[Healeys] Repair Magic

Curtis Arndt cnaarndt at gmail.com
Mon Jan 27 11:49:37 MST 2014


Dave,

Some years ago I was involved with a master metal man whose name I recall
was Ken Sakamoto?.  Ken used to do a demonstration on a metal shrinking
disc developed by a friend of his who was a master body man in Los Angeles,
he specialized in Duesenbergs.  This disc attached to a large angle grinder
heated by friction the high spots on an already repaired sheet metal panel,
and then a rag soaked with cold water would shrink the metal back to
original.  This was a vast improvement over the old school method of using
a torch to heat the high spots, then shrinking back with cold water.
The results were nothing less than amazing.

There was still the requirement to do good basic metal repair, but the
beauty of the disc over the torch method was that the friction of the disc
just heated the high spots that needed shrinking. It is the "metal memory"
aspect was shown to me over many of Ken's demonstrations that I observed.
On the very first demonstration, as a Healey person, I asked Ken... "how
does this work on aluminum?"  Ken responded that his friend developed this
process FOR aluminum as a Duesenberg restorer, and it works as good or
better on aluminum than steel.. in other words, aluminum has a memory too.

Cheers,

Curt


On Fri, Jan 24, 2014 at 9:54 AM, David Porter <frogeye at porterscustom.com>wrote:

> Too bad aluminum doesn't share that trait..
> dave
>
> frogeye at porterscustom.com
>
> Porter Customs   2909 Arno NE
> Albuquerque, NM USA 87107
> 505-352-1378
> Porter Custom Bicycles
>
> gallery:
> http://picasaweb.google.com/porterscustombicycles/PorterCustomBicyclesStuff
>
> GO HERE: http://porterbikes.com/  nice pictures-fun facts-my world
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: healeys-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:
> healeys-bounces at autox.team.net]
> On Behalf Of ATIGHTPROD at aol.com
> Sent: Friday, January 24, 2014 10:51 AM
> To: healeys at autox.team.net
> Subject: [Healeys] Repair Magic
>
> Many months ago I had my left rear tire delaminate  while driving on the
> freeway. Spun me around pretty well, folks backed off of me  and allowed me
> to
> get to the side of the road and no one got hurt, except my  left rear
> wing/fender. Bent it up, actually, rolled it up in to itself and left  no
> hard
> crease anywhere. From the side you could hardly notice it and it didn't
> affect driving so I drove my car.
>     Yesterday I took my car up to Ellery, owner of a  small body repair
> shop in Piru, California. Piru is a little town on the  126 Highway between
> Ventura on the coast and the city of Valencia  on Highway 5. I don't even
> know
> if there is a name for his business, but  this man is a magician. He worked
> that rear wing back in to shape in short  order with old time tools, years
> of knowledge and some amazing whacks of  different size hammers to
> strategic
>
> locations on the body.
>     I'll have to do some painting to finish the job,  but I can't believe
> how well he brought my car back in to shape. He was telling  me steel has a
> "memory" and wants to go back to where it was, well it did!  Ellery works
> on
>
> any car, as he says; "steel is steel", and his shop is always  full of a
> broad array of various vehicles. Folks in southern California are
>  extremely
>
> lucky to have a guy like this around. I found out about him through  a tour
> of
> his shop arranged by our southern California Healey club and I  thought I
> would spread the word about him through this forum. If any of you need
> minor
> or major body work done and are looking for someone who is really good
> with metal, contact me and I will pass along his number. I have no
> financial
>
> interest, just a very satisfied and amazed client.
>     As for the "magic" part. All the lights on my  '53 car work except the
> left front "blinker" and I've been trying  to chase down why for years.
> Well
>
> after Ellery got done bending and  banging on the left rear of my car, the
> left front "blinker" is now working  again! Magic! Plus, I swear it's
> running better also, but that's another  story.
> Steven Kingsbury
> BN1 #598
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