[Shiny]

Originally Posted by skunkwerks

I would not weld that seam until you have re-shrunk the stretched metal from that accident.
You need to get a porta power set from Harbor freight and push from the inside of the trunk caddy corner to the other trunk floor deck lid brace and get that rear portion pushed out more. That is causing most of your problems.

Thank you! This is the kind of help I need. I will hold off welding until I finish doing what I'm able with the contours.

I have been working under that same goal of restoring the rigid lip at the bumper cut-out as a first step. Without a port-a-power, I started with a wooden lever as I shared early in the thread. It has more than enough force to deform the lip and QP outward.

I can see it in the shadow of your body line on the Eyebrow detail for the QP. Still pushed in about an inch or so.

That needs to be addressed first.

I will go back and measure, comparing with the other side. I know it was still in too far after my first session but thought I was close yesterday. I will go back and work harder at getting the lip where it belongs before moving on. Thank you for the observation.

Then you need to strip the paint in the damaged area and heat, shrink the stretched area using a propane torch or acetylene torch and cool with wet rags. Then use the hammer and dolly to work that area back into shape. Rear corner first. You may still need to porta power the inside while you heat it up and shrink to hold the shape.
Do little dimed sized heated areas along the worst part of the rear crease. You will instantly see the metal tighten back up and the whiskey can affect
disappear.
Just my 2 cents

Good description, thank you.

I don't have a torch but have a shrinking disc. I could also use the stud welder I bought. It will heat locally in a controlled way. I remember seeing others describe using a graphite tip on their MIG welder for shrinking but mine is too cheap to allow that. I think the stud welder is a good alternative to try.

I did remove a good amount of compression/buckling from the upper QP yesterday. I think this was more from pushing the lip outward and to the rear as you are guiding me and hopefully, I won't need a lot of shrinking..... TBD

Mike