Filling in antenna hole and painting

[garvice]

In australia, we have the lead solder (I.E. Small ignots roughly 1/2" diameter) in the hardware stores with the plumbing gear.

I am not sure whether this is what you need or whether you need 100% lead.

 

Also, you could try asking a High Voltage Cable joining company where they buy their lead from.

[josh817]

Well whatever happens needs to happen before Tuesday so its like a time crunch... I may just fill the entire area in until next paint job years from now. I can imagine this bondo is more than 10 years old.

[V8INtheZ]

Lead doesnt get used very much here in the states. At least not like it used to be. I think resin is safer to use.

[AK-Z]

Look for lead weights, someone is bound to sell something in bar form. Or just melt some lead weights in a bar form.

[josh817]

Honestly I think lead is a lost cause because I have no idea how to work with it...

[GOTAZ]

Eastwood has lead and lead-free body repair materials:

 

http://www.eastwoodco.com/

 

http://eastwood.resultspage.com/search?p=Q&ts=custom&w=lead

 

Good luck in any case.

[Derek]

Your out of time and and as you inferred lead has a learning curve.

Grind back the old bondo to bare metal. Brush on por-15. NOW THIS IS IMPORTANT when the por is still tacky but won't transfer any black to your finger (latex glove) then apply the epoxy primer. You will now have encapsulated that area as best you can in the time frame you have to work with. If you don't put the primer over the por when it's tacky it won't stick. If you put it on when it still transfers to your finger it will bubble the primer as it out gasses. Not the end of the world though.

Now take Duraglass or equivalent and build up the area. Duraglass is water proof and has a very high resin content so it's flexible. shape it down with a DA sander. Try not to bust through the epoxy primer too much. Now put on a skim coat of rondo. Rage Extream is expensive but worth every penny. It sands really well. Only apply bondo when it's thin. As soon as it starts to cure discard. When the bondo kicks take a can of black lacquer paint and dust the area. This is a guide coat and will show you the high and low spots as you sand. Now lock your DA in a cabinet or give it to a friend to hold. Take a sanding block and start shaping the bondo BY HAND. As soon as you get into it a bit you will see the low spots. Mix a little more bondo and hit those spots. Re guide coat and bring it down to the final shape with the block.

 

Some things about bondo. Don't buy cheap bondo. It's really hard for novices like ourselves to work with. Don't put a bunch on and try and block it the next day. It will have cured out and it will be a pain to block. Only work one or two sections at a time. Don't just put filler on the area your fixing. If the area your filling is 6" leave 4-6" or more of all the way around it so you can feather it out.

 

Your going to get shrinkage in your repair areas because of the time frame but you'll just have to live with that. I did!

 

Derek

[josh817]

Thats some good info! If I have extra stuff, say epoxy primer, should I spray several coats of it? From what I see they sell it by the gallon with a quart of hardener/reducer or whatever. Thats an awful lot. Someone had posted the steps:

 

"Ok, so paint:

 

Strip car.

Metal filler. (wicked hard to use, don't use it unless you have to.)

Epoxy primer. (if you are not using an epoxy primer designed to be filled over, DON'T PRIME YET)

Body filler.

Spot putty. (VERY VERY LITTLE)

Primer.

Sealer.

Basecoat. (this is your color coat, stop here for single stage)

Pearl/Candy. (if used)

Clearcoat."

 

If I do have left over epoxy and can't use several coats, can I use it for the primer coat over the bondo and then some sealer or do I need epoxy primer and then regular primer?

 

I'm not too worried about the shine or anything on this car. I saw Big-Phils rustoleum black job and sure, it isn't a perfect mirror finish, it has some reflection but not amazing. The point is that the car is painted and looks good. Thats all I'm aiming for so cheap auto paint is fine with me, I wouldn't use rustoleum though for my own reasons.

[Derek]

The epoxy primer will keep for a while so you can use it again. If your going for a basic finish I would go with a single stage instead of a base/clear. Keep in mind the shinier the finish the better the bodywork has to be. A trick I've done on a couple of beaters I shot was to put in a little flattening agent in the paint. The car looked great because it was all one color but it wasn't too shiny so the bodywork didn't jump out at you.

 

You time frame really limits you.

 

Derek

[josh817]

Well I didn't buy paint today, I'll do that Monday. Today I had a late start so I didn't get paint or anything. I have the compressor, palm sander, spray guns, 80-220-500-1500 grit sand paper, extra paint cup, gun holder, fiberglass kit from a while ago, putty knives, sanding block, and I forgot the water separator but I will get that when i get the paint. Pissed me off because I took the time and gas to drive over to the shop and take it off the sand blaster and then I left it sitting on a car. Stupid! Now I have to go all the ways back there and grab it. Hopefully O-Rileys is open Sundays, actually I know it is, and I'll get a half gallon of aircraft stripper and start getting the car down to bare metal. Pick up at least the primer on Monday so I can cover the car within 24 hours of being exposed.

[josh817]

Alright guys! I have everything! I have my tools, bought some Dynaglass, rust remover, aircraft stripper, and just little stuff like a tack rag and gloves.

 

The paint I bought Etch Primer, I said Epoxy primer but the lady said they changed it to etch primer so alright. Then I bought a sealer, the base coat, and a clear coat. The color is BMW Lemans Blue:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=bmw+lemans+blue&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

 

I think it will look alright. My only problem is that the lady, who has been in the business for a long time, said the car probably only needs like 2 quarts of base, the computer said I would be a little bit short, however I didn't want to spend another $70 to get a gallon. Yes, I went with the cheap ****. If I don't have enough for some reason, I will get an extra quart or something.

 

Here we go!

 

PS: If you mods/admins can change my thread title to something that you think pertains better to this project please do. The talk of the antenna hole has kind of steered off.

[josh817]

Alright so here is progress. Unfortunately whoever painted the car painted it with some really tough paint, and several layers of it. I would apply the aircraft stripper, wait, strip it off and underneath that paint was more white paint... except for the drivers side rear quarter panel, I had that down to bare metal pretty much. Strange. So I did this all around the car, getting the top coat off. Now I will use a sander if I can find one and get this thing covered today. I think its the "dog legs" you guys talk about, on my Z one side is fine but the other wasn't so lucky...

 

I work late, like until 3AM so people leave me alone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How does one strip the paint inside the wiper valence? I'm just going to POR-15 any of those hidden places that no one will see rather than waste paint.

 

Paint stuff.

 

Me after day one... Not too thrilled with the whole paint not coming off thing and the whole me not having a die grinder nor a sander to get it off. Looks like I'll have to make ANOTHER trip to Arlingtion... And yes, I look like an idiot with the headlamp but it helps a ton even during the day when you're under a car!

 

Oh and I took off the fiberglass side skirts and thought the car looked way better without them. The airdam sits level with the bottom of the cars natural body line so now I have a set of fiberglass side skirts if anyone wants to buy them.