276 replies to this topic

[SmacT]

More progress on the weekend. My wife wasn't too happy, as it took four hours on a busy Saturday morning, but then she crashed our family car into a bus, so I was off the hook (she's fine). Married guys reading this will know what I mean...

 

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Stripped the protective primer off roof, A pillars and rear quarters/beaver and back to bare metal outside the shed with 80 grit discs (gently) on a big grinder, then 120 with an orbital. Didn't take much metal off, just cleaned it all up. 

 

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Used the masking paper of champions, old newspaper, to mask it up, then hit all bare metal with Protech metal conditioner/rust converter. Let it go to work, then dis-armed with water, dried it, then cleaned the whole lot with prepsol. The metal was good enough to eat off after that. You wouldn't, but you could.

 

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Then Hammo started on the epotech 408. I will stick to painting the door, etc, cos if I stuff it up it wont take as long to fix, but left Hammo to the turret. He loves it and does a bloody good job. I find painting the most satisfying part of the whole metalwork process, along with welding, so I am looking forward to doing the remaining panels. It was a humid day, but we did it in the morning and were very careful with the compressor filtering and metal prep.

 

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Cool. A fresh palette for some filler and lots of blocking. I will skim coat the roof and back of the quarters. It's a big step to have that done, just because it's so time consuming and I have none, so it can go back to doing a bit at a time, knowing the epoteched panels are rust-free and protected.

 

I finished welding a nut into the rear door for the flare (stuck a post in Paint and Panel), so it's ready to strip and paint and I have the scuttle panel ready to strip as well.

 

Still a heap to go, but getting there! Progress is progress. There was even talk in the shed of having the whole primered, blocked down and running car at Toranafest and having people vote on the colour. It would take alot of votes to sway me from Barbados, though. :-)

[Statler]

Color is a personal thing. It's your car.

 

Good to see some progress. Keep 'em coming.

Edited by Statler, 09 March 2015 - 10:10 PM.

[slar]

Nice Nice Nice......once you get past the prep stage it wont take to long...excellent

[axistr]

Keep up the good work Sam, you will soon be at the finish line.

[SmacT]

Thanks guys. You've all been a big help.

Was about to head to the shed and strip a door for Epotech on the weekend, but it's about to bucket down.

Can I leave the door in bare metal, apply the Protech rust converter and just leave it on until I am ready for Epotech? I have been paranoid about painting as soon after stripping as possible, but it's not always practical. Any ideas?

[SmacT]

Small-ish update (lots of pics below), but things are progressing nicely and I am learning alot. The roof, easily the worst panel of the lot, has been skim coated with Rage Gold, blocked, filled, blocked, then Epoteched to seal the repairs and sprayed with Polyester. I need to block that asap - I stupidly thought I could leave it for a while but another thread confirmed I can't.

 

Anyway, I have a 24-in Dura-Block and 180-grit paper coming on Monday, and will block the roof, three doors and bootlid that are in Polyester then.

 

Part of the reason for the polyester was to get the car super straight, but also to deal with the pinholes I have in some of the panels. I used Slar's advice (thanks Al) of filling each pinhole with Dolphin Glaze, levelling it with a razor blade and then hitting the panel with ReFace polyester. Man that stuff sets fast, so you need to really, really clean our gun. I spent more timing cleaning it than painting, but you'd never know it was used for ReFace now. I bought a cheap gun to use for this purpose, with a 2.5 tip. Seemed to work great, though I could only get a small fan out of it. Pics:

 

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I got both side sills and door jams in Epotech. The drivers side sill needs some pull hammer action as this car has done some 4WDing at some stage. Otherwise it's ready for skim coating.

 

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My mate Hammo blocking the roof

 

 

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Me getting the Epotech ready for the freshly W&Ged roof

 

 

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Painting epotech - Hammo blocked, I painted. I won that deal, I reckon...

 

 

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How the roof looks now. Pretty happy, but wont really know until I block that guide coat with the big mo-fo block.

 

Next is to block away, a job I actually don't mind. Any tips on polyester blocking, please speak up. The pinholes certainly seem to be gone and the panels and roof look straight. I am really enjoying this stage of the build, because ever y time I walk out of the shed, it looks different to when I walked in. 

 

 

 

 

 

[slar]

Hey Sam....Give it a quick block with 120 grit first just to knock the highs off it but dont go to aggressive......re guide coat then hit it with 180 grit.......always use the cross hatch pattern when sanding xxxxx never go in straight lines and keep moving over the surface to try and flatten it evenly.......guide coat regularly and dont panic if you rub through to the under lying epotect cause your going to high fill it anyway.

 

By the way the car looks great....you doing a good job.

[SmacT]

Thanks Al - can't stop looking at your car though. :-) Bloody amazing.

 

Thanks for the tips, At what point do I know when to stop re guide coating and blocking? I had thought I'd block through the guide coat at 180, then 220, then hi fill?

 

Still not sure if I can apply hi-fill in the shed (don't want that stuff anywhere near the kids or neighbours), or just epotech it to seal, then hi fill in a booth somewhere.

[slar]

Hey Sam....when I said guide coat regularly.....I mean block the entire surface until you have no guide coat visible......then check for absolute flatness by applying guide coat and lightly blocking the area again with the same grit....you'll be surprised at how many low spots you still have......personally 180 grit to finish with is perfectly good because your going to high fill prime it you will need a good key on the polyester for the primer to stick too.

 

As for painting in the shed.......its a risk only you can decide.....its really a no no but we have all done it.....minimise your risks if you paint at home.

[SmacT]

Thanks Al. I have  mate who may let me spry high fill in his booth, I reckon I will try for that. Too many kids in our street, and my shed is right next to the neighbour's place. I'll work something out. :-)

 

Thanks for the blocking advice. Can't wait to get into it.

[LS1LX]

Block the polyester down as much as you can til you can almost see you have gone thru, especially around edges and anywhere the body has flex or else your paint will crack in next to no time

[SmacT]

Thanks Keiron. The good thing about this forum is there are different methods used by many people - I take it all in and steal the ideas and methods that make sense to me - this is my first attempt at any sort of body work, so I am a rank amatuer. Enjoying it.

 

Except for last night when I blocked back the polyester and had lows effin everywhere. I expected a few, but the panels I blocked (door and boot lid) aren't even close to the pristine white finish I was hoping for. Sorry about the pic quality, but I was having a toys out of the cot moment.

 

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Pretty frOcking frustrating. I suspect I didn't spray the poly on correctly, not evenly enough. I had a very small fan out of the gun, so didn't get my overlap right, I think.

 

On the upside, the poly is very easy to block, especially with the big-ass Dura-Block I bought (24-in/610mm) and I did two panels in 45mins. 

 

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Anyway, I am going to clean the panels/guide coat with W&G, epoxy to seal, then do again with poly - unless there is a better way? Should I just try to fill the lows with poly with the gun, then block again? Or use Dolphin Glaze? I think my first approach is the right one.

Edited by SmacT, 13 May 2015 - 08:38 AM.

[SmacT]

A quick update - I ended up using Dolphin glaze on the lows, guide coated and will block again tomoz. Thanks Al (Slar) for the advice. If my car turns out a fifth as good as yours I'll be stoked!

Happily, I blocked back the roof, which I painted last with the poly and therefore did it better, and it's pretty bloody good!

It's ready for high fill, but unfortunately I'm not... I will have to epoxy it til I am ready to high fill it. Same with the panels, it looks like, however at least I am a step closer.

Thanks all for te help at this stage, I can hardly believe I'm at this point. Te running gear is in and wired up, so once I get the car in high fill, she ain't far away at all. :-) another four years and it should be done...

[SmacT]

Yeah, we nailed all the highs in the first pass, it was just small lows left. I think I have them sorted now. A mate showed me the basics of file finishing, and on simple panels I can get a decent result, but we still needed filler to flatten it right out.

 

I can't find an example of the carbon rod you mentioned in your thread earlier for shrinking - can you stick up a pic or link if you have one? I will probably need to shrink some areas on the quarters in coming weeks.

 

I feel alot better after the roof came up a treat - the roller coaster of car building! More blocking tonight and I will have a few panels and the roof ready for hi-fill. 

[slar]

So hows the dura block go.
Never seen one so looked em up just order a kit from the states I like the wet block system looks the goods

You wont look back Keiron...they are the go....dont forget to order yourself PSA paper to use with them

[SmacT]

Well, I got ahead of myself. The roof isn't good at all, I stuffed the boot up so much I need to do it again and after a durablock went the length of the garage, I packed everything up and have had a break for a couple of weeks.

I am going to get into it again tomorrow. Bodywork is bloody hard and frustrating, but I will get there. :-)

[SmacT]

Right, back on track. Doors, boot lid and roof all done again, with improved blocking skills! Also, the last truly shite panel on the car, the passenger rear quarter, has been dressed up, shrunk using a butane torch, then skim coated and blocked and is ready for polyester. The area around the taillights is also done, but the beaver still needs work.

 

This time another panel beater mate is coming over with a 4mm poly gun and laying on the polyester, and he will block it, too. There's a few little bits needing attention before that stage. Getting there. Again. 

 

Another two weeks or so of bodywork, then I need to go nuts on some electrical bits to finish that side of it off so I can remove everything for paint stage.

 

Sorry about the shite pics - just to prove I am getting somewhere. ;-)

 

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Edited by SmacT, 16 June 2015 - 09:50 PM.

[slar]

And about time Sam lol

[HIBERN8]

Looking good mate! Kudos for getting back into it despite some earlier frustrations, your hard work is paying off!

[SmacT]

Thanks guys - yes, was an A-Grade dummy spit. 

 

Anyway, last night the I pretty much took the quarters to polyester-readiness, as well as some adjustments of bits I didn't like the look of. I am still not sure how to block a clean line in, so will leave that for my panelbeater and block master mate to show me. Tips appreciated! I am happy with how the rest of the quarters, etc came up and have gotten heaps better with the Durablocks.

 

Having said that, can you see what's missing below? My mate got a bit carried away with the whole "blocking flat" thing and messed something up. Just working out if I can live with it or not, given it's under the flare. He's been a massive help, so I'm not grumpy, but it shows how easy it is to stuff things up doing bodywork.

 

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The rest I am happy with.

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I'll keep ploughing on!

 

 

[SmacT]

Oh, and by the way, those shadows that look like fat lows in the crapola pics above, aren't. Just the shadows from the work lights and the phone camera. :-) It's cold here in Sydney, so I was using heaters and work lights to keep everything warm for painting.