for bodywork and painting so our members who have little or no experience or even Novice  have a place to ask questions and find information about bodywork and paint and can learn about products, techniques and procedures.

We have many DIY (Do It Yourself) members who although don't do it professionally as a career

 have professional quality skills and they as well as myself would be glad to help with 

any questions you may have

So whatever your skill level is,if you have any questions feel free to ask  and I as well as the other members will try to answer and explain as best we can so you can understand and learn how to do some of the work yourself which certainly will cut costs on your repairs to your vehicle.

Need to get you one of these to alleviate the finger cramps....

Thanks for setting this Body Work Forum up... I will DEFINATELY be utilizing it in the upcoming months as I try and tackle the R&R of my drivers side inner rear quarter structure!!!

 

Look forward to all the insite and tips on how to get PROFESSIONAL results from all our membership for my upcoming repair!

legend onirot  aka Malcolm's 73 Gran Torino has some awesome rust repair photo's and even though he is not a professional Autobody Technician by Trade I can tell you this,he certainly has the skill off a Pro when he fabricates those repair patches from scratch with flat sheetmetal and cut's and bends it to shape to replace the pieces missing where he has cut out the rusted metal.

There are other skilled members as well like such as Psquare75,Eliteman76,Mule323,Grande Verde,Ron Earp and Yodaforce have done body repairs and or painting on thier cars and these are just  some that come to mind and I have seen their progress and work in the Project Update section.I appologize if I didn't mention your name and you have the skillz to do body & paint but I can't lest and mention everyone here but this just shows that there are guys who don't do it Professionally as a career  can do professional quality work,so don't be affraid to try it yourself and learn as you might find out that you too might have the talent and didn't even know it was hidden in you till you try.

there are other brands on the interent that work well and are inexpensive and even a step up from HF bu don't knock the HF guns as I use one for my primer gun,that way If I forget to clean it out and let some 2 part primer harden in my spraygun i'm not worried if I ruin it as I paid $15 and if I can't clean it out and get it working again I can throw it out and buy a new one cheap.

I have however had that happened and just scraped out the harden primer and get as much of the particles out then fill it with thinner and let it soak then finish cleaning it later.

still works god to this day.just be sure to clean your equipment when your finished using it so it works properly the next time.

anyway my point is you can sometimes buy a pint or quart of inexpensive autopaint cheaper then what it cost you for multiple spray cans of paint.Say your painting a fender for example ust to put some paint on it to protect it till someday you get it painted properly.you might need

3-6 cans to get enough coverage and coats on there and then you have what usually is a cheap enamel paint which later when sanded and a auto paint is applied over top bites into that cheap enamel paint and wrinkles it all up and now you have a nightmare as it all has to be stripped off.

so why not save some headaches and buy a cheap Gravity feed spray gun as it doesn't take a huge compressor to use these types of guns as the fluid comes out even without air connected to the gun by pulling the trigger.The air is what atomizes the paint and makes it spray in a fan pattern.

Also I don't recommend using the cheap spray can primers to go over your sheetmetal or bodywork on the body as it is lacquer type primer and the automotive Uerethane paints don't tick to it even when sanded,trust me fond this out the hard way on a little dent when I was prepping a vehicle for paint and didn't have time for the auto 2K primer to cure as I need to paint the vehicle and get it done so the paint was cured to deliver the job the next day.guess what I had to keep it another day as when I was spotting in the inside lip on the bottom of the door I had tapped off the outside panel as I didn't want any overspray on the fresh paint and when I removed the masking paper and 2 in masking tape I use the paint peeled off the area where I had used the spray can primer  cause it was a lacquer product and used a Basecoat/clearcoat Urethane automotive paint but the paint stuck fine round that area and only peeled off on the spot with the spray can primer.Also I used all the basecoat color to paint the job and only had a tiny bit left to spot in the inside bottom lip which I used.I had no money to go buy more paint the correct factory color so I had to go into my paint cabinet and pull out paints and mix them together and custom tint a color close enough to spot it in so you couldn't tell.Thankfully I'm very good at color matching and can custom tint a color,but you see my point as why I tell you not to use them if at all possible.

It's fine to prime and paint small parts on the car with spray can but when it comes to the actual body,save yourself some grief and go get the auto paints and supplies at an autobody paint supplier and do it correctly with the correct products.It might cost a little but if you DIY then you will save on the labor costs which is also what makes taking repairs to a shop expensive not just the paint and materials.

I use spray paints all the time detailing out parts under the hood or suspension but when it comes to the sheet metal body part especially the exterior won't use spray can paints.

there are specialty paints for the trim and such and even for interior that I will use in spray can form but it is not just cheap enamel or lacquer paint but automotive type put in a spray can for easy use

What would the detailed process be for doing a quality job like that?

- Andrew

Custom Paint is a whole other ball game and don't recommend it for a beginner or novice painter as that is experienced professional grade and the candy paint and materials is not cheap so it is better left to someone who has experience with candy paints.Even professional auto painters don't all know how to shoot candy properly, it's not like shooting regular colors and easy to get light and dark shades in it from not applying it evenly or Zebra stripes as we call it with light and dark stripe looking variances in the color.

This is one I did and I know what i'm doing so it looks awesome

it's a two tone candy fade and the transition is flawless and blends well as many don't know how to do it correct even when they can do one color candy good but there is a secret to doing a fade and I don't give that out for free,that costs money as i'd rather not have alot of people know how as it lessons the competition

 No problem that is why I requested we add this section so i can give tips to guys without alot of experience to be able to try and do the repairs themselves as the labor can kill you on restorations

 Now if they live close enough they can  learn or pay me to do it,but others further away might not know where to find a gut with my talents so it helps to learn yourself.

I have enough experience that I can become an instructor ad actually plan on dropping off my resume to the Vocational Technical School where I learned AutoBody.I wouldn't mind becomin a teacher if the pay was decent as it's easy for me to teach then bust butt to do collision work

I had done small stuff like motorcycles and some signs but not a complete vehicle.

I have enough custom paint experience to know how to do a fade and enough to know how to apply the candy and tat is what was important.All the other stuff I see go around with candy has stripes or light and dark shades and just looks terrible.I came out great and I was happy that was just done end of last year.

Normally that would have been a $10K build for all the bodywork involved with the huge wheels and the truck was a rebuilt wreck and had to redo most all the previous hack body work to make it somewhat right.

a color change to look like the Gran Torino Movie car and the firewall was not done at the makeover stage.

there are various stages of degree you can go and just depends on the end result and how factory concours correct you are looking for but I tend to like to use quality automotive paints

as I am a paint and body guy but some like to save money or don't have alot of spray gun experience or the equipment so they opt for the spray can method which can be fine also.

Durability will vary depending on what brand you use with that method.

here I copied some recommendations to his question as others can benefit and find it here easily later.

Primer type and tips

 

Short version:

Generally when you remove (drill out) the spot welds, a replacement panel is then inserted to replace a rusted or damaged one and then the holes are welded up solid to secure the old panel to the new panel.

i'm not a mind reader,Need to know what Make model and year of car your working on and what your trying to do to give you proper procedures

Photo's are helpful to,to see what your drilling out and why

you only drill through the first layer of metal leaving the under structure metal solid with no holes.

If you used a regular drill bit and through drilled it then your gonna have issues

.Purpose is when you put the new piece on there will be holes in the top piece and the back will be solid and you grind the metal around the wholes to clean off the paint for welding,make sure you grind any old welds smooth and use the weld thru primer like explained on the 1st page  of the Welding & Rust Repair thread,before putting your new piece on.Follow the instructions I listed and what you do is clamp  it in place then fill your holes with weld till the hole is filled solid.That is what is known as a plug weld then grind your welds smooth.If you through drilled both layers,take a piece of copper pipe and flatten the end with a hammer.Using a glove to hold it,hold the flat end against the backside of the hole and then weld your holes shut be filling in the hole with weld/The weld will not stick to the copper and keeps your welding wire from going through the hole as you weld.Grind it smooh and weld thru primer and then you will be ready to attach the new piece with the holes or plug welding and the holes on the other metal will be solid so now the wire will not go trough and jut fill the holes with weld till solid

 

Good idea getting this thread / topic started.  I am one of the DIY's with little experience on body work.  One major thing that I'm going to try and tacle this year are those $%^&&^$ rust bubbles under my vinyl top.  Some of them are very small and can barely be felt others kinda crunch when you run your hand over them.  So I don't know, but I might have to replace a small section of metal in the roof where it is really bad.  Luckily the really bad place is in a flat area.

 

I'm concerned about getting the trim off.  Never can seem to figure out how that stuff is put on there.  do you have an pointers on removing trim?  I don't have any pictures yet but will post some later after I get the top peeled off.  I hate to take the top off as I just got the car running good and can now drive it down the street and back.  What suggestions do you have for primer?  I hear some good stuff about epoxy primers.

 

A little about my car;  72 GTS, bright red, black vinyl top, sport roof, n code, c6 tran, traction lock, rim blow wheel, factory air, rear window defrost, rallye equip group, laser strip (missing). 

 

It's gonna look ugly for a while.

 

Thanks,

Jeff

 

 

You slide it under the molding and it hooks the clips, then pry the clip open by rocking the tool onthe triangle or pull slightly to the center to release the clips from the molding but be careful not to snag the edge of the glass with the tool as it will crack the glass.

 the tools can vary buy this is one design and they are cheap

 now for the side quarter i'm not 100% sure but i think the moldings either pry up and have plastic clips or the may have a few T bolt clips also that you need to access from inside the trunk.I know the formal roofs have some T-bolts that have to be removed from inside the trunk.

Never did a fastback with vinyl so  not sure if they have any bolts from inside or just clips

 

Jeff

Sorry you can thank those who complained about me as now the others have to sufffer as well

hopefully another skilled professional or  atleast an experienced member can help you with any

Paint And Body Technical stuff

ok I talked to Scott and he is willing to give me a second chance to prove myself and help out here with technical assistance answering your questions so I can now edit so I don't post the wrong info and lead you down the wrong path.I just didn't want to post something then after submitting find out that it was worded wrong or a typo that would give incorrect info.

 

so ask your questions and be glad to help

This forum has had good intentions over the years to try to keep a positive outlook towards each other and our cars. Lately it seems some people have over reacted to certain comments and it's true that those comments should not have come up but hey, we're car guys and sometimes we say stupid things. 

You have worked hard yourself in trying to keep the forum positive- even I can tell that. But lets give each other some slack rather than too much flack.

-Just my take on it- that a buck might get you a cup of coffee.