Dents on cowl area by vent slots WWYD?

[b5blue]

  Dents from sometime in the past where someone has placed there hand between the hood and vent slots and pressed down so hard the steel is bowed in in front of the drivers wiper area. They are slight but distinct, hard to reveal in pics but obviously a palm shaped deformation. I'll try pics if it would help anyone. I'm stripping and cleaning this area so no paintwork to worry about. I don't want to make things worse trying to correct it. The vent slots make this a "tricky one" for me.   

[Patronus]

My car had them too, looked like ass prints to me..

[Lennard]

Dent puller slide hammer:

[Domino]

In addition to the stug gun / puller....

My cowl vent was dented and twisted from this chick with particularly bony knees.   
So, I took a small-medium sized flat blade screw driver, heated the tip, and bent it to a sharp 90+ deg, making an "L" or even "J" shape.  Then grind the L down so it will fit in between the slots of the cowl (you may have to angle and rotate it as it goes in there).

Then it's just a little muscle, time, patience, and more time working from slot to slot.  "Pull up here" while "Tapping or pushing down there", on and on like that.  Use a little spray guide primer/paint and a flat sanding block to show you the way.

You MAY also need to run a shrinking disc accross the solid strip near the hood gap, if the dent was really bad.

[bill440rt]

In addition to the stud gun for the flat sections, I just used a simple hand pull hook designed for straightening dents & such to pull up on the vent ribs. Worked each one slowly, until they were all straight.

[Chatt69chgr]

Anybody have a source for the dent puller slide hammer shown?  The ones I've seen don't seem to have a way of attaching directly to the welded on studs.

[b5blue]

Thanks guys! Good ideas, it's so subtle now I don't want to screw it up. The vent slots are not bent just following abnormal taper between the slots end and the hood line. Pulling up while tapping down may work with a modified screwdriver.   

[bill440rt]

B5, I used these:

http://www.tptools.com/p/930,171_Auto-Body-Pull-Rod-Sets.html

No need to ruin a screwdriver if you don't have to.

[69*F5*SE]

Yep, I used the pull hooks just like the one Bill posted.  The slots turned out great.   

[b5blue]

Thanks again guys!  May want to try the shrinker tool also.

[69DodgeCharger]

If you are talking about the cowl vent "ribs" being pushed down you can use a piece of wire coat hanger bent into a U type shape and slide it under each affected rib and pull them back up. that's how I fixed mine.

[b5blue]

It's the area just forward of the slots but thanks!

[b5blue]

  Well today I figured out a quick and cheap way to pull these dents and straighten the ribs. I used an "S" hook from a rubber bungee cord a flat piece of steel (You could use wood.) as a brace pad and stuck a pry bar through one side of the "S". Rest the end of the bar on the pad with the S on the bar then hook the other end of the S to where you want to pull up. By adjusting the 3 items you can get remarkable control and great leverage. The hook I used even fit nicely right in the center run of the vent rib to adjust the bow after lifting the edges.   

[superbirdtom]

Anybody have a source for the dent puller slide hammer shown?  The ones I've seen don't seem to have a way of attaching directly to the welded on studs.

theirs many places making stud gun kits  they come with the stud gun and the puller shown just screws down to them tight . we call them nail guns.  they come in a case w puller and attachments -shrinking head and also you can get studs like the ones that go around window areas which you can then attach window clips to. the unispotter 9000 delux gun is the one I have. it is expensive  but has it all.  theirs much cheaper ones . just google uni spotters. and youll come up with a slew of them at every price level.

[Indygenerallee]

Good idea B5 blue! my 69 is like that but it is right on the side front (not the actual vent grilles) not real deep, I really would like to know how it happened kinda weird!

[jaak]

  I like it when folks come up with good ideas like this!

Good job Neal!

Jason

[bill440rt]

Excellent, Neal! 
Keep up the good work!