body work on aluminum

[mattdh]

anyone done body work on their 90?any tips or secrets you could give?a friend is doing my body work and has never worked on aluminum(but he does do body work for a living).in the back where the seats attach to the wheel wells the bolts were tightened up so much that the washer pulled up huge humps in the sheet metal-any ways he hammered these humps out and said the metal was a little " oil canny" (the metal was a little flexy, i guess?) so the problem is there is a good golf ball size dent in my bonnet- can he hammer that out ,or is there something else he can do,will that spot get flimsy also?any help :hmm buy the way does any one know where to get rivets that are the same as the genuine?the genuine are a little different than the ones i get around here. calling rovers north the genuine are about$.80 a peice compared to my local bolt joint for $.05 to $.10 a peice. is that being to anal--$100 in rivets when you can get $10 in rivets

[Mike Hippert]

Matt, the way to fix dents is to put 5 bar traead plate over them or like me you can push them out by hand. Aluminum is easier then steal to work with but as you have seen when it gets real flimsy it likes to stay that way, so if you can't support it from the back, then put some nice 5 bar tread plate on the front.

[Roadsiderob]

Matt.
The problem with working aluminum is that it stretches easily and workhardens easily and so takes more work and different techniques and a fair degree of finess to work it correctly. I'm no body man and have always relied on professionals with experience working aluminum to do anything more than panel replacement. As far as the rivets go...no I don't think it's too anal to want factory rivets...I probably spent $100 on factory rivets. The main difference is that the factory rivets are closed ended, presumably to help stop water getting in. I've never found anything close locally.
Rob Dassler

[wicks]

I removed about a 3" dent from my side and developed a couple little techniques. (Never fixed a dent before.) From the inside, scrape the area with a strightedge - which shows the maximum depressions. Used rubber mallet and small rounded hammer to gradually tap it back flat. Almost totally invisible. Spent 3 hours of my time on it. Also used flat hunk of aluminum stock with layer of duct tape on it for pad - on outside when hitting a little harder. ;)

[TDI Guy]

the part # for the genuine rivets is 78248. I get them for 9c each. don't go to the local dealer. they will rob you blind for about $2 each. I order them in bags of 50 and pay under $5 a bag from my UK supplier. If you want, I can order them with my mnext batch of stuff.


Randy

[evilfij]

As few hits as possible.

If it work hardens it has to be annealed which will ruin your paint.

Generally my theory is either:

1. leave the dent, tapping from behind once or twice to make it look ok.
2. replace the panel

Only way to fly, bondo does not like to stick to alum, especially when it gets flexed, hit, bent etc.

Generally once it is dented it is stretched too much to make it look right without bondo.

[mattdh]

randy is that part number for the rivets in the seat box?

[TDI Guy]

yes it is

[Davis]

There is special bondo (not actually bondo) that works great for aluminum--I repaired ALOT of stuff on my truck with it, and it works great. I will get the name off the bottles tonight and post some pics of the extent of repairs I am refering to.

[jaherring]

I think I know of the aluminum-repair bondo-like filler you are talking about. I used it to repair the minor dents I couldn't get out of the gas tank on my BMW motorcycle, which is also aluminum & I repainted a few years ago. I can say that it sticks great to aluminum, as it's been on my bike for 6 years or so and not cracked or popped off.

[Davis]

What I used was USC All-Metal for the big chunks and Evercoat Glaze-Coat to smooth everything out. No worries.

[ron]

Also let your body guy know that the typical primer will not stick. he needs the special etching primer for aluminum.

bondo will stick to aluminum but if there is a better option i would try it.