ukmgranger Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Hi all, First post on here so be gentle! <Disclaimer - This is my first Defender, and I'm new to mechanics!> I recently bought a 1997 300Tdi Defender 90 CSW that I am slowly trying to bring back to it's former glory. It's been in a garage for the last couple of weeks having a new cross member put on, along with various other jobs to get a good solid base for me to do some smaller bits of tinkering. I'm now starting to work on some cosmetics. There is a dent in the rear right hand side bodywork. It is both on the body panel and the corner braces that holds this in place (Take a look at the attached pic). Will I be able to bash this out? I have no experience of dent removal, but I am eager and have a couple of different sized hammers A penny for your thoughts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happyoldgit Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Welcome to the forum That panel is susceptible to damage and I've repaired a few in my time. From what I can see you've got a damage on and near the bottom edge and perhaps a bit of a crease higher up? The crease may prove tricky if you've not tackled that type of thing before and will involve a larger area to refinish, depends on how fussy you want to be and how noticeable the crease actually is. For starters and to get your hand in I would just get as much as the lower dent out as possible bearing in mind that it's best to anneal the aluminium and use both a hammer and a dolly, then etch prime and skim with filler, flat, prime and paint. The very easiest 'repair' would be to simply cover the damage up with some chequerplate ....if that kind of thing rocks your boat of course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wunntenn Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 You can easily replace the corner capping too, which saves some grief and the new one will give you a straight edge to work to so that the dent removal stops just short of a blister! Using soap on the metal as an 'annealing canary' to ensure you dont overheat is a good idea (google for further info - lots out there). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happyoldgit Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Yep, if it's damaged replacing the capping would help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C18RCH Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Just repair the paintwork. Landies are supposed to have a few dents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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