TheSamba.com :: View topic - Karman Ghia nose tools , for reshapeing damaged nose skins

Thu Mar 03, 2016 12:39 am

Thanks Motorhead, fairly obvious now you have said that I guess. I am repairing a new repro front nose which was dented a little in transit plus the profile of the ridge is not even, so I can hold the inner tool in a vice like 1960bus said in another thread. I will still need a helper to hold the panel while I hammer

1960bus wrote: Pretty easy off the car with a repro panel because you can put the stake in a vice. But I used the outer die with a hammer and it was better with hundreds of small taps moving backwards and forwards along the dolly than any big ones. When I move to the car I'm going to need a hand. My 6 year old daughter will probably fit in the spare wheel well so no issues :lol:

Fri Jun 24, 2016 10:30 pm

I have used these tools to reshape the damaged/incorrect nose ridge profile on my new reproduction nose panel.

First I tried doing it with the male die in a vice and having someone hold the panel over the top with me hammering on the female die over the top. This gave terrible results because it is difficult to hold the panel square and level over the die and it is also difficult to line up the dies so you are hammering the female die directly on the male die.

To overcome this problem, on the advise of the professional panel beater in the shop where I am doing this work, we used a milling machine to mill a step in the base of each half of the tool so they fit in the jaws of an Eckhold metal forming machine. This allows you to line up the two tools exactly and it hammers the upper tool against the lower tool while you hold the panel. This reshaped the nose ridge profile better but left really bad tool marks along the ridge and on either side.

Although the tools have the correct cross section of the ridge they are quite flat and do not match the curve of the nose ridge (up and down) or the crown of the nose (side to side). In order to overcome this I had to linish the tools quite a lot to give a curved "lead-in" on the upper and lower edges of both halves of the tool and to give some curve to the sides and to round the edges and corners.

This gave much better results and removed some of the previous tool marks but I still have a fair bit of hammer and dolly work and file finishing to do to get it right. This is a little disappointing given that the new nose panel and nose tools were quite expensive to buy and have shipped to Australia.

I think these nose tools are not really suitable for an amateur to use by themselves as they are supplied. They need to be used by an experienced/professional panel beater who is able to modify them as required to give a good result. Others may disagree but this is based on my experience and the advice of a professional panel beater.

Sat Jun 25, 2016 4:01 am

Mellow Yellow 74 wrote: I have used these tools to reshape the damaged/incorrect nose ridge profile on my new reproduction nose panel.

First I tried doing it with the male die in a vice and having someone hold the panel over the top with me hammering on the female die over the top. This gave terrible results because it is difficult to hold the panel square and level over the die and it is also difficult to line up the dies so you are hammering the female die directly on the male die.

To overcome this problem, on the advise of the professional panel beater in the shop where I am doing this work, we used a milling machine to mill a step in the base of each half of the tool so they fit in the jaws of an Eckhold metal forming machine. This allows you to line up the two tools exactly and it hammers the upper tool against the lower tool while you hold the panel. This reshaped the nose ridge profile better but left really bad tool marks along the ridge and on either side.

Although the tools have the correct cross section of the ridge they are quite flat and do not match the curve of the nose ridge (up and down) or the crown of the nose (side to side). In order to overcome this I had to linish the tools quite a lot to give a curved "lead-in" on the upper and lower edges of both halves of the tool and to give some curve to the sides and to round the edges and corners.

This gave much better results and removed some of the previous tool marks but I still have a fair bit of hammer and dolly work and file finishing to do to get it right. This is a little disappointing given that the new nose panel and nose tools were quite expensive to buy and have shipped to Australia.

I think these nose tools are not really suitable for an amateur to use by themselves as they are supplied. They need to be used by an experienced/professional panel beater who is able to modify them as required to give a good result. Others may disagree but this is based on my experience and the advice of a professional panel beater.

How off was the reproduction nose ?

I have also purchased this tool from Danny, but intend to use it to re-shape very small areas and not the entire ridge.

Sat Jun 25, 2016 11:34 pm

The ridge of the repro nose was way off - the shape is wrong (too flat) and one side is higher than the other at the edge of the ridge.

Photo taken from another thread:

Sun Jan 12, 2020 2:14 pm

Anyone have a used GAB FAB they want to sell ???
Looking at the reviews I don’t need much to get the nose of my 72 dialed in .... may do by hand if not