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TR2/3/3A removing some dents

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sp53

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Well I am going to try my hand at removing some dents. I starting building buildings when I was 16, so I do know what a hammer is, but I stopped doing that kinda work at about 40. Anyways, I sometimes can hit stuff with a hammer.

I had this guy show me years ago how to use a type of body hammer with a pointed end and work my way around the dent other than just smacking it right in the center.

That ends my experience, and so if someone has some books or websites I would appreciate a head start rather than weeding my way through all those u tube deals. I still do some carpenter work on the side and when people tell me they saw how to do something online, I usually think O boy. I am too old and beat up to learn the craft at shop by gathering years of experience, but again, I am in no hurry and I can nail.
 
I did all of my own body work on the TR, and I basically learned by doing. I did use a book called the "Standard Guide to Automotive Restoration" that had a lot of info on dent repair as well as other body working info. The book is probably somewhat dated as there are many newer techniques today. However, basic hammer and dolly work is still the mainstay for dent removal. That means that you will have to acquire a few body hammers and a couple of dollies. I actually did 90% of the work with two hammers and one dolly. And yes, there are times when you need that pick, but it wasn't something I used very often.

If I were to learn this today, I would definitely take advantage of having the youtube videos available. I wish I had access to that resource when I was doing my body work. It much easier to learn how to do something by watching how it's done rather then reading the procedure from a book. Search on "body work hammer and dolly" and that should bring up some good stuff on the techniques, such as on-dolly and off-dolly, and what situation each is applied.

I found the work fun and quite satisfying. Just take your time.

Also, the steel used for the TRs is pretty soft compared to the steels in late cars, so it is much easier to work.
 
Besides what was said above, I used a dent puller. IE: welds a copper nail to the dent and you pull with a slide hammer. I found this to work well and finish with the hammer and dolly. I think you also have to learn to shrink metal as it gets stretched when dented. Hammer and dolly worked well to remove a dent as large as my fist in the rear fender (I found it filled with bondo).
At some point you have to decide if you want perfect metal to paint or a little filler. The work to get perfect metal is beyond my skills. I used fiberglass filler after I took the dents out and it took care of any leftover deformation. The fiberglass dries hard and will not absorb water like bondo. Where I used it, the thickness was less than a 1/16 thick.
Jerry
 
For myself I have a friend that does the body shaping and dent pulling. Here are some of the things I got from watching him.
I can not help with the guides, but there are some new tools out there that help a lot. In addition to the dent puller ( available from Harbor Freight) mentioned by Jerry there is a tool called a Bulls Eye that is sold by Eastwood. This works great for dents that you have the appropriate access to. If you see the tool you will see that it needs both front and back access and be within about 18 inches of the edge of the panel. Also the newer ( but more expensive) fillers out are a whole lot easier to apply and use than what was available a decade ago. You will pay more for the product but will use a lot less and have fewer bubbles and spend less time working the filler to get a smooth useable surface. I would have to guess that my friend spent as little as half the time using the newer ( more expensive )fillers. But when you translate that into time, agony and money the savings was noticeable.
Charley
 
I agree with what others have said, I like working with metal, but I take the attitude that I am not good enough to achieve perfection, and I will have to use a little filler (if I was trying to achieve perfection with the hammer I am sure I could rapidly become frustrated, I know there are masters of metal who can do that, but that is generally really high end restoration stuff) , filler is much better these days, and when properly applied, should last the life of the paint job, I know this because I have some older paint jobs still out there with no issues related to the use of filler. "Bondo" for a bad name when it was common practice for DIYers and some body shops to simply sand down the rusty bits and fill the empty spaces with the stuff, a short term fix as we all know. The modern products applied over clean metal are very stable and durable.
 
My 2p: Careful beating on your pride and joy. You can make things much worse by stretching and work hardening the metal. I practice on eBay fenders and panels of the same approximate age and gauge of the final project.
Once you start, you will be looking for tools. Far East hammeres and dollies will suffice but the old Martins and such are a pleasure. There is no end to the search for tools. Also look for heat. I light my oxy-acetylene every day I'm in the shop.
I would recommend David Gardiner Bodywork Restoration Tutorial video. Google will easily find it. Not cheap but very good and imo worth the money.
Tom
 
Well I have been watching the You tube stuff on body work and some of it has been helpful. I did work in a sheet metal shop for a few years in my twenties, but we mostly did those continuous gutters and flashing and such, but it gave me a lot of experience working with metal plus in commercial carpentry metal studs were just being introduced and I worked with them for years.
Anyways, I have been working on the grill opening of tr3a and found that to be an interesting shape. I have several aprons around in various states of disrepair, so I can always go smack something. The sheet metal that came with this project has original paint and very little putty, so I do feel good about that. However, it was smacked in the apron, but not too bad. I need to get a better camera because I cannot get a decent picture of the apron to show where I am at. The main question is do the grills sit flat or do they curve in? I looked at Piggott’s book and some looked curved in and others do not. I would guess the answer is the cars are hand folded and the body person could hide imperfections by bending the grill in and out some. I am pretty sure I have the original grill, and it does not want to fit in the hole very friendly, and I do not feel like forcing the hole to be bigger because of the collateral damage I might cause, but I want the car to look correct. When I go to the car shows, I am always impressed by the forming around the grill of the tr3a. Some are very bulbous and almost lippy while outers are more flat. My bubby who did my last paint job made the opening almost squared off at the grill fit and it looked fine, but I knew it was not correct plus I think he hand one of his best guys on it for 40 hours.
 
My grill (wide mouth) is original and it is pretty flat top to bottom. It does however curve outward left to right. Beware of some of the aftermarket grills for the TR3A, as they have openings that are smaller then original and it does have affect of cooling...or so I've read about.
 
Interesting question and my suspicion is that they were supposed to be flat, although few seem to be, particularly after 50+ years. I think they do look best when flat. The original, as well as some aftermarket grills are not very substantial and tend to go concave if the opening gets smacked from underneath or warped from other slight mishaps.
That opening in the apron is one of the most difficult panels on the car to straighten, in my opinion. It is very difficult to get dollies inside the folds of the opening and the lower shelf has to be removed to work the lower part. I've used about everything in my arsenal on that opening and spent an inordinate amount of time.
Tom
 
SP53, Popular Mechanics has been having some informative articles this month and really for the past few months on restoring a car. It could give you the right direction.

Wayne
 
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