolators had ripped
So the hangers were replaced and the tailpipes pulled upward a bit so we could add some relief openings for a more finished appearance.
This "anvil" was fabricated to add the cutouts in the tail pan. The notch provides relief area for the side flanges while hammering the opening.
For the long chrome tips, I think this makes it look more finished and less an afterthought.
We turned in about 5/16 to add some strength across the opening. Still needs a bit of fine tuning.
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Great job on the repair Robert.
These two pictures are what kind of drove me away from the custom car scene in our local area in the early 2000's. I saw so many people slathering body filler over this type of swiss cheese, prepping and painting them and people bragging about the low cost they had the work done. It was hard to compete with that kind of **** workmanship in terms of pricing and I wouldn't lower my standards or cut my quotes to match as people wouldn't pay the higher price to cut out corrosion and poor work and replace properly.
I got so tired of justifying my pricing to people who really had no idea what quality work was that I just walked away. I told myself that when building sand rails and quads there was nowhere to hide such piss poor workmanship and with your work right out in the open for the whole world to see it would help to showcase my work at a higher level. Not sure it worked out the way I wanted it to as I then got tired of those clients and walked away from doing any work on powersports at all.
Now all I want to do is get to retirement so I can build a few more cars while I'm above ground.
These two pictures are what kind of drove me away from the custom car scene in our local area in the early 2000's. I saw so many people slathering body filler over this type of swiss cheese, prepping and painting them and people bragging about the low cost they had the work done. It was hard to compete with that kind of **** workmanship in terms of pricing and I wouldn't lower my standards or cut my quotes to match as people wouldn't pay the higher price to cut out corrosion and poor work and replace properly.
I got so tired of justifying my pricing to people who really had no idea what quality work was that I just walked away. I told myself that when building sand rails and quads there was nowhere to hide such piss poor workmanship and with your work right out in the open for the whole world to see it would help to showcase my work at a higher level. Not sure it worked out the way I wanted it to as I then got tired of those clients and walked away from doing any work on powersports at all.
Now all I want to do is get to retirement so I can build a few more cars while I'm above ground.
We had the tail pan and two fenders media blasted to get a better view of what we had to work with. Both fenders were bent up, although the drivers side took the brunt of it. There were some previous repairs to the running board attachment area that we'll address while we're here. These pics are after some hammer work to rough out the damage and get a better sense of where to proceed.