Started Body Work on #6583

[STL-Scott]

Began a new chapter in my build today. Always thought the economy would be better by the time I got to this stage (and have a professional do it), but here we are. With the proper tools, and over a month of reading books and threads on "How to do your own body work"...here we go.

Thought I would start with the rear drivers side quarter seam. Hit it with wax & grease remover, and then did the scotch brite and comet cleaning. Next step was a 4" angle grinder with abrasive pad attachment, started with 60 grit. Eats away those seams quickly. I might add the body is still on the car, so I did this in the driveway to minimze the dust in the garage.

Here it is after the seams are all knocked down. No gel coat stripe in the seams. So I feathered them back a little, found a few air pockets and feathered those out some more. Went back over the whole area with my Random Orbit palm sander and 100 grit just to even out the rough areas.







I've never been much of a patient person...so I sprayed off the dust with the air hose, and got out the filler.

[STL-Scott]

Tried this stuff from the local auto parts store: "Dynatron Dyna DeLite"...sets up too quickly and started to gum up on the car so I stopped applying it. Let it set for 5-8 minutes as the can suggests, then knocked the ridges down with the cheese grater. Got out some 80 grit an tried out my new sanding blocks to rough up the first pass. All in all not sure if I want to keep using this product or go get some Rage Gold.







Prognosis after 1.5 hours, Day 1 of the body work. It's totally do-able. The sanding isn't that bad if you do it in the driveway and blow off the dust into your neighbors yard

More to come as I progress!

[Stinson Pilot]

I've found the bodywork not near as bad as it's made out to be.
I do like the Rage Gold. Easily worked.

Looking good.

[mydream]

Alright Scott
Keep us updated.
T

[nickm1024]

Keep the progress comin. I am sure this will be a very rewarding experience!

[BigLeo69]

try a body file or a fast cut file and slow strokes on the contours. i also used a 1/2 round rasp for the inside contours. I got some good polyester filler at Napa.
the tail-light i am going to make a bezel for or contour the body more around them just don't like the look where they meet the body.

keep ur little one away from that nasty itch sh#t.

remember Beer washes it down and white castles washes it out the next day
Leo

[STL-Scott]

I showed my wife tonight the progress I made...big mistake.

She said "Oh my god, what did you do, this looks horrible...promise me you will go talk to one of the painters you work with (at Honda) and have them give you a quote to do the job correctly..."

I told her it was only the first coat of filler, and this is the process and how it looks. Don't judge a book by it's cever yadda, yadda, yadda...

Well, I will have one of the guys I talked to at work take a peak, and give me some advice and a quote to do the job. I still plan to do the main portion of the work myself. Maybe if she hears it from a "professional" that I am doing the right steps she will get off my back.

I know she means well and doesn't want to see me screw up the car at this point, but I have done my research, and I am following the right steps. It will just take a little practice to get the filler to lay down smoothly and then the sanding begins.

[Big E]

Rage gold is much easier to use than the Delite stuff. I used both before and found the Rage to sand easier and it doesn't clog up the paper as fast. You'll end up using a little more Rage, but it's been proven to last on these cars.

[uponashelf]

Just a quick note, all body filler will harden quickly if you use to much hardner. Try cutting back on the hardner, not sure how to explain the correct way to mix plastic and hardner, but your local body and paint supply house should be able to give you a good idea. Again, it doesn't matter what plastic you buy, the cheap stuff or the most expensive, if you use to much hardner when you mix it, it will harden very quick, thus giving you very little time to spread your plastic. Hope this helps.
Lile

[STL-Scott]

Thanks for the tip on mixing the plastic filler. I was also working in the sun (even though it was around 65 degrees outside) which probably promoted the stuff to kick-up faster.

Any long term problems with using DeLite versus Rage Gold?

[STL-Scott]

Another question: Am I taking off too much of the gel coat to prep the seam area?

[68GT500MAN]

Your progress looks great. I am seriously thinking about doing a lot of the body work on a 33 when the time comes.

[Prophet]

Originally Posted by STL-Scott

Another question: Am I taking off too much of the gel coat to prep the seam area?

No. Just make sure the area around the sanded part is roughed up well so the filler has some tooth to grab on to.

- Rick

[STL-Scott]

Found a local auto body supply house that sells Evercoat Rage Gold for $40.11/gallon. I'm going to take my Dynatron stuff back to AutoZone and get the RG later this week when I have time (the jobber closes at 5PM).

Figure I better do it right and do it once...

[COMPETITIONCOBRA]

Hate to blow smoke up your arse like others are but you better not grind the rest of the body like you have in this fashion. Your second post of pictures looks like you have the Grand Canyon going on there. It looks to me like you are removing too much material just forward of the taillights on the vertical seam. You are getting carried away with the grinder. These cars are full of areas where the gel coat is mixed in with the glass and resin and other areas full of air bubbles. Don't worry about them all because they are not ALL a problem. Focus on the seam... Examine the seam and lay tape along the area that you suspect needs to be ground out and DO NOT grind past the tape line. The tape will act as a guide. Keep it looking professional. This does not look good! BTW not all seams need to be ground out and removed. On my build I have about 2 feet on my car that I ground out. The rest I left, feather edged the seam down and just applied body filler. Intend on using a lot of filler because these bodies are simply terrible.

Never leave any body filler on an un-sanded portion of the gel coat. You will have problems later. Always make sure that the area beyond the repair is scuffed to a flat finish so the filler will stick. Proper procedures will net more favorable results.

Never apply body filler in the sun. The sun heats up the area to be repaired and greatly accelerates the drying time. Feel the body while it is sitting in the sun... It gets very warm... Keep it cool before applying, then move it in the sun to accelerate the drying time if needed

Rule of thumb when mixing... A golf ball sized portion of body filler needs a stripe of hardener about the width of a golf ball. Or for Rage filler if it has a yellowish hew then you do not have enough and if it is has more of a blue color than a green then you have too much. Too much and or too little hardener can create problems. It isn't an exact science and a little either way will not ruin your work. When adding multiple layers you will notice after sanding that the filler has kind of a tree ring pattern from the differing colors of the layers. . Some darker some lighter.

[68GT500MAN]

Competitioncobra-You may have had a different experience with your body than some. ALL of my seams were ground out and filled with a West Marine product by none other than Jeff Miller himself. The photos's in this post do not look too excessive to me.
Doug

[COMPETITIONCOBRA]

If he had to grind the seams then fine, I chose not to. Each body is different but STL-Scott is getting carried away with the grinding. The first set of photos in the first post looks great on the seam I was commenting about... Should have stopped grinding there, but it looks like he took way too much out in the second photo.

Jeff Miller isn't the only person that knows a thing or two about this kind of work

[BigLeo69]

hey Scott did u get the wax filler out with wax-degreaser out of the seams
and i believe u don't want to grind out the seams. the older bodies were done this way. F5r told us this., when i was picking up mine and the discussion was during the tour of the plant. u will notice the top of the fenders has a mild flat spot. work those out to each side, and the bondo mix up small amts
when she starts to pull start another plate and leave that for the garbage.
i use smooth paper plates up-side down to mix on, and couple small spreaders for mixing. and a clean trowel for applying. its just like a painters palate, and i am sure u can paint if u can draw. good luck

[STL-Scott]

CompetionCobra:

Thanks but I think you confused me more than clarified. I may have gone a bit too far with the grinder...but I didn't actually remove much material on the vertical seam. My panels were way off on alignment and was trying to take off the high spot with the area by the taillights so it would be easier to fair the filler in.

Yeah, I quickly figured out not to apply this stuff in the sun. It was a nice day and I got carried away. Stopped when I did.

Leo- yes, the whole area I worked on was cleaned with Wax & Grease remover, comet & scotch brite, rinsed clean, let dry, and then sanded with the 100 grit on the Palm to give it some bite before I started with the filler.

Again, thanks for the feedback, think I will put down some tape to give me some guidelines on the next seam...

Scott

[AC Bill]

Originally Posted by BigLeo69

i believe u don't want to grind out the seams. the older bodies were done this way. F5r told us this., when i was picking up mine and the discussion was during the tour of the plant.

Hmm never knew that..So what does FF suggest with the newer body's, simply knock off the ridges, and fill the seam as is? What about any gel-coat in the seam area, does this need to be removed, or just roughed up and filled over?

[6243]

Ugh. Those pics bring back bad memories. Never again will I do the bodywork on an FFR. I'm glad I did it once, because I learned quite a bit, but never again...4 yrs later and I'm still cleaning up my garage....

Greg

[ShelbaToast]

I wanted to see a pic of Scotty coated in fiberglass powder. Even outside I got completely coated when grinding out my seams!

[aharris]

Just my 2c

I'm quite enjoying the bodywork on my MK II. I'm through a gallon of Rage Gold and about to start on the second but getting close. The seams were bad on my body but I didn't go quite as far as you with the grinder.

Did you use 3M bister repair as a base or go straight to Rage? I think the 3M is a good idea as it strengthens the glass. The rage has much less structural strength.

I followed SRP's instructions and follow the ask an expert section. Competitioncobra knows a great deal about this stuff too.

Andrew

[Rip Van Winkle]

With the older bodys there was much geldcoat in the seams. So they had to be cleaned out (see first photo). Easy way was to use your grinder, then fill in with the Marine (strong) filler, then use Rage over that to make it smooth and blend. Hope you don't grind much, because that means more filler and more work. See how much smaller mine was? (Marine High Strength is blue, Rage very light green in color) The newer bodys are better and looks like no black spots in the seams (that would be gelcoat), so yours looks good. Have fun!

[STL-Scott]

Okay, Again, thanks everyone for your feedback. There is a vast depth of experience on here and I love it!

Tonight just now I block sanded in a cross 'X' pattern my first layer of filler. Like most of you said a lot of it came off but it also revealed some of the area I prepped for the seam again and what filler was left (remember my first layer was very thin to start the build up) was minimal. This reinforced what I had seen on Sunday that after removing the gel coat ridge at the seam, I did not go into the fiberglass build up area very much if at all. Yes I probably took off too much of the surrounding gel coat, but this was my first try and I stopped when I did to get some feedback. I now know that I can be less aggressive on the other seams. Good news is everyone I have talked to that has a similar vintage series Mk 3.1 has come across no gel coat in the seam build up area.

I laid down another thin layer of filler tonight and mixed it a little less hot. You can tell when it starts to kick as it begins to pull on the plastic spreader so that's when I stopped. I'll go knock down the ridges in a few minutes and then let it gas out for the night/day tomorrow and hit it again tomorrow night with the block sanders.

I'll post some progress pictures later tonight or tomorrow. Camera is in the car and I gotta pick up my son from theater class in 30 minutes...

P.S. - The Dyna DeLite was easy to sand, and did not pin hole or clog my sand paper. I tried to pick or peal up some of the edges and it stuck down very well to the gel coat. I'm going to keep using up this gallon and see how it goes. Several of those I talked to have used this or similar and said go for it. No problems with their finished paint job.

Later,
Scott

[The Gess Brothers]

Scott,
Sounds like you have the right idea's. I would like to add one suggestion. You may already know this; wear a dust mask during heavy sanding & grinding. I know it's hot & uncomfortable, but you'll be glad you did in the long run.

Karl

[STL-Scott]

Thanks Karl. I used one over the weekend for the major grinding. The container is enough to scare you - product may cause cancer (do not ingest dust)...

[The Gess Brothers]

When you get to lighter sanding it's not such problem. Try to use a shop vac for the dust. That makes less of a cloud.

Karl

[STL-Scott]

Taken a few minutes ago when I got home from work. Second coat of filler has been applied and block sanded with 80 grit. Still a little lumpy but getting better.







Turned the heater back on in the garage (for cryin' out load it's 42 outside today and raining with snow in the forecast) so maybe tonight I can apply another coat. Getting there. This fender is going to be my test mule

[jammin1]

Looks good so far. I realy enjoyed doing the body work, and wish I could do it again. The biggest question I have for you is what kind of sand blocks are you using. The type, size, lenght, and flexablity is very very important. If you dont use the correct stuff your body will come out wavy and you wouldnt know it till its painted