Hey everyone I just bought a pretty nice 1983 RX7. Everything is fine on the car, except it needs paint. What it has is really bleached and faded red paint, and a few rust spots here and there (a few spots on the hood, sunroof, and one above one of the rear wheel wells). I was planning on spraying everything down with a power washer, and then sanding the whole car, and then putting Bondo or something like that where the rust was, and then sanding the Bondo spots, and then washing it, and then adding primer, and finally bringing it in to get painted the same red color it originally was. Does this all sound about right? Any tips for how to make this really nice when I'm done?

Thanks

 

If it is badly cracked and pitted you may want to sand it down to bare metal.Otherwise,yeah,sounds good.

 

Bondo is a art in itself. Takes ALOT of practice to do right.

Your best bet for rusted spot is to strip it as far as you can down to bear metal with a grinder but not to the point where u start to eat through what's left of the metal. If pitting / rusting is still present there is a acid based solvent that will strip the metal of any rust your grinder couldn't finish. It's like 30$ a bottle. If there is ANY rust under where you put the bondo it will continue to rust, that is the purpose of the solvent.

If the metal is real bad it needs to be cut out and replaced. Post a pic so we can see exactly how bad it is.

I have a few pics from a car I was messing with, let me see if I can find them...

 

 

Sand the car down, get a compressor and a pneumatic sander while you're at it.

Bondo only over non-rusted areas. Fiberglass works better for big deformities, then bondo over the fiberglass to smooth it.

Wear good respiratory protection and do your work in a *clean* area. Nothing worse than dust in the paint as you're buffing it.

 

Thanks for your input guys. That Rust-Mort looks like it works really well. I'm gonna try that out. Here's a few pictures of the rust on my car (the pics are huge so might want to zoom out (CTRL and minus button)):

 

If you really want to do it yourself (just remember good straight bondo takes alot of practice)
I'd start with one small area like the bottom corner of the hood and see how you do from
start to finish before you attack every rust spot and get yourself in over your head.

Those pics I posted are from awhile ago.
I'm in the process of another car doing the whole body over.
I can post specific how to pics as I go if you want.
Let me know I'll keep checking in.

To start you are going to need AT VERY LEAST a small air compressor
and a small 5 or 6"disc grinder w/36 grit pads.
A small compressor can get you by for a backyard beginner but the tools won't
be able to keep up hardly as well as a big compressor, but like I said you can get by.
I scored a small compressor at a garage sale for $100 & grinder off ebay
shipped to me for under $20 w/a 5" arbor and pads for around another $20.

 

I actually ran to Menards last night with my dad and he had me buy a random orbit sander, some Bondo, glazing compound, Naval Jelly, and a few other things. I started the car with 80 grade paper on the orbit sander, and it seems to work pretty well. I haven't started on any rust yet, but it's great on the rough paint. 85TIIDevil, that would be awesome if you walked me through what you're working on.