Worth painting?

[nathan_d]

So i have an old 86' brat that i want to fix up but am limited on the funds and so i would have to do much of the body work myself but i have very little knowledge on how to do most of it. My friend though has all the sanding equipment and i was wondering how much work is it to sand down a car and remove a substanital amount of dings dents and holes. And is it possible to just bondo most of them before priming? Or what would be the best method?

thanks any advice would be greatly appreciated

[ihscout54]

Its a good amount of work, it depends on just how many dings dents and holes you have, and how bad the rust is. You want to use as little bondo as possible so you wanna beat out as much of the large stuff as you can, if its not something you can get to from behind self tapping sheet metal screws and a pair of pliers work ok on a car with light sheet metal. its easier to cover a tiny hole than to cover a big dent. for decent size holes that the bondo wont fill youll have to use a metal sreen or mesh cut it to size and bodo it inplace from behind. If you do have really bad rust i recomend you just cammo it and say screw the body work.

Start with something near 100 grit sand paper to clean off most of the paint, bondo doesnt stick well to paint or plastic, use a grinder lightly where you will use alot of bondo the rough surface will help it stick, but becarfull not to make more work for youre self with that grinder, 60-80 grit works too use wax remover to clean the body, or at least give it a real good bath

then you can apply youre bondo where needed in thin layers wait till it becomes just hard and still warm and you can sand it and shape it with a knife or grader befor it gets cured, you may have to repeat this step a few times to perfect it, you should also buy the little tube of hole filler to fill in any pinholes you wil get

i then use 180 grit and hand sand till smoothe, 180 grit is like ideal surfacing for priming, i then get the chepest sandable primer money can buy and apply it, check youre work in the driveway it dusk with the porchlight on its ideal for bringing out the shadows of flaws, even youre hand cant feel them

circle them with a pencil and correct them in the morning,

any flaw you have may not be easy to notice in primer, but when you shoot on a nice deep paint job they will show through, and bother you

I enjoy body work tho cause its the biggest improvement you will ever make to youre vehicle, no matter what you do to your car under the hood, it will not turn heads while parked like a clean body.

Im not an expert but if i can and have done it anyone can

-Sam

[nathan_d]

thanks that helped alot

[heartless]

as was noted, use as little bondo as possible. bondo is meant more for finish smoothing, than filling large areas.

 

fiberglass is a MUCH better choice for repairing larger holes. remove the nasty rusted metal - the stuff that bends easy, flakes off, etc - get back to something solid.

sand or grind with a coarse grit to give some tooth.

for large fairly flat areas use the fiberglass mat for your patch, not the woven cloth. the cloth is great for complex curves, irregular areas, but not as strong as the mat. cut your basic patch shape before mixing your resin and test fit.

 

follow the directions for mixing the resin - dont mix too much at a time - a couple ounces at a crack is usually sufficient unless you are working a very large area.

using an el-cheapo type paint brush, brush resin around the area to be patched, lay in your mat patch, and apply more resin to saturate the mat completely using a dabbing motion, being sure to work out any air bubbles. for repairing a large hole you may want to use a piece of metal screen or similar material to support the fiberglass mat until it sets up - leaving it in will help strengthen the repair too.

 

once the resin sets up it is pretty easy to sand, file or otherwise shape/blend into the surrounding area. if need be, another layer of mat/resin can be applied to build up and strengthen the repair area. just sand the first layer with a course grit first to give a tooth for the next layer to adhere to.

 

good luck with your adventures in body work!

[RdNkBrt]

just for a time "guesstimate" it took me about 2 months wokring on it about 5 hours a week to get my brat sanded down, all the dings filled, and all but one MAJOR issue worked out. this includes taking all of the lights and stuff off, as well as the doors, door glass etc to get it ready to paint. but i didnt do the jams and stuff cuz im going to paint it back to it's original black. plus i had to heat shrink my hood. that was the first body work i had ever done. It doesnt look PERFECT, but it looks good, and i was going pretty slowly since i kept having to redo bondo that i didnt get right. if you worked dilligently, it shouldnt take you too long. PLUS, if you want to go FASTER than humanly possible, buy a can or two of aircraft paint remover and use that on the hard to sand places, it takes it right down to the metal. Also, if you have a pannel that doesnt need any "fixing", you dont have to take the time to get it all the way down to the metal, you can just bring it down to the factory base and scuff that up and primer. if you have to use bondo though, make sure you take it to the metal.

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

...if you want to go FASTER than humanly possible, buy a can or two of aircraft paint remover and use that on the hard to sand places, it takes it right down to the metal. ...

 

I Agree, Nice Advice!

When I Painted both my Subies, I take paint / base off, right to the Metal with a Paint Remover... The Results are Far Better, so I Agree and I Suggest to Use Paint Remover.

I Used Polyurethane Based Paint (Not Thinner) so Brake fluids, Thinners, etc... Won`t Damage it.

And Also, to Make a Nice Subie Shine Again, is Good and it Worth it.

Could you Post here Pics of your Subie as You make any Progress?

Good Luck!