Thread: Body work and some concerns..

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This summer I'm getting a job and I have a new fender for my driver side and i'm in need of some bumper brackets, i'm having to do a little bit of collision repair. I am wanting to do any body filling and smoothing MYSELF this summer.

Surely theres some things you can all tell me what to do and what not to do?

This is going to be my first time playing with the body..

As for rust.. what would you guys suggest I do? I am not about to do what this one guy at the last hotrod show told me "Yeah that rear window is going to cost you around 6000$ just to have the metal bent and all the rust cut out and then welded in there." No way am I doing that. Surely there is something wrong with that guy's estimate???

I have a 66 Impala 4 door sedan fyi.

I'm only going to be able to make around 5000$ this summer so. thats my budget including gas expenses =\

I mean I do have an older friend who's painted air planes for 40 some years and he keeps saying we could borrow his friend's booth downtown and he said all i'd be paying for would be paint. He restores classic Olds for a hobby and stuff.

For $6K you can buy a nice rust free Impala!

Rust repair can be a problem, if it's a rust through.

For your body work, try to push some of the dent out, if it's more than 1/4 inch deep. Grind all of the paint and rust off of the dented area with 36 or 40 grit. Put the body filler on immediately. Wait 30 minutes, and then use a long sanding board with 36-40 grit to sand it flat. Put a skim coat of filler over the repaired area, and use a long board with 150-180 grit to smooth it out. Primer the area with a couple coats of primer sealer to protect it until you paint.

You won't be able to beat THAT price on paint! Buy good materials, which will probably cost $1000 +. That way the paint should last 10-20 years, if you take care of it.

BTW, A medium or light color will help hide imperfections.

Suggestion: Go to a good bookstore, or search the internet (Amazon) and see about getting a good book on bodywork. The pictures and instructions will give you a lot of good information.

No put-down to the guys on this site ('cause I'm one of them . . . ), but it's very hard to put the amount of knowledge you need into a reply on an internet forum.

Well see i don't plan on bumping any out on the fender, i got one from someone through ebay, the fender is practically rust free! (AMAZING!) and i was going to get some bumper brackets from a salvage yard through ebay and they are straight as well. I want to do as much of this as DIY to save cash. the only thing i may reconsider buying new are the bumpers.

Also, HOTRODPAINT, i think i do have rust through on my rear window bottom end on the corners. thats the only REAL rust problem I am sweating bullets about. Is there anything I can do with bondo to remedy this problem? i mean we're talking from a little bit on the outside of the body rust bubbles to the inside corner where the trim covers it up.

I think i'll get my camera to show you. i'll post in a bit if i can find some batteries.

First thing you need to do is stop the rust. Sandblasting or wirbrushing the area, then treating it with a metal prep or conversion product, to prevent it from going any further. If it's only pinholes, you might get away with using some Bondo to plug them, but you would have to neutalize the rust first, then sand and fill.

Well from the looks of it HOTRODPAINT, it seems to be pin holes at the core and bubbles at the top since i do get some water in my trunk but its not a substantial amount. But I'm not a body expert so. Yeah.

Anyways I have pictures now.
driver side corner
passenger side corner

in trunk view passenger side
in trunk view driver side

Here's how the paint looks on the underside of the trunk and thats what I want. I just want the same color of the car. It was a good color.
trunk bottom side

also.. what is causing my hood to do this??!? its been like this since i dropped my motor in D:< and i can't seem to find a way to adjust it. could it be the latches and springs finally wore out?
hood

As far as neutralizing the rust, Could i get some of that rust neutralizer from the POR15 company? I used the POR15 Kit on my oil pan before I installed it since I paid 137$ for a pan.. I was making damn sure i wouldn't have to buy one for rust reasons.

I want to use POR15 on any rusty spots that I can.. care to tell me how I might use that with bondo? Or should i just use the rust inhibitor and bondo/paint over it after I've wirebrushed it?

Sorry for all the questions, this is my first hotrod and i'm only 21 and the only thing I have to go by is the Hotrod TV show they show on SPIKETV when they were doing body work on the Dynacorn Camero.

I'll brb after dinner :P
Thanks for all your help so far!

One thing I would plan on is pulling the rear window out. You probably have problems in the channel that the gasket sits in. You will want to replace the gasket too.

I have no experience with POR 15, so I can't offer advice.

Any time you treat a surface with a rust product, I would then sand it off just before any plastic work. You want the metal treatment to do it's job, which is to chemically change the "iron oxide" (rust) into "iron phosphate" (which is just a dead gray material) but body filler will not stick to the metal preps I've used, so you'll need to sand most of it back off after treatment.

Hotrodpaint. You're great. Thank you.

Do you think its just pin holes with that kind of rust that I've shown you? (inside and outside pictures considered?)

http://www.autobody101.com/ lots of good stuff here!

If you have to replace some metal around the window it's not that hard to do. You could hand form the pieces out of tin and replace the rusted out areas. Hard to tell you how here, find a good book on metal forming. The narrative and pictures will show you how to do it. Don't be afraid of it, it's just tin! I would say the clown who gave you the $6,000.00 estimate was just being a smarta**. I've got to do a bit of piece making soon on a cab. If you want I'll take some pictures of how to do it and post them for you....

That would be great, Dave! My dad does have a MIG welder or a TIG welder I forget. its not the autofeed welder. But i would definately like to see those pictures. Thanks!

Looks to me like your hood hinge is binding,if nobody has tried adjusting it,youmight get away with just oiling all the pivot points and working it in. I can see from your pictures that somebody has already tried to do something with that back window, now you can do it right. Yeah like hot rod paint has already said,the glass has to come out. Odds are you'll have to patch,but like Dave says that's not rocket science either. Try just a rust converter, I've used POR15, it's hard to sand,and I couldn't get paint to adhere. Might be just me though. The window trim is held in with clips attached to studs, you'll probably have several missing when you go to put things back,I put the clips back on with pop-rivets dipped in rtv to seal the hole. Good luck. Hank

I was just thinking.. TIN?! on a steel body? doesn't metal have to be the same kind of metal to weld together or is it that I didn't pay attention in chemistry class? :P

Tin just refers to all the cars sheet metal...Kind of a misnomer but just an old experession.

Oh, HOTRODPAINT.. if i do find any rust through and lets say I'm not good with metal working.. does bondo act somewhat like a hard drying play-dough?

I know this is a cheap way out. Not the most professional. But the only person I know that does metal work is a guy thats literally told what to breath and look at by his wife; I don't think I could possibly get his help. And he's a guy whose job is welding those construction cranes.

I've never welded or formed sheet metal before so. I'm very hesitant about doing that if I absolutely have to.

What are your thoughts on this? Anyone?