Can I fix this without taking it apart?

[crazycal]

This is the right rear corner of the bus. Is there a way to fix this. The soot from the exhaust is coming through the hole and is getting on the walls and ceiling. I don't really want to remove and replace all those rivets. Suggestions please.

[Steve]

Duct tape! You could maybe use a dent puller on it but it looks pretty stiff. Maybe take the inside panel off and pound it back off, at least you can still drive it around with the inside panel off.

[Griff]

Maybe you could first use a block and mini-maul or a hydraulic ram to straighten out the interior skin while it's still attached, then remove the inner skin and push out the exterior skin. That way the interior skin might line up a little better when reinstalling it. (But I guess that requires taking it apart, DOH! . . . sorry)

[pete c]

How good are you at drilling out rivets? Looks like that inside panel is coming off. You could try using a body panel puller from the outside, but, then you got a bunch of holes to patch. Take off that inside panel and get to whacking. Have someone hold a decent sized piece of 2 by something or other on the outside. This will hopefully keep it from bulging outward.

[lapeer20m]

if you just want to stop the exhaust from entering you could use silicone. It won't help with the dent though.

[oldog12]

... Wasn't it Les that said he punched out the center pin in the rivet with a thin punch and the rivets practically came out by themselves ?
... Than inside panel doesn't look bad at all, you'll just have to get the outside one "Just good enough"

[crazycal]

I think taking the inside panel off and trying to straighten the outside panel in place is a good idea. I dread the thought of drilling and repalcing all those rivets.

[oldog12]

... Well, I counted 48 of them in your picture.... So maybe 64....
Try getting a thin punch and see if you can knock out those center pins on a couple of them.
Its supposed to be easier than drilling them out.
Worth a shot... If it works, let me know

[eggman]

What about getting a large steel bar or tube, somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 x4 or 4x6, add a large c-clamp. Remove the hinged door/window, using the bar/tube and the c-clamp try to get the dent to come back out. I would think that it would be worth a try. Otherwise, you'll have to get busy punching and drilling.

[Les Lampman]

Originally Posted by oldog12

... Wasn't it Les that said he punched out the center pin in the rivet with a thin punch and the rivets practically came out by themselves ?
... Than inside panel doesn't look bad at all, you'll just have to get the outside one "Just good enough"

Not me this time.

I wouldn't know what to do with this either except to figure out a way to get the inner panel off so the exterior skin could be hammered out from the inside.

Knowing me and body work I'd be heading down to the Community College and asking their body shop classes to have a go at it; there's no way they could do a worse job than me!

[the_experience03]

How about a gallon of bondo or a rerouted exhaust?

[Elliot Naess]

Hard to say from pictures, but...

Millicent had a nasty dent in the roof, just above the windows, where they had sideswiped
a telephone pole. The structure was bent a couple of inches inward, as it seems to be with
that door frame.

I was surprised how well it went:

It took a hydraulic bottle jack and timbers. The hard part was rigging the timbers so I could
push on the damage. Once the wood was in place, the Brute Force pretty much reversed the
other brute force.

Perhaps you can push against the wheel wells?

[crazycal]

Maybe I could have used my new porta-power if some puke didn't steal it after I used it one time. I started drilling rivets on the inside instead. I'll give that a shot. I knocked out the center, then drilled the rivet.

[Elliot Naess]

I don't know what a porta-power is, but hydraulic bottle jacks are surprisingly
affordable. And four-by-fours (the lumber kind) are everywhere.

[crazycal]

A porta-power comes in a case that has a pump with a hose that you attach to a ram. There are extensions and other attachments that help to fit your specific task. I bought it to straighten an axle and it worked like a charm. They come in very handy. But I don't think it would have worked very good for this dent. Here is a link.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... mber=44900

[Elliot Naess]

Ah yes, a bit like George Hurst's rescue tool -- now generically known as Jaws Of Life.
How long to Christmas?