Body Work Tips
 

Im planning on attempting the task of doing the body work on my car this winter. So i was wondering if anyone here has any tips on doing this? I need to replace my rear fenders and just fix a few minor dings and dents. The dings and dents shouldnt be that hard to do its just the fenders. Im planning on talking to a friend who works in a body shop and see if he can help out but i just figured id see what you guys have to say.

Nobody?

well I'm no body man and don't have very much experience but I did do some body work on an old 79 f-100 I had and am about to fix the rust on my hatch before I need a new one

My best tip for you is take your time and do a good job, especially if you are painting it a darker color (like black as I am) any little imperfection will show. Get rid of all rust, down to bare metal and use some bondo, it's pretty straight forward, and after you think you have it perfect after a layer or two of bondo don't forget the glazing and spot putty. it will give you a much better finish than bondo. And lastly, don't be afraid to spend some extra time with some very fine sand paper to make sure it is smooth, an 800 grit works well between layers of paint.

good luck with it and if you can I would for sure enlist the help of your buddy that does body work. It is almost an art rather than a mechanical job.

I recently painted my mustang this summer, doing on body work, replacing bumpers and a front fender. Filler work is incredibly simple but it takes some experience getting it just right. I use Evercoat Z-grip filler and sand it with 80 grit until I am satisified. Then I apply as many coats of Evercoat 416 metal glaze (makes it smooth as a babys butt)as needed and sand it with 180 grit till its straight. Then I go over it gently with 400 or 500 grit to remove any possible sand scratches. Then 4 coats of Dupot 4004 plimer.... then I sand that with 500 grit.... Shouldnt be able to tell you did anything there after that.... Works for me at least!

As for the rear quarters, unless you are an experienced welder I would leave this to the pro's, or bribe your buddy thats a body man for a little afterhours work at the shop.

good luck be sure to show some pics when its painted!
click on the link in my sig to see how my car came out...(was pretty ruff before)

If you do the rear fenders on your own, take pics of the job and some good clear finished pics, because I'd like to see an average joe do it. I'm not being sarcastic. I just would like some confidence because in a few years I'm going to build a '69 and I imagine I'll have lots of metal work to do. I have done a piantjob before on an old '66 Galaxie 500 I had. The body was straight, just scuffed, scratch filled, sanded and sprayed. Came out better than the local Midas. I was happy... I really miss that car...

Pictures are a for sure. I figure that as long as i take my time doing the fenders it shouldnt be that bad. I plan on also trying to find a book or 2 to learn the basics of the whole thing. I am also planning on trying to find a set of side skirts from a newer GT as well as the rear bumper cover.

I'd like to paint my car next year, my paint looks like S**T. I'll probably paint it a dark metallic grey. I need to figure out WHERE I could do it though, I'll do most of the work myself, except maybe some welding/patching, there's a few bayad rust spots.
Any Ideas on WHERE to paint a car (other than my garage), can you rent out paint booths?

I'm not sure about renting booths, but I know that you can paint a car in your garage, just make sure that you clean the area very well and make sure theres not a lot of dust (getting rid of it all is impossible), and wet down the floors so that it holds anything thats on the ground down. I used to take a body class at the local votech and am pretty good friends with the instructors so I got to use thier booth. Maybe call some body shops in your area and see if they would be willing to rent thier booth out to you after hours or something?

I'm willing to help you guys with any questions i've been through this process before.

You can rent a booth depending on where you live. This guy that lives accross the street from my mother in Tampa paints cars outside in his driveway for extra cash! I've never seen one, as I live 1500 mi away, but she says they actually come out looking great, especially his color matching and spray pattern matching abilities. But how all kinds of stuff doesn't get in the paint is beyond me, maybe she isn't looking closely!