The Dodge Challenger Message Board

I'm in need of a second opinion or just some striaght up advice.

The car I'm restoring is rust free. Unfortunately something was set on teh roof and slightly depress the are so it is about an eighth of an inch down in the center. I can push it up from underside, but obviously the metal has been stretched a bit cause it just pops back.

Is there a way of poping this back up, with heat or should I use filler. The area pushed down would probably be a foot around once filler is applied and blocked down. Surely, this is common among many resto projects. How do others resolve this silly, yet complicated issue.

I do have a donor car which has a perfect roof, but turning that way seems like too much work.

I'd appreciate any help. Not sure who I should ask????

THanks guys.

Brant

A shop that did some rust repair for me popped out a smaller dent on my hood without damaging the finish. (Although he wouldn't tell me how he did it.)

We are picking up our SUV from him this week and I'll ask again if you like.

A picture would be good too.

I have done this with a borrowed panel beating set on a car many years ago. It was the nose of a Triumph Spitfire a girlfriend had.

But how you would reach under the dent in the middle of a car roof with one hand and tap around the dent with the other I don't know unless you are related to a gibbon.

Nope no relations in Canada I'm aware of!

thanks for the response guys.

I took the car down to the shell. I'll get a picture of it, but in truth, Im not sure if it will be visible. Basically, The roof is depressed down about 3/8 of an inch about 15" in diameter. Instead of slowly curving up, it curves down a tiny bit, 15" wide. I push it up from under neath but it just comes back down. I'll try to contact some body guys and figur this out.

thanks again guys. I'll post once I figur it out.

That would be too much to fill.

Mark out the outside edge of the dent. Get someone (or something) to push the dent up into place. Then tap around the marked edge lightly. That might do it and only need a minimum of filler.

If you take it to a body man make sure he is skilled in panel beating.

Thanks Dave. That helps. I'll also see if I can research on line about this. Cheers.

We are picking up my wifes car today and will ask the body shop owner what he thinks.

I explained the situation as you described and he said he really must see it to advise, but it sounds like you a have stretched metal that needs to be reworked. I also asked about heating the area, he said that's possible also but again needs to see it.

Maybe protecting his trade secrets?

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

thanks Jon. The metal is stretched for sure. That's why it bowes down rather than up. There's no dent per say, it just slopes down a bit and won't stay up. I'll get to the bottom of it.

Thanks again.

Hey Brant have you tried to shrink the sheet metal? What you have is the old "oil can effect". What you can do is, heat up a quarter size spot in the center of your affected area with a gas torch till its red hot and quench the sheet metal by applying a cold wet towel over it. This process will shrink the sheet metal and possibly pop back up into its proper place. I am no expert in this field but I had a similar problem and solved it this way.