How to shave a RX?
 

I was wanting to start shaving my rx7. I already have all the trim pieces off and now im looking at all the ways to make the sides completely smooth. So what ways are there to go about doing this...?

First you have to cut out strips of metal and then weld them in and bondo them smooth. or thats what I would do

i know of that way...iheard its a long process that way though..

thats the right way to do it. unless to want to add 100 tons of bondo to the weight of your car.

bondo can only be so thick though... does anyone have liek pictures of brforeand after??? cuz i can find nothing on this topic anywhere (tried searching)

I think there is a tread on forum.teamfc3s.org in the archive.

It took me 5 seconds to find this thread.

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...haved+moldings

thanks.

Well i think im going to do the same but im going to use fiber glass because bondo will fall off if its to thick ive seen it happen

The proper way to do it is to cut some metal sheets to the size of the opening your closing and weld it in place. Then take a grinder and grind down all the welds then go over it with the sander. After that use fiberglass filler to spread over it and make it nice and smooth with the rest of the body. Once the fiberglass dries you sand it down to smoothness and your pretty much done. There are some other finishing products you can go over the FG with afterwards before you apply primer to give it a super smooth finish I forget what its called though. This is the method that has been used to shave my moldings and antenna hole from my car. I'm leaving the door handles. Shaved door handles on cars just seems kinda dumb to me.

You can see parts of some of the process & results in some of the vids in my build thread.

Unless you are good with body work I suggest having this sorta thing professionally done if you want it to last.

where do you get this fiberglss filler at? At what stuff would you use?

Wanna know why it fell off? Cause you didnt score the underlying metal with 26 grit. You must score up the metal with at least 40 grit to get the bondo to stick.

Fibreglass is a horrible suggestion...due to the different expansion rates of fibreglass and metal the fibreglass will crack.

Edit: Bondo shouldn't be applied thicker than a 1/8 inch, 1/4 is acceptable...only if really needed.

Work a gentle lather.

Yep, that's the best way to do it.

You're probably thinking of glazing putty. It basically fills any small pitting in the bondo or whatever filler you used.

hmmm glazing putty...never heaqrd of that...
im going to look into it.
what about the front and rear bumpers can you use something to smooth those out?

Are you sure your up to this task? It's going to look bad if its not done right. If you have never done body alterations before you might want to get someone who has to at lease watch over you while you do it. That way you dont turn your 7 into a monster.

shes already a beast :)

it'll be fine....im just trying to decide now if its worth it ya know...

If you've never heard of glazing putty, don't do it.

Threads like this make me cry.

Firstly, don't ask second gen RX-7 owners about body work. This is a terrible idea. There's next to no one who knows the first thing about it in groups of car guys who have money to spend on body work, let alone 2nd gen owners. (hypocritical perhaps since I own an FC....no offense either Juiceh :) )

Second, you can do it a number of ways but as mentioned welding strips and filling the imperfections is the ideal way. This, however, is a huge process as if you've ever tried welding a flat piece of body metal significantly, you've probably discovered that if you heat it up too much - you're going to fuck the panel up REAL good.

I'd suggest going to a paint forum and asking these types of questions, you'll get much less dilluted answers. Its possible to do yourself, you just have to be prepared to spend weeks or months getting it right and be prepared to drop some bread on good materials and special tools.

It is a huge process. What I've stated in this thread is only what I have seen with my own eyes. I'm sure there are many more steps to the process that I haven't even seen. I've only been at the body shop for like .5% of the time the car has been there, so I'm sure I missed a few things. :)




Ok, well I think I'll trust my body guy on this one over your opinion. Like I said above, I'm sure there are more steps than what I have listed. I've seen a few of the cars he's done fiber work on after MANY frigid Chicago winters & hot summers and they have had NO cracking issues whatsoever. The only thing he worried about cracking on my car was the side skirts if I had requested to have them molded in. 500+rwhp and chassis flex, yeah its not hard to see why that will crack molded sideskirts.

yea like I said I still dont really know if I want to do it. Im not real sure if I like the process/ the look. Im a good welder and could weld the strips on no problem but it's making it nice and smooth that im worried about. Ill check photos and then check the body shop :)

thats that i was thinking

Where do you get this glazing putty...Because I would like to know because Me and my bother are painting/prepping his motorcycle tank... (cobalt blue babbby)

I'll see if I can find out for you in a few days when I visit the body shop again.

alright dude...
i need it for other body work too...
(the glazing putty)