Thread: Body work

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Well last weekend I started the bodywork. It was a rough time too! I am just working panel by panel, so I started with the right front fender. I stripped it down to the metal with some 36 grit and smoothed it out with some 120-150 grit. Then I banged out as many dents as I could that someone previously just filled.. Then I used some Evercoat Rage and filled the low spots. Then after sanding everything smooth and priming it with some Epoxy, I could still see the low spots... So WTF did I do wrong??? Here are some pics to give you a better idea:

Down to the metal:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...03/body001.jpg

Primed Up (dosen't look near this good in person, lol):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...03/body005.jpg

Now a better angle to see the lows:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...03/body012.jpg


Also, the outter sheet was rusted, so I cut it back and grinded everything smooth. Then I filled and leveled it with the Rage. Is this ok or not?? Here is a pic of the area preped:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...03/body002.jpg

Just need to build up the filler a bit more could be that you sanded off more than you needed too. Did you block the fender at all to see if you had high/low spots before you finish primed it?

BG

Originally posted by BlownGoat
Just need to build up the filler a bit more could be that you sanded off more than you needed too. Did you block the fender at all to see if you had high/low spots before you finish primed it?

BG

To be honest, my old air compressor wasn't powerful enough to run the DA I bought so I had to use a finishing sander. I have a block, but no, I wasn't sure how to use it. As a matter of fact, everything felt smooth and looked good, atleast until the paint went on, lol!

Best way to find high/low spots is to prime the fender with black then get a long board sander and go over the fender with that board sander by hand. Then any high spots will be bare metal and low spots will be black and sort of "unsanded" looking. Keep filling and sanding till the primer looks all uniform and then you'll know when its right.

BG

Or if you prime in black you use a guide coat and then that tells you your low and high spots. Guide coat is cheap and comes in rattle can from Eastwood. My teacher told me that when you lay bondo down make sure you sand it level with 36 because if you use something like 80 then you just sand the bondo smooth not LEVEL since 80 will follow the waves in the bondo. That Rage is real good stuff, a lot of people like it.

Oh, lol if those little dots are your bondo spots then try making the bondo spots MUCH bigger. Put the bondo around the dent like 3 inches all the way around not just exactly where the dent is. Get what I mean? Don't sand the bondo back down to right where the dent is either. If you have a little one inch wide dent and a spot of bondo about 5 inches big then that's ok, you just level it all out, get you a really straight mixing stick or something, lay it on it's side like this... | not flat like this... -- and then turn it around and see if it teater totters (sp) back and forth.
Hope this helps some.

I HAVE SPENT THE LAST 14 MONTHS RESTORING MY 69 CAMARO AND I HAVE DONE ALL OF THE BODY WORK AND RUST REPAIR MYSELF. I WOULD SAY THE FIRST THING YOU NEED TO DO IF YOUR A BEGINNER IS TO GET SOME AIR CRAFT STRIPPER AND TAKE ALL THE PAINT AND BODY FILLER OF THE CAR SO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DEALING WITH. SO YOU LOCATE ALL THE RUST AND DAMAGED BODY PARTS. AND IF YOU DISASABLE THE CAR MAKE SURE THAT YOU LABEL ALL THE NUTS AND BOLTS SO YOU KNOW WHERE THEY CAME FROM.

This is an old thread but since it's refreshed I will add something in on this that I learned about two months ago.
When using aircraft stripper it takes zinc off the metal, my teacher told me that anytime you use aircraft stripper to get zinc and add it back on. He said you don't have to but he likes to do it.