Author	[Modern View]
Tom in MO 10-19-2012 14:17:02 64.136.27.161 Report to Moderator	Thanks, Jason and Stephen. It looks like I"m going to learn how to do body work! (Are there any good books you can recommend?) [Reply]   [No Email]
Stephen Newell 10-20-2012 20:12:23 66.53.83.110 Report to Moderator	Re: Re: in reply to Tom in MO, 10-19-2012 14:17:02   I don't think you need books. There are several of us here that will help you with the body work and painting. I would start with hammering out the fenders to as close to the final shape as you can. Then I would either sandblast all of the paint off or use a disc sander to remove it. There is a lot of rust on the fenders and surely some under the paint that you don't see so I would take it all the way down to bare metal. Then I would have a welder repair the tears if you don't weld yourself. Then after it has been stripped, welded and hammered out, I would prime it with epoxy primer with a couple of coats. The epoxy primer will have a recoat window so you will have something like three days to paint it or prime it again. Just get a specification sheet with the primer and stick to the directions. I like to use epoxy on the body first before the body work to seal the metal for rust prevention. When you use a body filler its better to put it on in layers building the shape rather than putting a big blob of bondo on it. You probably will have to bondo it and sand it a couple of time before you get it to the shape you want. Try not to sand the epoxy primer as you will need to spray it again if you are going to put more body filler on the spot. Once you get the fenders like you like them I would prime them again with epoxy primer again. Now there will likely be minor defects in the body work you didn't know were there until you started priming. If it is minor you can use a filler primer over the epoxy primer for the purpose of sanding. Epoxy primers don't sand well so you shouldn't try it. Just make sure the filler primer is compatible with the epoxy primer and the topcoat you plan to use. I normally use Evercoat Featherfil for the filler primer. After using it there is no recoat window and you can work it as you please. You can put several coats of it on sanding between coats to level the finish to your pleasing. You can also wet sand the Featherfil and with the primer wet you will get a better picture of what it would look like with the topcoat on. If your a perfectionist we can tell you how to use guide coat to help find any final defects. Once you get the finish level then you would be ready for your topcoat. [Reply]  [No Email]
glennster 10-19-2012 14:59:37 75.57.134.154 Report to Moderator	Re: Re: in reply to Tom in MO, 10-19-2012 14:17:02   get a set of auto body hammers and dolleys to shrink or stretch the metal as necessary. harbor freight has a set for 30 dollars. a good set will run you 300 dollars easy, but for a beginner, these will work fine.you tube has quite a few videos on using the tools. poke here [Reply]  [No Email]