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Any suggestions on how I might remove the dent on the top of the air cleaner assembly on my 1941 180? I'm just trying to pretty up the engine bay a little. There is a tube that seems to run the whole length of the interior of the breather so I can't get anything on the backside of the dent to try and pop it out. I have ordered a cheap dent removal kit from Amazon where you hot glue a plastic tab onto the dent and try to pull it out, but I don't have high hopes for that. If worse comes to worse, do you suppose body filler prior to painting would be a viable fix?

Tac weld onto it, pull it out, body fill around the kinked area, remove and sand down the tac weld, paint.

Dont discount several of the plastic pull tabs...as long as you remove the paint (stripper) and then clean several times with simple green; THEN adhere the tabs, 2-3, halfway from the undented area towards the deepest dent (pull these first)...and 1-2 in the deepest dent area (pull these last).

make sure to use a lamp/bulb to heat and cure the adhesive for several hours and leave overnight before trying the pull method.

If those fail, THEN do pgh ULTRA's tack weld since you will need the bare metal exposed anyway.

outside the box thinking...
if you can get some sort of inflatable bladder in there then fill it with air?
old inner tube?, I have seen other items on the internet as well I am sure someone could come up with something
if it works no damages to the outside

On my '37 120, the air cleaner body seems to be made of very thin metal. It dents easily, and would probably straighten easily. Mine was dent-free, with nice paint. I fumbled it while cleaning it up and it lightly bumped the edge of a table, which left a shallow dent about 2 1/2" long in it. I didn't see any way to access it from inside, so I left it alone. I think using glue or solder to attach pulling points might work well, if done very carefully. If the interior space is sealed up, applying heat might not be a good idea. I believe the air cleaner assembly is made as light as possible to avoid mechanical stress on the carburetor due to engine vibration and vehicle motion.

Yeah if the metal is that thin then see if you can find a glue that has a good strength, but something that will dissolve it easily.

You might be able to use a stud gun.

Pretty sure that's what a shop would use.

Especially if its double walled.

Thanks for the suggestions. Fingers crossed on the cheapie dent puller. I have a friend that will be able to help me with the tac weld method if that doesn't work. No way to get any type of bladder in the space behind it that I can tell as the tube running through the space does not give access to it.

If the “cheapie” puller works out, please take pictures. My 1937 air cleaner has one dent that I’m just living with for the same reasons you’ve mentioned.