my grille has a dent in it, how to

[Craigerf100]

si i have been cleaning up my steal grille. when i bought i knew there was a sent in it. i thought for $40 i can fix it.
the dent is more like a bend or crease. not a huge deal but im not quite sure how to go about fixing it.
any suggestion would be appreciated.









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[Aesop]

I have a 67 aluminum grille with less damage than that, and I am scared to even try. Wish I could help, just hoping someone will post some good info so I can be informed too.

[HIO Silver]

Undo-ing a dent basically requires reversing the way it happened. Meaning, fixing the light deformity first and then addressing the area where it experienced the most force. I'd clamp a straight edge to the bent bar and then start cheating it nearly straight with even pressure. Before it is actually straight, it'll require some hammer & dolly worth to shrink the back side where the metal is stretched. Then lightly hammer & dollying the point of impact. Go slow... metalworking doesn't like heavy impacts.

If you've never done bodywork before, I'd suggest Youtubing it to understand the concept. In the end, there is no substitute for hands-on experience.

[jimmy828]

Well, you start by scratching your head on where to start,pull out every tool from tool box, start beating, pinging, throwing s***,cussing. At least that's how it work for me. But on the serious side i took a try at it and thought it come out pretty good. I still have to polish the thing. I took a long time to get it right. I know yours is steel compared to my aluminum one but should work the same way. Like HIO said, get your dolly set, try different techniques. I might add, i also use a metal file once i got it fairly smooth with tools to finish it out. Here is a before and after pic. There were more small dings but the one in pic was the worse. Good luck!!!!

[Craigerf100]

Well, you start by scratching your head on where to start,pull out every tool from tool box, start beating, pinging, throwing s***,cussing. At least that's how it work for me. But on the serious side i took a try at it and thought it come out pretty good. I still have to polish the thing. I took a long time to get it right. I know yours is steel compared to my aluminum one but should work the same way. Like HIO said, get your dolly set, try different techniques. I might add, i also use a metal file once i got it fairly smooth with tools to finish it out. Here is a before and after pic. There were more small dings but the one in pic was the worse. Good luck!!!!

q

guess my next question is how did u get to it? theres that lip behind that dent that makes it hard to get to the dent. what did u do?

[jimmy828]

Well, you start by scratching your head on where to start,pull out every tool from tool box, start beating, pinging, throwing s***,cussing. At least that's how it work for me. But on the serious side i took a try at it and thought it come out pretty good. I still have to polish the thing. I took a long time to get it right. I know yours is steel compared to my aluminum one but should work the same way. Like HIO said, get your dolly set, try different techniques. I might add, i also use a metal file once i got it fairly smooth with tools to finish it out. Here is a before and after pic. There were more small dings but the one in pic was the worse. Good luck!!!!

q

guess my next question is how did u get to it? theres that lip behind that dent that makes it hard to get to the dent. what did u do?

If i remember correctly, i had to bend back the lip that you are talking about but that also created more metal work to get back in place. I guess sometimes you have to make a mess to fix a mess. Being a steel grille i believe you will have a little more difficult time than i did. There is one thing that you have going for you. I take it that it will be painted so that gives you the chance to use some type of filler if it all can't be corrected. I don't thank your grille looks all that bad and i know i would tackle the job just to save $$$$. If all else fails, there are reasonable priced steel grilles out there. Again,good luck!