I come seeking advice and wisdom

???

Looks like I'm out of touch with Z Club technology. It posted before I said anything.

Soooo, my wonderful little 240 that I restored from the ground up, and only a couple years ago won a first-in-class at a Datsun show has a problem. For embarrassing reasons I won't discuss now it has a substantial dent in the roof. Most of the driver's side, and as much as 2 inches (5 cm) deep. The body shop that my insurer uses declined the job. The manager of body shop that painted it 8-9 years ago didn't think his guys had the necessary skill set. I finally went to a shop recommended by a friend in the local vintage auto club. Yes, we can do that! But after a month, they still haven't.

My minimal understanding of dents is that they stretch the metal. Therefore I have a greater area of roof metal than I used to. If they simply pound the dent out from the underside, the dent will be replaced by a bulge. I have heard from other sources that there are people who by using heat, cold, and fine touch are able to restore the original shape.

Other options? Cut the roof panel off a beyond-help rust bucket and weld it in place of what is there now? Would Nissan/Datsun be able to replicate the roof?

I'm in a quandry. Would appreciate hearing anyone's thoughts.

Richard

Shrinking sheet metal with heat and cold is a very effective method. There are a lot of auto body repair tutorials on YouTube that include sheet metal shrinking.

Talk to you paintless dent removal expert, they should be able to sort it.

Thanks so much for your comments fellows.

Sounds like I may not need a new roof after all!

Metal shrinking is doable but it takes a lot of practice and the results can be challenging.

One thing in your favor is the metal has a memory and wants to go back to the original shape.

A paintless dent guy would be a great choice even if it needed painting after it was fixed. PDR guys understand how to push metal around

Do you have any pictures of the dent?

Hi Richard,

I had a dent like that done by a angry jealous piece of Sh*t once, when i saw it i took a big rubber hammer and a towel over it so not to mess up the inside of the roof and hammered it back to it's original form. You can do this easely with a hairdryer make it a little warm and hammer the dent if it is like a drum-dent and clean the most of the dent back to normal. Keep circuling with the hairdryer over the dent and it surroundings and when it is warm, like 40-60 celcius (Just to hot to keep your hand on it) and hammer it upward.

Never take a part out of the roof because it will be VERY difficult to weld a new part in without problems. (ask people with sunroof removed.. they always have problems early of later on..)

I would like to see a picture of the dent.. or is this to revealing..

You can take out most of the dent this way. When there where sharp edges in the dent you need a special hammer with some tape on it to not damage the paint. And it will take some special skill to take out the last marks of the dent.. always take your time and do this slow!

Good luck!

Thanks Dutch,

I'll stop by the body shop, and if they still haven't begun work, I'll take some photos.

Cheers,

Richard

Patcon,

Pictures coming!

Cheers,

Richard

On 1/18/2026 at 11:06 AM, dutchzcarguy said:

I had a dent like that done by a angry jealous piece of Sh*t once,

Elaborate.. on that..

We all know someone like that.. we call him the village idiot.. he is angry on everybody and everything.. I heard he spreads his anger on facebook.. (I'm not on facebook).

Yeah crazy people are everywhere.. If they don't like you they just make a dent in your car...

One day he was walking his dog and with a long leash, he crossed the road with 18 feet of line between him and the dog! And there i came in my red sports.. haha stupid, the dog was on the other side of the road and he had to start, now he had to run to the dog, i would never run over a guy or a dog but he was the nutcase that went angry offcourse, i was still at 400ft from him! just in front of me was a big truck that just took a right turn were i was comming towards him from behind that truck, he didn't see mee coming so he let the dog go to the other side.. stupid long leash.

Any normal person would take the dog on a short leash when crossing a busy road.. not him.. so i got a dent later when parked out on the road near a friend.. Oh well i can't próóf he was the offender.. maybe one day, i'll find out.. 😏