A little help please

Dan Trimbach

Promoted Users
I stripped the front fenders on my '71 Pontiac Lemans. I knew they had some dings and dents that I thought would be ok with a little filler. I sprayed them with SPI Black Epoxy today, and then all of the flaws really stood out. Now I see that I have a problem in front of one of the wheel wheels. There is a crease in the metal, and the natural curve is distorted.

I'm not the best with the hammer and dolly. If I start hammering on the crease, I am afraid I will just flatten out the thing and loose the contour, making it worse than when I started.

Before I go to town on it, and potentially make a mess of it, I wanted to see if I could get a little direction on where to hit it to get the crease out. Any help is appreciated.
 

Attachments

  • Copy of IMG_1472.JPG
    Copy of IMG_1472.JPG
    117.5 KB · Views: 168
Last edited:
Looking at your pics it appears that the crease resulted from front impact. The lower front fender is rolled in causing the middle to go high. The high crease in the fender is from the fender being pushed in from the front. It appears in the pic that above the marker light holes that the crease is low. That should tell you that the fender impacted something and distorted the fender in the areas where is is creased. On the high crease start by making sure the flange on the front edge is relatively straight. If not try bumping it out a bit with a body hammer. Easy does it. Then move to the dented crease above the marker light hole and gently bump the dent up. Don't worry about getting it perfect, just get the dent bumped out. Once that looks relatively close get a dolly that closely matches the contour of the fender in that area and hold it underneath the high crease. Gently start tapping the crease down working from one end to the other. Gentle hammering don't hit it hard, just enough to see the metal start moving. Work from one end to the other. Keep looking at the lower fender as a whole and make sure what you are doing is helping rather than hurting. Use the other (hopefully) undamaged fender as a reference. Use your hand to feel if it is still high. If so keep bumping the crease down with the dolly underneath it. You should not hear the dolly ring. If you do it means you are stretching that area and you need to stop as it is (relatively) level. Keep working the crease until you bring it down. Try to keep looking at the shape of the whole area and note if you need to twist, manipulate etc, the front of the fender in order to maintain it's shape. Use the palm of your hand to check the feel of the fender to spot any highs or lows. Keep working at it until it feels close. Just remember to go easy. Gentle hammer blows. Don't just start whacking it hard.
Don't get discouraged if it takes you a while to get it right. Keep at it.:)
 
Back
Top