Sheet Metal Repair, I hope = HELP

My strategy for removing unwanted bends, creases, etc. is to try to do the opposite of what put the bend, crease, etc there in the first place. This is more successful with simple bends as there is relatively little stretching of the metal.

In your case, my approach would be to support the main bidy of the cover on a resilient material and either pull the hinge down to restore it to its correct position or to hammer it back with a soft faced hammer. or both. With a little patience, you should be able to restore the cover to a nearly like new state.

In my experience. localized heating should be avoided if possible as it can lead to warping in nearby areas.
 
If I was doing in my shop I’d put a bolt in the bracket and stick the whole thing in my arbor press. Put the ram on the flat part of the hinge bracket(where the sheetmetal is buckled) with the bolt braced up with some metal blocks beyond the ram in the throat of the arbor press. The main body of the guard would be resting on my sand filled beater bag on my lift table because it’s adjustable to get the height just right. This will leave that flat part of the hinge where the sheetmetal is bent unsupported. Then use the arbor press to push on the flat of the hinge and push it back down where it was before. The beauty of the arbor press is its very controllable and easy to direct. The hard part is getting the proper support for such a large item.

Getting in there with a calking tool or piece of rounded wood or a piece of plastic(Delrin, UHMW, or PVC) a hammer and a the damaged area resting on a beater bag might work too. The big problem as I see it is the parts of the hinge will interfere with the bag. That will tend to not let things go back to original.

just a thought…
 
I like Phil's idea above best
Second best would be to shape a piece of wood into a backing "dolly" and hammer it out, cold, probably from the inside
-M
 
lordbeezer said:
Take it to your dealership’s body shop
Click to expand...
True, a good metal man would make this a cake walk.
Unfortunately no body shop here.

I left it with an old timer I know that worked in a body shop for over 40 years. He is the guy with the 1910 Buick.
I dpn't know when I'll get it back.
I sold the drill press, it's gone. I don't think the owner cares to have the guard.
Oh well.
Thanks for the ideas guys, we had some good content here.
 
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