alright, so i bought this car for $400 - it has 260,xxx miles and it still runs, it has dents all over, the part that worried me was the quarter panels going into this project. here's some pics -





now, the damage to the doors, fenders, and other removable body parts is simple. the problem here is the quarters, there is no rust on these quarters, just surface rust which i've grinded down...





i've managed to take most of the dents out of the area closer to the front door with a stud welder i've purchased - it worked great on this part, my problem is where the wheel arch is, it's dented in, and i can't seem to pull out dents in this area with the stud welder - the metal is thicker there because it's attached to the wheel arch.

i dont really want to cut out the quarter panels and weld new ones in, but if i have to, i probably will, and i also dont want to bondo the whole thing to make it look good. any help on what kind of tool i can use to pull out the dents on the wheel arch? i've tried hitting it with a hammer from the rear but that doesnt really work.

thanks! i'll try to get better pics tomorrow during the day time.

 

You did a good thing by getting a stud gun! That will help alot! However that is the only tool that I know of that will remove dents of that nature, aside of a frame rack! Just pull them as much as you can with the stud gun... grind down the studs... then fill and shape the panel with bondo... it might take alot but it works lol

 

^^^ agree with him

no matter wat... u still have to use bondo even if u replace a new quarter panels... (this is the way i learn... lol)

 

thanks guys, i kept working on it enough to be able to shape it with some bondo now. lots of work and it seemed like i wasn't getting anywhere, lol. so i took a break from that side, went to the other side. here's pics of that side, you can see above how that side looked before.











here's how it looks now, i started putting a little bit of bondo on there, it's cold so it takes a long time to dry, i'll keep working on it until i'm happy with the results.

 

btw, i got this stud welder for $79.99 + $19.99 2yr replacement warranty at harbor freight, worth every penny! the studs that come with the kit are no good, so i bought some at harbor freight, 250 pack for $9.99 - those work way better.

link: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=98357
replacement studs: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90081

 

So when you use the stud welder, is it just "point and shoot"? sorry if that sounds dumb, but ive never used one of these, but i've heard of them recently.

Just curious on how the process of using one goes, i may end up getting one.

 

yeah you weld a couple of points if its a big dent, and pull each one slightly, in order to the dent out, here's a good video explaining stuff on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chWbjNmVs58

 

Stud welder is where it's at nice job so far.

As for the indent you're trying to get out it's hard to tell what exactly you're trying to do from the pictures, but sometimes you can get lucky and jam a large stick and a dolly in the back side and then whack down the edges on the outside the with hammer.

 

it's just the dents were so big, but i think i got them out as much as they are going to come out, the rest from here on out is bondo.

i'm replacing the hood, but i figured why not try and get that nasty dent out, so here's some pics of that progress... i still have to shape it to make it look perfect:

 

Look like a Auto body school. I would just cut and weld those dent because it might be less work than using that stud nail gun, grind, check for smooth surface, apply bondo, sand, and etc.. It up to you..

 

yeah it is an auto body school, community college. anywho, the problem with cutting and welding is that i dont know how to weld . this way works fine its just really labor intensive and needs hours of work, but it's coming together fine .