Stainless repair..

[painterdave72]

Okay so i know some of you have done some stainless repair on your own.. I also have.. but have a question.. when filing how do you get it to be completly flat?? I can always see little divits and low spots around an area i am working on.. I pick and file the metal old school body style using a hammer and dollys etc...I come from an auto body and paint background and have done metal work in the past. I just want to know if anyone has any secrets to get an area completely flat with a metal file?? I am fixing some dings in the top edge of my passenger door at the moment.. any tricks anyone has learned would be awesome.. thanks.. Dave..

[Nicholas R]

Okay so i know some of you have done some stainless repair on your own.. I also have.. but have a question.. when filing how do you get it to be completly flat?? I can always see little divits and low spots around an area i am working on.. I pick and file the metal old school body style using a hammer and dollys etc...I come from an auto body and paint background and have done metal work in the past. I just want to know if anyone has any secrets to get an area completely flat with a metal file?? I am fixing some dings in the top edge of my passenger door at the moment.. any tricks anyone has learned would be awesome.. thanks.. Dave..

I'm not sure whether or not this helps with what you're talking about but one trick I know is to take a flat metal file and actually bend it. You can buy curved metal files but they're not cheep, it's much easier and cost effective to just buy flat files and bend them yourself (Harbor Freight is perfect for this!). This makes going over spots with a file MUCH easier as there is a much smaller contact area with the file and you can actually see what you're doing. I recommend putting the file in a vice, heating it, then bending it into a nice big arc. Hope this helps!

[David T]

You have to "pick" at each depression and bring it back up level with the surface and then just slightly more so it can be filed or ground smooth and level to the rest of the surface. This means you have to have access behind. That can require removal of the panel. The panels are 16 ga so there is more than enough materiel to work with. Not like the soda can 26 ga panels on newer cars! Once leveled you then regrain the area.
David Teitelbaum

[delornut]

Okay so i know some of you have done some stainless repair on your own.. I also have.. but have a question.. when filing how do you get it to be completly flat?? I can always see little divits and low spots around an area i am working on.. I pick and file the metal old school body style using a hammer and dollys etc...I come from an auto body and paint background and have done metal work in the past. I just want to know if anyone has any secrets to get an area completely flat with a metal file?? I am fixing some dings in the top edge of my passenger door at the moment.. any tricks anyone has learned would be awesome.. thanks.. Dave..

Be careful with the hammer and dolly. It's easy to stretch the metal too far and then you have problems when working with stainless.

Bruce Benson

[painterdave72]

thanks guys.. I have it pretty well fixed at the moment though you could go nuts trying to fix every minor divit and depression.. these panels are all far from perfect but no one will ever know but me!! It does take forever to file and get slight imperfections and depressions out though..



Be careful with the hammer and dolly. It's easy to stretch the metal too far and then you have problems when working with stainless.

Bruce Benson

[Bill Robertson's Sock Puppet #1]

... The panels are 16 ga so there is more than enough materiel to work with....

Actually the stainless panels are 22 gauge (can't get my sheet metal gauge on the outer door skin, but the inner structure is 22 gauge, as are hood, fenders, T panel, and quarter panels).

[Sidaries]

Old thread, but I resurrect it.
One of my friend is planning to buy a Delorean and now he found one in Italy. The price is 20500 euro, which is mostly ok in Europe for a Delorean. Obviously the car has some problems for this price. Mechanically mostly ok, but there are a problem, which seems to be quite big. I attached the picture of a ding (or crack or hole maybe?) on the driver side door. There is a video about it, here is the link:
http://vimeo.com/75198253
Can it be fixed somehow? Buying a new door is quite expensive. At the moment I do not think that this is fixable, but maybe you have a few idea.

[Michael]

Old thread, but I resurrect it.
One of my friend is planning to buy a Delorean and now he found one in Italy. The price is 20500 euro, which is mostly ok in Europe for a Delorean. Obviously the car has some problems for this price. Mechanically mostly ok, but there are a problem, which seems to be quite big. I attached the picture of a ding (or crack or hole maybe?) on the driver side door. There is a video about it, here is the link:
http://vimeo.com/75198253
Can it be fixed somehow? Buying a new door is quite expensive. At the moment I do not think that this is fixable, but maybe you have a few idea.

Looks like a bullet hole! If it is a hole, you can patch it and blend It much like people do with the right fender antenna holes. It may not be 100% invisible, but if you do it right, you will be the only one who knows its there.

[Dangermouse]

I would think that is very fixable, depending on how accessible it is from inside the door. At the very least it should be able to reduce it to a small dimple.

[aipri]

Saw this thread and decided to tag on. Really the only major flaw on the body of my car is kind of a reverse dent. The PO closed the hood with something too big in it and dented the hood outward. Does that make it easier or more difficult to fix? Not something I would try myself since I have zero experience with stainless, but good to know if I find someone who does. Pic attached. Kind of tough to see but its right in the middle.
22175

[TTait]

Old thread, but I resurrect it.
One of my friend is planning to buy a Delorean and now he found one in Italy. The price is 20500 euro, which is mostly ok in Europe for a Delorean. Obviously the car has some problems for this price. Mechanically mostly ok, but there are a problem, which seems to be quite big. I attached the picture of a ding (or crack or hole maybe?) on the driver side door. There is a video about it, here is the link:
http://vimeo.com/75198253
Can it be fixed somehow? Buying a new door is quite expensive. At the moment I do not think that this is fixable, but maybe you have a few idea.

You short term, you could bondo it and put on a wide stripe kit - Ed Uding at DMC Europe sells sets (the owner needs to get to know Ed anyway).


Saw this thread and decided to tag on. Really the only major flaw on the body of my car is kind of a reverse dent. The PO closed the hood with something too big in it and dented the hood outward. Does that make it easier or more difficult to fix? Not something I would try myself since I have zero experience with stainless, but good to know if I find someone who does. Pic attached. Kind of tough to see but its right in the middle.
22175

It should make it a little easier, but you want to find someone experienced in doing stainless repair...