Removing Waves/Ripples in panels

[Forward Look]

Hi All,

I'm hoping somone here could help out?

I have a 1960 Plymouth Belvedere that has undergone a previous restoration. My concern is with the rear wings. These are large, flatish panels with most of the crown running top to bottom, but a little running lengthways, see image below:

About 20 years ago a lower-half patch panel was let into the wing, the seam being around 15" up from the bottom. The repair section runs from the tail lights to the rear door.

Although on the outside this looks pretty good,it has been 'shaped' with filler. The inside of the fender shows around three/four 'waves' in the panel. The peaks and troughs of the waves run top to bottom, the waves 'flowing' in a fore/aft direction. I guess from peak to trough is around 3/8" depth.

The wave crests/troughs are perpendicular to the seam.

I'm guessing the waves are there due to distortion caused by the welding but I can't say for sure. Both left and right sides are the same, with the same enormous patch panel.

I'd like to remove the filler at some point and dress out these waves, and try to metal finish the panel. I don't mind using a skim of filler here and there but would much prefer to do it all with the sheet.

Is it at all possible to try and remove these waves? The work was done a long time ago, long before I aquired the car.

And to add yet more difficulty to the situation, I am a novice with no access to oxy/acetylene gear. If shrinking was necessary I reckon I could stretch to a shrinking disk for the angle grinder (4" grinder).

Anybody got any ideas? Kind of don't know where to start with this one.

All the best,
Conor

P.S. - I assumed this was the best place to put this post, it has "panel beating" in the title. I'll move it if necessary though.
Cheers guys.

 

[the snooper]

that will be an extremely hard task for someone with no experience do you need to remove all the filler ? you could make it a whole lot worse

 

[hotrodder]

In theory that sort of distortion can be corrected but in practice when the plod has been trowelled on that thick it's often hiding horrors ("welded" by Stevie Wonders guide dog etc etc) that further complicate an already difficult job

What's the join line on the back of the panel look like?

 

[troppo]

Well its a job worth doing, even just to get it right, but its a MAJOR job. I`d take it to someone who knows the old school techniques to repair it. it would be worth it in the long run to get the panel done properly

 

[steveo3002]

only the best of the best would metal finish something like that , and then they would doing really well

if its not hiding rot filler isnt something to be too scared off , done well it could 100% and last

 

[Forward Look]

Hi All,

Thanks for the responses, looks like a difficult one. Welding on the back looks ok, not a huge amount of penetration but it's neat and rust free, and looks as if seam sealer was liferally applied.

I intend to leave the filler there, it's been on nearly 20 years so it's likely to hold, but there are small bits here and there where there's a 'bubble'. Since there's no sign on the rear of the panel of the bubble I assume it's moisture in the filler, or maybe a little surface rust.

There's one area on the rear of the panel where I can see the filler lifting (filler looks about 3/16 thick here). That'll have to be taken off and probably a patch welded in (small one at the back where the bumpers are). My concern is if I end up having to dig further, it gets to the stage where I might as well strip the panel. I don't like filler, it hides rot/rust for years that you could otherwise have sorted out much earlier when the job was easy.

I had another look today and the good news is that most of the ripples are in the 'patch' part, rather than the actual panel. I believe this was a NOS patch, it seems about the right size and shape as ones I've seen on eBay on occasion (though it looks like the restorer went with the idea of using as much of the patch panel as possible, rather than as little).

If I do end up having to take it back to metal, would cutting the old patch out and welding a NOS one in would be the better bet? That's if I could find one. . .

 

[the snooper]

if your filler is bubbling then it may be worth removing that immediate patch to check the steel, if it is rust it will only get worse but if the rest is sound to i would leave it

 

[500e]

If the panel is stretched it will always have a tenancy to warp or bong when pressed.
The old method of shrinking big panels was heat, the modern way seems to be replace the whole panel.
To heat shrink is easy get welding torch heat (fairly soft flame)a circle about 20mm to a red heat hold dolly behind and tap round hot spot as it cools you hit the hot spot, you will be surprised as to how much metal you can move, the down side is where you do the shrinking relative to the stretching you can do numerous shrinks to get rid of excess metal & tighten panel.

This is not for the faint hearted you can get in a real bind, Practice on something that does not matter, it is almost a feeling where to heat & how many, let the panel cool if you keep going with 4\5 spots you can over do it.
Best of luck

 

[Vdub lover]

I take it the rear wings cannot be removed ?

It might be worth removing the whole wing (drill the spots welds out) and then using an hand held planishing hammer/english wheel to correct the metal ?