I hate to say this because it tempts fate: But in the 16 years I have had my dragster, everything from the bottom lip up has stayed in decent shape. Not a lot in the way of scratches, although some. No dings. But the bottom lip has been victim to high centering in the pits and even loading onto the trailer. So there are fairly sharp waves in places on that bottom lip. We are thinking about freshening up the car a bit this winter. So how does one straighten up that lip? Hammer and dolly? Realistically I will need to paint at least that area in any case. Any experiences?

I have the same issue. Aside from replacing the body, I don't think you can do much because the material is stretched. Hammer and dolly will only make it worse and thin the material....I'm going to just straighten mine as best I can by hand, and paint a stripe along the bottom edge that is darker than the rest of the body....the stripe will stand out but the bends will not be as obvious....although future plans are to get it reskinned

Figure out what radius it is and use piece of tubing to straighten it against

I've tried all sorts of ways, have all the appropriate body tools, and i know how to straighten steel panels. All that being said, i've never been able to effectively straighten aluminum panels. It work hardens when it bends and stretches when you attempt to straighten. This makes it very difficult to make it look any better than before repair attempt. I've heard low temp heat can help but i've yet to try it. I resorted to panel replacement for aero lip repairs. Bring the racecar to the shop who will replace the panel because fittment is next to impossible to get just right when they don't have the car in front of them. Learned that the hard way too.... They need the car for minor tweaks and hole placement to ensure good fit.

I've been out of the collision repair industry for 20+ years but with Ford, Chevy, and others introducing aluminum body panels on vehicles there must be some body techs out there who have experience with straightening aluminum panels. The only challenge i could think of is that our dragster panels won't be the same material that's on the side of an F-150 quarter panel if i had to guess, and will behave differently due to material and heat treat properties.

We had someone step on ours and then the same dude used jackstands and tweaked the bottom lip as well. My son simply bodyworked it all back to like new condition. His is a paint an body guy though and does a lot of high end stuff for Sema etc. And yes the technology and tolls have changed a fair amount for working on aluminum although they still end up replacing most any dented panel. It can be worked if the spots are not horribly bent, our were fairly minor.

I had hoped maybe a shrinking hammer would be effective. I have never tried one. But right on the metal is certainly stretched.

As far as the tubing....it's usually the flat part that takes the abuse. Which is the case here.

Strange, my wife this year told me she would prefer I do what it takes to not die if we are going faster, and she would prefer the car presents a little nicer. I put dolly wheels under the car this winter. So I'm hoping the bottom lip damage is a thing of the past. Wing, beadlocks, brake decision pending. So now I get to spruce up a little.

quote:

Originally posted by Bucky:
I had hoped maybe a shrinking hammer would be effective. I have never tried one. But right on the metal is certainly stretched.

As far as the tubing....it's usually the flat part that takes the abuse. Which is the case here.

Strange, my wife this year told me she would prefer I do what it takes to not die if we are going faster, and she would prefer the car presents a little nicer. I put dolly wheels under the car this winter. So I'm hoping the bottom lip damage is a thing of the past. Wing, beadlocks, brake decision pending. So now I get to spruce up a little.

Whose dolly wheels did you use?

quote:

Originally posted by JPosey:

quote:

Originally posted by Bucky:
I had hoped maybe a shrinking hammer would be effective. I have never tried one. But right on the metal is certainly stretched.

As far as the tubing....it's usually the flat part that takes the abuse. Which is the case here.

Strange, my wife this year told me she would prefer I do what it takes to not die if we are going faster, and she would prefer the car presents a little nicer. I put dolly wheels under the car this winter. So I'm hoping the bottom lip damage is a thing of the past. Wing, beadlocks, brake decision pending. So now I get to spruce up a little.

Whose dolly wheels did you use?

I amazoned some skate board wheels and made brackets to mount them and welded the brackets on. For under the seat I needed to go smaller, and used a steel wheel I think maybe from HF. I believe I have three wheels per side of the car.

This brings up something that bothers me. Many dragster bodies come all way down to the bottom of the chassis so if you hit anything it damages it.

Some are up about 1/4 inch higher and that way it usually will not hurt the body if you hit something.

I put some dragster chassis wheels on my car and it has still got a small ding. Uggg.

My Racetech has a thicker aluminum body than some dragsters and is doubled at the bottom and is pretty strong but.....

I have high sided it a time or two and slightly bent the lower edge around the drivers seat or a little behind that.....

I take an adjustable wrench and some rags and bend it back. Paint tends to crack a little but is not too bad for a 17 year old car....

My old car was lower and I bent the panels many times......It was So low I made tapered wood ramps to ride up on in my old trailer.....If I missed the ramps or slid off one....panels took a beating...

One more reason to run BIG tires.....I run the 105-106 tire but the big 109-110's would pretty much eliminate the problem.....

Dragster bodies get chipped, scratched, bent...….Very tough to keep them perfect especially being a one man band !

About 4 years ago I got the lip on a screw at the back by the door, I was driving the car in and didn't know it until the car quit moving. Bent it back up best I could but it has a good ripple in it. Figured I would tray and have it fixed next time the car is painted. Being an Undercover car and panels not readily available I dint have a bunch of choice. Even if I was able to buy a panel and have it shipped I bet it would arrive in worse shape then what I have.

Take a heat gun and heat the panel before trying to hammer and dolly on it. The heat helps release the molecules where it will move without tearing or stretching, assuming its not badly bent or creased.

Why do these builders leave the body panels below the chassis? Dan Page locates his bodies a small distance higher than the chassis, in the 1/8 to 1/4 range. This won't stop all potential issues but it fixes 95% of them.

quote:

Originally posted by TOP38:
Why do these builders leave the body panels below the chassis? Dan Page locates his bodies a small distance higher than the chassis, in the 1/8 to 1/4 range. This won't stop all potential issues but it fixes 95% of them.

Excellent question

quote:

Originally posted by TOP38:
Why do these builders leave the body panels below the chassis? Dan Page locates his bodies a small distance higher than the chassis, in the 1/8 to 1/4 range. This won't stop all potential issues but it fixes 95% of them.

That was my question.

When I sold my car last year it was 18 or 19 years old. 2001 Racetech. I completely re-did the car in 2010 or so and made it a swing arm, dual brakes, new powder, electronics, etc. I kept the original body. That thing was still in great shape with the exception of a few dzus holes being worn out. The floor of my trailer was in pretty bad shape, but the lip on the body never knew it.

I believe that Racetech has always made the best bodies. Mine, after living most of its life as a hard tail and still being in good shape nearly 20 years later is proof.

quote:

Originally posted by head gamez:
When I sold my car last year it was 18 or 19 years old. 2001 Racetech. I completely re-did the car in 2010 or so and made it a swing arm, dual brakes, new powder, electronics, etc. I kept the original body. That thing was still in great shape with the exception of a few dzus holes being worn out. The floor of my trailer was in pretty bad shape, but the lip on the body never knew it.

I believe that Racetech has always made the best bodies. Mine, after living most of its life as a hard tail and still being in good shape nearly 20 years later is proof.

Bet they mount that body reasonably high. I don't think I can beat it up in the trailer now with the dolly wheels. I should have done that a long time ago. Thanks to the member who suggested the roller blade wheels.

quote:

Originally posted by TOP38:
Why do these builders leave the body panels below the chassis? Dan Page locates his bodies a small distance higher than the chassis, in the 1/8 to 1/4 range. This won't stop all potential issues but it fixes 95% of them.

we do that on our cars as well, we're 1/4" higher then the bottom of the rail. Like you mentioned, it fixes almost every issue. I've got 15 year old cars out there with perfect bottom lips

Same here 1/4 higher. I still have to use the dragster dolly.

quote:

Originally posted by TOP38:
Why do these builders leave the body panels below the chassis? Dan Page locates his bodies a small distance higher than the chassis, in the 1/8 to 1/4 range. This won't stop all potential issues but it fixes 95% of them.

A Cameron car will drive you to drinking. The frame is arched so much that the body is at least 1"+ below the bottom rail at the midpoint. It's a challenge to load. JB