I have never done bodywork/paint on a car before.


I have a few dings in my '74LE (very minor) and I am dying to get it looking as good as I can for next summer. Since I have no experince, should I try/not try to learn how to paint/fix dents on my own?

On one hand, I would feel better doing the job myself. On the other hand, I don't want to screw it up worse than it already is... (it isn't that bad)...

A) In your opinion, Should I?
How do I learn how to paint stuff?

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I had a similar question.

What is the best way to cut body panels (or in my case, a front trunk floor) accuratly so that you can wled in a replacement? I'd imagine that it has to be pretty prescise, how do you go about doing it. Sawzall, sabre saw, angle grinder with cutoff wheel?

Zach

Being an avid DIY guy (and a CSOB) I say go for it....both of youz'. As far as I'm concerned, the only way to learn something is to do it. I do things twice (or more) fairly often when out of my element. Being stuborn helps...drawing the line helps too...."good enuff, damnit".

I painted my car last winter...first auto paint job for me. It looks good from 10 ...OK, 20 feet. When I color sand it & buff, it'll look better.

Tools for pannel replacement....all of your tools + some you prolly don't have. Cut the hole smaller that your replacement part. Grind slowly on both till it fits. You'll get the hang of it. I have done all the mods on my car....none of which
I had previous specfic experience with. It works.
I got lots of advice....some of which was very good.

Hey J P,


My car's body looks okay... But I have some rust spots and dents and some waves in the doors. How did you learn the tricks of the trade (as it were)? A video / A book / a friend ?

I have an adequate air-compresor, and I could easily rig-up a PVC and visquene (sp) paint booth with air ventilation fans and the like. But I don't know where to begin prepping and stuff... Bang out the dent, sanding, filler for the waves in doors over the paint/under the paint. I have no idea where to begin?

There are a couple ways to go....both of which are messy
Do you want to go to bare metal or respray over the old stuff?
Both require some sanding tools...."some" ,heh...

I went to bare metal....thru 4-6 coats depending on where I was. Aircraft stripper is what I used....try to keep it out of lap joints. Build your booth and take off everything that can be removed....hoods, chrome, doors.....the whole works. If that idea doesn't scare ya, we'll go on.

Start in with the stripper in one corner or end and work your way out.....try to keep the stuff outta any seams. If there are only one or two color coats, it'll scrape off with a putty knife.
Wipe off the excess glop with rags & water, then dry.

Here is a thread from when I was doing mine. Read it & see if that's the way you wanna go. I think I said somewhere in here what my feelings were on it.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread....light=J+P+Stein

You have a nice LE Rhett, inexperience can mess things up pretty easily. Saving a couple hundred dollars now an easily cost many times that to have it repaired correctly later. If it was any old car, I would encourage you to go for it too.

The minor dents can be removed by a paintless dent removal shop, and it works very well!

But under the circumstances, give this one to the pros and practice on the family minivan...

Also not to forget the fact that a paint job is cheaper than new lungs! If you don't have a full face fresh air system, you are risking your health. New paints have high health risk, that can't be averted with a simple respirator.

If it is for just the one car, the learning curve and expenses will be too much in my opinion. If you want to do other projects as well, and are stubborn enough, go ahead. Get some help from an experienced person if at all possible.

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

http://www.hotrodders.com/

Lotsa good info in the knowledge base

Hey, Rhett,

You have spare hood and trunk lids, you could practice on one of them (or the dented ones on the car) to see how it goes.

john

QUOTE (Vacca Rabite @ Dec 4 2005, 07:37 PM)

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I had a similar question. What is the best way to cut body panels (or in my case, a front trunk floor) accuratly so that you can wled in a replacement? I'd imagine that it has to be pretty prescise, how do you go about doing it. Sawzall, sabre saw, angle grinder with cutoff wheel? Zach

I use all three of those tools.

For replacing a panel, I lay the new piece over the rusty part or hole in the case of front trunk floor repair. Cut the new panel to cover the hole or rusty panel plus and 1" or more to have a good place to cut it. Tack weld it in place in 4 spots. Then using the 3 tools, cut along the edge or thru both so that the new panels edge lines up with the spot its going to. Check fit after completing the cutting(cut thru the tack welds) and then stitch weld the new panel in. Go slow so you don't heat up everything and warp the fit of the panels.
In the front trunk floor you want to cut and weld on the raised parts of the floor as weld down in a gully is hard and grinding is impossible.

On other panels like fenders, just cut to fit and refit and grind and refit and finally stitch weld it in. The time is spend fitting as the welding goes pretty quickly. Prep is everything, clean paint and grease free metal makes for clean nice welds.

Wrote this up a while ago, it's now it the Classic's section under "PPG vrs Omni Paints" Any other questions ask.

Supplies: Quantity:
Paint 1 gallon
Reducer 1 gallon
Hardener 1 pint
Fish Eye Reducer 4 oz.

Sealer paint 1 qt
Epoxy Primer 2 qts
Mixing Cups 1 qt size
Tact Cloths 6+
Spot Putty 1 tube
Super Fine Bondo 1 can

Sand Paper:
400 Lots
600 1 package
Meguiar’s Unigrit Sand Papers
1000 1 package
1200 1 package
1500 1 package
2000 1 package

Compounds: Meguiar’s
Heavy, Medium, Light cut 1 bottle of each
Swirl Remover 2 bottles
Glaze 1 bottle

Orbital Buffer 10 inch 1
Orbital Buffer 6 inch 1
Buffing Pads for both 6+ each

36 inch sanding block made one, explain later
2 air filters for paint gun
Masking tape lots
Masking paper lots
Degreaser 1 gallon


OK, here goes.
Wash car with Degreaser to remove all road dirt and old wax, scrub. I use this degreaser I get at Costco in the Auto dept, pulls the old wax right out of the paint, use full strength, and don’t let it dry.

Identify body panels that are going to need work. Mark with a Marker Pen. Remove all body trim and bumpers. Glue 400 paper onto sanding block, go over entire car with sanding block, use a hand spray bottle filled with water and dish washing soap to keep surface wet, keep a hose handy. Rise/dry car, you’ll be able to see all the low spots. If there are small dings, parking lot, try to pound out, and then fill with super fine bondo or JB Weld. I filled the battery tray with JB Weld, and then shaped with a surfacing pad. If the battery ever eats the JB Weld, it’ll be time to throw out the carI removed doors, hoods, hood hinges, engine cover, lights, eyebrows, side marker lights, tail lights, door latches, pretty well stripped her down, if it could come off it did.

Made a 36 inch sanding block. Used 1/8 x 2 x 36 inch aluminum flat plate and 1 inch alum angle. I attached the angle to the flat plate with counter sunk screws, 6 inch spacing for screws. Do not weld together, you’ll warp plate. Attached sand paper to sanding block with spray adhesive, pain in the ass to change paper, used razor blades and lacquer thinner to clean plate for new paper. But it worked great on doors and hoods.

Note about Bondo, there are a couple of different types, one type holds water, one type doesn’t, get the one that doesn’t. Body shop supply should have it.

Start with one panel, I hung doors and hoods in garage and shot them that way. Put eye bolts in ceiling, hung them with bungee cords and wire. If you have old sheets, cover everything up for over spray.

THIS IS IMPORTANT: Before any painting. Find a good ground on car and any panels/doors you’re shooting, run a wire to a water pipe, clean water pipe for good connection. I shot 1 fender without doing that, then one fender with a ground. I had at least 80-90% less dust in the paint with the ground wire. I painted my car in the driveway; I always shot the paint in the morning, before any wind came up, prepped car night before.

When you think you’re all ready, lol. Mask, prep car for paint. Shoot sealer coat of paint, this seals old paint, preps for primer. Let dry, wet sand with 400 sand paper. You have 48 to 72 hours to shot primer over sealer paint , shoot primer, wet sand with 400 sand paper, then 48 to 72 hours to shoot color coat over primer, or you start over. These times are another reason I worked one panel at a time, easier to shoot one panel, than the whole car.

When you shoot color coats, first shoot a light tack coat, let dry 20 minutes, and then shoot at least 2 color coats at around 15 apart. Watch for flies, they like the smell of fresh paint, ask me how I know. This is how I solved the fly problem, I had my neighbor bring his big dog over and take a dump in my yard. Fly strips, fly catchers didn’t work, but that dog sure did lol.

Let paint dry 4-5 days, in the sun if you can, then start the color sanding start with 1000 up to 2000, use lots of water mixed with dish washing soap. Then start buffing, heavy, medium, light, swirl remover, glaze, and wax. Change buffing pads a lot, only do about 6-8 square feet before changing pad. I used the degreaser to clean pads, put them in sun to dry.

Like I said, there is no way to speed up a good paint job; it’s time consuming, often overwhelming. That’s one reason I did one panel at a time, plus I was driving her and racing her during the restoration. As long as I just concentrated on one panel at a time, I didn’t get overwhelmed.