Hello all, I've never really posted a lot on the forums, mostly lurked for a couple years learning and experiencing everything first hand. But, seeing as i am on my 3rd FC, I thought it was time to officially break out of my comfort zone and post something about what i am doing to my car.

Now on with the fun.

I purchased my third FC back in November-- a 1990 GXL with 72k original miles.
It is super clean inside and out, and I am finally happy.

So why am I doing bodywork?

Simple, I park in the driveway of my house and my own mother hit me TWICE IN THE DRIVEWAY.

I still love her though.

Any who, it wasn't a bad hit, but enough to require an overhaul on the front left fender, so I thought, "hell I'll just paint the whole thing!"

So, now I am prepping it to get a one stage white paint from MAACO.

Don't worry, I'm doing all the bodywork myself (Well, with a little help from a family friend who I would trust with a Ferrari...if I had one)

Ok enough talking. You guys want pics.


So, this is the best "before" picture I could snag, with a little bit of the fender damage showing in the bottom left corner of the picture.


Lots of nasty door dings that will be fixed too.




This is a corner of my TII hood that was caked in bondo, and to no surprise was bent all out of shape underneath. Oh boy.



Alright, so here's a first real glimpse of the dent before I really started working it out with a couple of pins. Notice the good ol' white s5 paint doing it's thing and chipping off like nobody's business.



Alright now I got it pulled out a little bit and grinded off some more paint, the lower section under the trim was pulled out as well.





I'm gonna do my best to keep this updated, so bear with me if I'm noobin' it up at all.
I'm gonna continue work on it tomorrow, so hopefully I should have some more pics by tomorrow night.

 

Bodywork is a great skill to have if your into cars i am looking forward to the final outcome.

 

The bondo was laid out overnight after i pulled a little more on the dent, and was ready for sanding.



Holy crap these handles are complicated with the alarm hooked up. I tried to be careful with it, seeing as mine still worked ha



Ok, so I know it is bent too far the opposite direction now, BUT the important thing is that the large dent that was there is now gone and it is back to being more rigid and secure and will function normally once the hood is straightened out. (I just noticed the seven peering over the hood behind it. Hello little seven!)



Sorry about the quality on this one, but this is what the driver's side door handle hole looks like all the way around so I cleaned that up as well.



There, much better.



After cleaning up the door handle, I buckled down on the large amount of sanding needed in the front and finally got it nice and smooth. Mmm sweet, straight body.


And that does it for today, I will continue tomorrow and get some more pics up.

 

Thanks! I'm looking forward to how it turns out, too.

 

Looks good so far, keep up the good work!

 

bodywork is fun imo, its a fun challenge.

I did maaco for my 240sx, the shop i went to showed me some of the cars they where working on, alot of cool project cars. Make sure you wetsand the whole car. Take the moldings off and have them spray everything in pieces, like remove the tail lights, remove the plastic trim around the headlights, side markers and bumper lights, ftp lense etc.

 

^ wetsand the whole car? Before it's painted?

 

even though I can do my own bodywork, for now on the first person I let touch the car before me is the paintless dent guy, this way you dont have to use filler on minor dings

these handles are a walk in the park compared to some new cars!

 

yea...

 

God job Cam, i forgot how much you knew about body work. maybe i can ship you out here to TX to fix a couple of things on my SA. lol

 

No doubt! I just watched a dude from north carolina work on a G6 with hail damage lol. Talk about needing good music and a nice set of headphones, comfy seat. I chatted with him for a bit, it's crazy how they work at all them dings.

 

Thanks for all the input guys!


Yes, the paint has to have something to stick to when it's sprayed on. This is why the white paint on an s5 tends to chip, there was hardly ANY sanding between the two layers.



D'aww she's looking so sad as more and more parts come off.



GXL stickers came off today, not sure if I'm gonna put them back on. I do kinda like the sock look of it. I dunno, we'll see.



The gas tank had actually been broken into while the previous owner still had it, and here it's almost back to normal after some pounding and reshaping.


Also, a new development! I will no longer be doing a one stage MAACO job but rather a two stage white with a little razzle-dazzle in it, but I won't disclose anymore information on that til the end

 

the factory paint issue has nothing to do with sanding, they do not sand cars at the factories

if your car was REPAINTED and its flaking that is due to the prep work

 

It does need something to stick to. But there's no reason to "wetsand" the whole car before painting it. They make scuff pads for this very reason. And the only sanding that needs done is the car should be sanded fully with a orbital sander and the body work done, then euro primed, then sanded with fine grit, then scuffed, then painted. There's no reason to wetsand anywhere before the paint is applied. You can wetsand in between clear coats, but never wetsand before clear is applied.

And hyper never said when to wetsand, so I'm gonna assume he meant wetsand over the car after the body work. Which shouldn't be done as you never put water on a car with filler on it.

And Macco is trash. Do a real paint job or you're wasting your money.

 

Lots of manufacturers had paint issues in the late eighties/early nineties (think Dodge Caravans from that era) and Rob is correct- it had nothing to do with sanding.
Worldwide "green" standards forced the industry to switch to more eco-friendly paint formulations and it took everyone a few years to figure out the process.

Poor finish coat adhesion was a common problem, not just the RX white but many other colors/makers had issues.

 

Uhh Ohh!!! Better NOT get Maaco. I have seen some of their paint jobs an they looked like crap. Everyone brags because they are cheap, but you get what you pay for. I would reconsider.

Prep work is going A+ so far.

 

Ah well, thanks for the info. I was going purely off the fact that, between the primer and the base coat was no sanding. As for wetsanding, it doesn't need to be perfect to paint over, just to scuff it it up. Yes that's what scuff pads are for, but I'm a little more "old fashioned" in that regard. I'll use the scuff pad on bumpers and such, but wetsand the whole car with a soft block before paint for a more even scuff.

 

you will want a hard block

 

Not for scuffing, after then painting is done to get out imperfections yea, but before paint a soft block and fine grit works well.

When it comes down too it, I think bodywork is really a matter of personal opinion. This isn't the first time I have done bodywork, I'm just going with what I have been taught and know what works. I do appreciate everyone weighing in and I believe it creates a more dynamic discussion, and I will take it all to heart.

 

you want the surface as flat as possible, you want a hard block
this is why they call it blocking a car.,on the radius thats another story

You dont want a FINE grit, you want the grit suited for the primer or the paint, too fine a grit will lead to adhesion issues

 

I don't think I'm explaining myself well enough. On the primer areas that have been bondod, yea I use a hard block or long board with a coarser grit to get them straight. But after that is all done, 800-1000 grit is good with a softer block to scuff the whole car so that there are no deep scratches that will show up later.

 

800-1000 grit is not good for paint, trust me on this one

 

i agree with , that is too fine a grit for base coat adhesion, highest i ever do is 600 . 800 to 1000 leaves nothing for the paint to stick to.

 

To be honest, I have used 1000 on a seldom occasion, but, I have used 800 several times before without any problems. Anywho, I'll probably have some more pics up tomorrow, last couple of days have been a slow process.

 

whatever you do don't listen to people who might actually do this for a living