Page 1 of 1

A noob's first attempt at bodywork.

PostPosted: Mon May 14, 2007 9:50 pm
by 6t8dart
I have to add, this is the first major bodywork I have ever done, before it had been limited to door dings and a little bit of painting, so if you see me doing something wrong, let me know.


I actually started the body work a few weeks ago, but it was more exploratory surgery. I started by doing a little sanding and breaking in my new D/A. I started out by trying to see how deep the filler was, I cut a groove in the side with my D/A throught the filler from under the gas filler cap all the way back to the rear corner, I estimate that toward the rear it was about 1/4" thick or more. The quality of the repair was pretty good, but I was concerned that the whole 1/4 was covered by at least some filler. It had to go, I need to know what was under it.

This was the first step, after cutting the line through the filler, I decided to start sanding down with 80 grit, this was the result after 3 hours with a D/A.
Image


I needed to fill the holes, I started out welding the holes shut for the "DART" emblem and all those **** holes for the GT side trim:
Image


Today I decided to attack the filler with a stripping wheel (on the trunk), it definately works better without damaging the metal. The very back of the quarter had a lot more than I thought, but on the plus side, the damage underneath was not all that bad. I took about 2 hours, but I got the thick stuff off, I was really happy that the fender lines were straight and true. These will be use to restore the "character" of the rear fender.
Image


How many of the Mopar A-body guys wished their metal looked like this under the paint? ;D The only rust was a pinhole where you see the hole at the bottom. I determined that the pinhole was tiny, so I drilled it out to about 3/8" to get to undamaged metal, which I am going to weld shut later.
Image


After welding up the holes, I ground them flat with my grinder, actually they are cocave, which I will smooth with filler later. You can see a little of the damage at the back end of the fender.
Image


Here is a better shot showing the mostly undamaged, but soft character lines.
Image


Here is the fender after giving it a coat of self etching primer, you can see the damage a little better with primer, next I am going to start knocking down the high spots and getting the fender back in shape before adding filler.
Image


Part 2: Let the repairs begin!

Just enough tools to make me dangerous. I have my D/A sander, a 17" air board sander, a 17" hand board sander, a 6" block sander, a grater for shaping bodywork, Evercoat filler, mixing board and an assortment of speaders.
Image


Here is the uglyness I found under the filler, in retrospect I could have left it alone, but I just didn't know what was going on underneath, plus the rear body crease was pretty soft, I wanted to sharpen it up a bit. All the holes are being welded up, I started with the rear quarter. I also knocked down most of the high spots with a hammer and dolly (I still missed a few).
Image


The start of the filler, I started with the lower half, I was concerned that the creases would be soft so I paid the most attention to them. I already made a pass with the D/A to knock down the first layer. Its a **** getting the hardener to filler ratio just right, you will see by all the different colors of the filler.
Image


This is the second coat, knocked down with the grater.
Image


Coat number 3, filling in the low spots.
Image


Sanded down with the D/A, I then hit all the bare metal with etching primer.
Image


The next day, I did the top half, now I am applying a layer of glazing putty, I built up the center crease so when I sand it down I can get a nice shap line.
Image


Here is my first coat of primer over the intitial filler work, look at that nice sharp crease!
Image


Here is another look at the crease, straight as an arrow! I love it when a plan comes together.
Image


To find the low spots, I sprayed a light coat of black primer.
Image


I then blocked it to find all the high and low spots, still needs some work, I found a few high spots I need to knock down some more.
Image


Afterwards I put down several coats of high build primer, I am going to block it one more time, if I still have high spots, I am going to knock them down, them I am going to fill in the low spots with some glazing putty.
Image


Another angle of the work. I think its starting to look better. The streaking is actually from the high build primer still being wet.
Image


More to come next weekend...

PostPosted: Tue May 15, 2007 7:12 am
by Matt Johnson
Sweet project!

Keep us updated with more pics! I love it. :wink:

PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 4:26 pm
by CoolasIce
Looks good. How did you get the body line so straight through all of that filler?
Image

PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2007 7:31 am
by kerristallax
When re-sculpting body lines, I run a piece of masking tape along the whole panel touching the bottom of the line. Then you sand the top half. Afterwards, remove the tape and place a new piece running along the body line, but this time on the top half. Now sand the bottom. Repeat until you get a nice straight line. Then you can remove the tape altogether and carefully sand the line itself to recreate the factory "sharpness".

It is difficult and time-consuming to get body lines repaired.

PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2007 7:04 pm
by 6t8dart
CoolasIce wrote:Looks good. How did you get the body line so straight through all of that filler?
Image


I blong board sanded it down the flats, staying away from the center crease, it actually came out pretty good. I ended up sanding off about 90% of the filler, I probably used way too much filler, but then again, I really didn't know waht I was doing, other than lurking here.

PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2007 8:25 pm
by CoolasIce
OK, thanks.

PostPosted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 4:03 pm
by Fast7
Looks good :) Especially since you are new to this type of repair work.