Pound PlasticTaking dents out of sheetmetal seems like it should be easy, but there are a plethora of specially shaped tools to do the job. Dollies, spoons, shrinkers, and a lot of unusual hammers are available for the professionals still working in this almost-lost art. The street rodder learning and doing his own sheetmetal repairs can't afford or justify all of these tools when he only has one set of fenders to fix.
Amateurs often do more damage by misusing body tools and wind up just moving the dent from a low spot to a high spot on the other side.
A slower way that risks less is using some tools homemade from schedule 40 PVC pipe and various caps. There are lots of pipe diameters and the rounded-end caps make a softer impression in the metal; plus it takes more blows than a metal hammer or tool would to move the metal, so you can creep up on it. On the other side of the dent you're pushing, back it up with a dolly, a wood block curved to the desired contour, or even a sandbag. Match the size of the pipe/cap to the area you're working on; start with a large one at the epicenter of your dent, and then use the smaller ones for the details. Some caps have raised numbers molded in at the end. Just sand those off for a smooth finish to the caps.
Where's My Key?Some rodders advancing in age have trouble finding their keys as it is, but here's a tip on hiding your ignition key! While a group of us were attending Hot August Nights in Reno, buddy Jerry Wolever left his car at the hotel while we all went to dinner in another car. The next morning, as we were all packing up, we overheard Jerry muttering about having left the ignition key in his unlocked '53 Studebaker all night. We chided him until he explained that no passerby would be likely to find his ignition key anyway. He had taken one of those plastic eight-ball dash knobs, hollowed it out in back, and epoxied his key there. When it's in the car, it looks just like any other knob on the dash! It appears even less like an ignition key because he mounted the switch at the far left of the dash, where one wouldn't expect the ignition switch to be.
Breathe NostalgiaWhile installing and "oldifying" a Quad 4 Olds engine in a vintage speedster replica for a customer, craftsman Harry Hoffman took the twist-in oil filler cap/dipstick from the modern engine and welded the dipstick portion to a Flathead Ford oil breather. When it's in place on the engine, it has that period-appropriate look. The repro breather came from Speedway Motors, and was only $9.95 in black, and a little more for a chromed one. A collection of little changes like this makes the disguised twin-cam look a lot like period Miller/Offy/Frontenac race engines of the '20s and '30s. The vintage touch can be applied to any engine.
Ten-Cent Spring Rate ToolWe owe Gary Heidt for this tip, which uses the old principle of a "telltale" device to indicate a range of movement that can't be observed in action. Finding the exact spring rate for a coilover shock assembly for your hot rod is less than an exact science. Experts like the guys at Heidt's Hot Rod Shop have suggestions for various generic hot rod profiles and average vehicle weights, but this is all based on empirical evidence in the field. Once your car is finished and you start putting the miles on it, springs tend to settle some. Other factors may be that your coilovers are mounted at a different angle than is typical, or your car has an unusual weight distribution. It can be hard to tell when driving whether the shocks are working in the proper range.
To find out if your shocks are bottoming out, tightly tie a large plastic tie-wrap on the shaft of your shock, snip off the excess length of the tail, then push the telltale down the shaft until it hits the shock body. Now drive the car through a variety of terrain, including bumps you typically encounter. When you get home, examine the position of the telltale. If it's at the top of the shock shaft, you've been bottoming out the shocks and you could step up one size in coil-spring rating, which generally come in 50lb increments. The ideal spring rate would leave the telltale at about the center of the shock's travel. With the right pliers and the suspension dropped to extend the coils, you can easily snip off the plastic tie-wrap. Try the test again if you uprate your springs.