Metal working 1956 Coupe DeVille
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Hey guys.
I’m beginning to do body work on my 1956 Cadillac Coupe DeVille. I have zero experience, but I’m getting the hang of it through trial and error. I bought an English wheel from harbor freight, and through failure I learned I needed a rubber band for the top wheel to eliminate the unwanted crown I was getting in my patch.
I’ll attach pictures of that repair.
Now I’ve turned my attention to the passenger rocker. Somebody over the years put a slip on aluminum rocker, rivited it in, and Bondo’d. I ripped that off, thinking it was a cheap fix for rust. Turns out this car was hit as the original was not that rusted, but smashed in. I figured surely somebody replaced the door, patched the rocker, and let it go. So I spent a few hours making a new rocker from scratch. Not only was my fitment poor on my part, but closer inspection revealed they Bondo’d the hell out of the door, and therefore, I can’t get a happy marriage of the rocker, door, and fender. Upon these findings I was so angry I kicked over the trashcan, which also spilled my toolset. I’ve been working on this car as I can for over a year now. I literally put it up for sale I was so mad.
The following day I went to a big local car show that comes through twice a year. Low and behold there’s a stunning, absolutely mint 1956 Cadillac there. It reinvigorated the dream and I’m ready to try and keep on slaving away.
The base of the fender sits proud of the door, and correct placement is questionable. I’ve had it on and off a few times and I’m not happy I have it right.
<span style=”font-size: 16px;”>So the plan is to get one of those 3m paint stripping discs for my angle grinder and rip the door down to bare metal and see what I’ve got going on.</span>
I’ve never re-skinned a door, but I fear that’s what will be in my future. They don’t make that stuff for this car, but I’m proud to make it myself if I can.
The amazing metal artistry on this website makes me feel that it’s possible. I’m going to need a lot of guidance as I go. Thanks for all input.
Kicked the trash can. Well. At least you didn’t “kick the bucket.” 🙂
I had a friend when I was younger that used to throw wrenches when he got frustrated working on cars. One bounced off the wall and hit the wind shield of his dad’s Caddy and cracked it. LOL
Relax and have fun. You are doing fine. If you have an English wheel you have way more tool options then many. I have built rockers by hand using a wooden buck and a body hammer.
Lots of knowledge on this site and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Our man Quentin down in Australia is the resident Cadillac expert. Hopefully he will weigh in if you have any tech questions.
Don’t sell it and don’t give up.
Torchie
Torchie
Thanks Torchie. Ripped down through about 1/2 inch of bondo if not more. Oh yeah, she was hit alright.
The $10 paint removal disk for my angle grinder works great, but it’s nearly used up in 15 minutes! Should I take the entire car down to bare metal to do metal work or should I do one panel/area at a time and prime?
The white spot on the bottom of the door is a hollow, that never ended. I just know itll need to be cut out…. A little nervous making a patch that will accurately fill the door corner. I guess I can use the good (or atleast “better”) side as a reference! haha
It’s 2am and i cant sleep. Nice work so far. Just remember an English wheel puts crown in. The flat side of your lower door has roll, but very little crown.
The sent you have is metal that has been pushed in needs to be pushed out. So you need access to the deepest part of the dent to bang it out with a hammer or lever to get it close to where it was. Don’t be afraid to use improvised tools. I use a brickies boster and other garden tools and tire levers to get at some tricky dents.
A nice big long ss yard long ruler is always handy to judge the high and low spots.
One thing about patch panels is never do 90 degree welded corners. Always have round corners so heat build up is minimal.
I’ll have another look in the morning with a coffee and my glasses and give a better appraisal of what I’ve would suggest on your door next.
Old cars can be very frustrating, but if you change your mindset can actually be very therapeutic and satisfying, and rewarding, Grasshopper. You have much to learn. Ohhhhhmmmmmm.
Thanks Quentin. I kept the air compressor near and after every tack or two I hit it with enough air that it would be cool to the touch. Really kept heat to a minimum and I got little to no warpage that I can see. I was also concerned with that nasty undercoating from the caddy factory on the other side! That stuff sure doesn’t like welds.
As for the metal that’s been pushed in, I’m thinking about just cutting it out and starting new. I’d like to minimize filler. I’ve never skinned a door (let alone removed a big heavy power window door like this). It does have some rust on the bottom (they all do don’t they) that needs some loving anyhow.
<span style=”font-size: 16px;”>The car is mobile enough to pull out of the garage. I’m wondering if I should remove all badging and trim, pull it out, and remove all paint down to bare metal. This way I can see all metal work it’ll need before it gets primed. Do you think that’s a good idea or would I just run into flash rust and be in trouble?</span>
All good advice from Quentin.
I would not strip down the entire car yet. I would just do around the area that you are working on.
Depending on where you live you can leave metal bare for quite a while before you will start to get surface rust. Standard rattle can and old style primers contain a lot of Talc in them and actually absorb moisture and can encourage rust.
Epoxy sealer would be the way to go as you can do filler work over the top of them and they act like a moisture barrier. I think that you can now get epoxy sealer in a rattle can but once you shake it and combine all the ingredients it has a shelf life as to how long you can still spray it out of the can.
You should be able to make some holes in the back side of that rocker and using some basic tools push out as much of that dent as possible. When done just repair the holes in the back and apply some under coating and no one will ever now the holes were there. Or as we used to do back in my body shop days, use a slide hammer to pull the dent out from the front side and then repair the holes from the screw tip on the end of the slide hammer.
I have used everything from a tire iron to backing a car up to a telephone pole(Pushed a neighbors rear bumper back into place) to fix dents. As Quentin said. Don’t be afraid to get creative.
Not currently having anything to work on I am lacking in the therapy time so I envy you.:)
Torchie
Thanks Torchie. I hit the bare patch with etch primer just for now. When the metal work is done I’ll rip it to fresh metal and epoxy the whole thing.
So, I’ve welded it up about 95 percent of the way, but, when standing at certain viewpoints, the front rounded curve for the wheel well doesn’t flow as smoothly as it should. (I did this by hand, a proper die on the bead roller would’ve worked better but I don’t have that).
I’m thinking if I weld a pipe of the same ID as the wrap around curve to some deep vice grips then clamp it on, heat it up and hammer it out, I might get the continuity I’m looking for.
Worked on it a lot tonight….hammer and dolly work, some final welding and sanding followed by primer. It looks okay but it’s just not as good as I want it. I’ve never used Bondo so I don’t know how much it’ll let me get away with, but I’ll either shape the edges up with that and fill the seam, or I might need to make individual edges and cut and weld them in….
I appreciate the nice comments guys. I’m not sure it’s good enough, but, having never used filler before, I’m wondering if I can still make it look right. The leading rounded edge is my main concern.
Also, I sprayed it with etch primer because I have to store it outside under a tarp right now. From what I read, it’s better to rip it down to bare metal, 2k epoxy prime it, then body filler.
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