May 27, 2011

So, after finally taking the camera over to the house, I snapped some pictures of what's really going on with the body work. You'll see in the following pictures that I have filled some dents with Bondo, as well as started to fill the top line that spans from the front fender to the rear quarter panel. I was very pleased at it's outcome and started to look at the lower line that runs around the whole car. I snapped a shot of the start of filling this line in. I would like as much feedback as possible on the lower line and I'll tell you why. The lower line will take an amazing amount of time, work, and anger. Not to mention, because the bottom portion of that line protrudes more, the Bondo will not only have to cover that area, but it also needs to be spread up higher so as to refrain from getting any edges out of it. That is the best reason, for me anyway, to just use my rust removal tool on the drill and just get rid of it. I'm not too fond of the thought of having that much Bondo on there just to rid myself of that line, and to be honest I kind of like that line since it wraps the entire car.

Now onto the tools I am using. If you are just now starting to read this, then I must tell you now that I have never in my life done any sort of body work or painting, I've focused most of my attention on the mechanics of a car, but this car is my learning piece and I would like to have my hand complete as very much of this project as I can. I spend hours on end, reading forums, watching youtube videos all with the intent on learning the best way to complete the task that I will be focusing on. I first started sanding with this car by hand with a high grit sandpaper, and when my shoulder started getting soar, I figured there must be a better way, so I used the almighty Google. I ended up finding out about the sanding equipment I am using by reading forums. Everyone was saying that a good DA (Dual Action) sander is the easiest way to get the sanding time down on this type of work. A buddy of mine just so happened to have an electric one, but I also found one on Ebay that was an air tool going for a steal of a price, so I picked it right up in the last minutes of the auction. Capcityoutlet was the seller, and the shipping was a good price, since the product was used and very cheap for the auction win price of $14.50. The product was bubble wrapped to perfection and came in a box flooded with packing peanuts. This guy wanted to make sure the product got to me fast and in good shape and it did.

As for the Bondo that I started using, runs about $30 a gallon at Auto Zone, I bought it with the plastic spreaders which were about $2. I wasn't too fond of them so I bought some metal spreaders at Harbor Freight. When I get a chance to use them, I'll post up what I thought of them for use, and the ease of cleaning. I've got to admit, the spray gun was pretty cheap, Harbor Freight had them on sale for $15 and I wanted to see what $15 would get me, and as you have seen on the fender, it did quite well. They also had respirator masks, which I highly suggest for use when painting, for about $20-$22. Easy to use and the filters are interchangeable for newer ones if you want to go that route. Enough of the boring stuff, I'll let this conclude with the pictures.