Sideways Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 Ive had this car for 2 years, and at times has been a major sore in my side. Finally seeing the body get finished however as completley changed my attitude towards it. But enough talking, onto the good stuff. From To As you can see, this was quite a project to dive into. I decided to do it myself to the best of my ability with a bit of help from a friend. This is pretty much both our first time at attempting anything like this- so a lot of reading was had. Its not perfect, but it was a fun an enjoyable learning experience. Im pleased to say i did this myself. The guy before me thought hed done a decent job on the bondo.. Mm cracked bondo. Sadly this was all over. The previous owner tried to shave the rear as well, unfortunetley they also thought itd be a good idea to just lay in a good 1" of bondo to do so. The remedy? Dig it out and do it right. Remove all the mierda, weld in a panel to reduce the layer of bondo needed, grind the welds, and recover. A tube was inserted into the back that vents into the body behind the panel to act as a vent to release pressure that could build up during the hotter summer days. Needed? Dont know. But i dont want to find out the hard way during summer it was and have the body filler crack all over again. This was done equally on both sides and the rear, so no need to post those. Also decided to remove the antenna, I rarely if ever listen to the radio, like the look- and ive got a sattelite radio anyways if i care to bother. So, Off with it. Sadly I cant find the pictures of the build up process- But it was given the same one-over. A filler panel was welded to the back side the nground down smooth, a layer of body filler added to the top, then sanded smooth (with a pvc pipe as a sanding block no less). No other interesting photos of body work, but minor (and major) dents were filled, all emblems were removed, etc. Once it was done the body was primed, lightly coated, and then wet sanded to as smooth a finish as we could get. Made a HUGE difference in the peel on all following layers and gave me a lot less work and hassle to deal with. This was just done with basic cheapo rattle can primer, but after that the doors were removed, the car was masked, and we started the real painting. Starting with the first layers of an actual automotive primer. This stuff is VERY thick, and hardens beyond anything youd expect (with dated 70s chassis and metal tech this this outer shell increased the chassis rigidity about 50%. This is based on nothing but pure speculation.) From here all minor imperfections were sanded and dealt with (to the best of my ability), and then the color was added. Because of how you need to paint this the base and clears needed to be applied one after the other, so i never had much of a chance to get inbetween shots. But either way 3-4 coats of base and then 3 coats of clear later, this was the result. The gloss is MUCH better in person than in these pictures, light in the room is covered by a piece of plastic (Theres plastic on ALL walls, above to the sides and below), and it adds funny reflections. if you look at some of the pictures though you can easily make out objects far away from the car. Overall, sure its not perfect. But Im still VERY pleased with my results I got. This is my first time painting a car, I think its pretty damn good for two guys with a paint gun in a garage. The car still needs to be buffed out as well once the coats are finished curing completley- Ill have more pictures once thats done and the car is put back together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B00STDZ Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 Looks good... cant wait to see the finished product! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 What's the color? Looks good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideways Posted April 12, 2009 Author Share Posted April 12, 2009 Toyota spectra mica blue- Have to confess I looked at many Zs for the choice of color and liked hokes the best so i approached him about the color of his car to use on my own. In case he sees this many thinks hoke! I WOULD have gone black, but do not trust my body-skills to be any where near on par enough to do black properly. Maybe one day if i ever send the body to be done right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The love of JDM Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 Very cool. This is exactly what Im doing with my 240z 72' right now. Getting the rest of my replacement OEM parts then its primer time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garvice Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 Good job mate, looks good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slownrusty Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 Would love to see pics with a higher res camera or in th daylight. Congrats on doing this at home and great attention to detail. I hate shoddy bondo work by previous owners..argh! Yasin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 Looks good, can't wait to see the progress shots once it gets put together and under some natural light! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z-ya Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Nice work. Late this year I'll be doing the same thing to my 71'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 fast z Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I hope you fully welded that patch, and not just spot welded like shown. If you just put filler over it like that, the moisture will pop it off from the backside eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piston Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 I hope you fully welded that patch, and not just spot welded like shown. If you just put filler over it like that, the moisture will pop it off from the backside eventually. drill a small vent hole on the bottom backside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideways Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 drill a small vent hole on the bottom backside. I believe i stated this before, but if not then my apologies. A hole was made in the back of the panel and a very long silicone hose was inserted and runs far down then siliconed into place. The bondo was sealed from the front and the back so im not terribl worried about moisture getting to it. A rookie mistake? Ill find out. The hole was initial drilled just out of concern of pressure differences for the dry vegas heat it will contend with. I didnt want to find out the hard way the sealed air in there might expand and crack the bondo out- so a vent tube was inserted. Edit: Thought id share a few, like ive said- its not perfect, but im happy with the results. Some dust sadly got into the clear coat, but nothing i cant wet sand out and fix as i colorsand and polish the body. Im just going to wait a good amount to let the paint properly cure under reccomendation by a couple professionals ive managed to talked to. Heres hoping eh? And this is just a very small detail, but i like the effect it has- Pictures are of opposite sides, one finished, one not, but both looked the same before i started. Amazing what an 89 cent can of walmart paint can do. Will it hold up? Not likely. Do i care? Not in the slightest. Uh oh, my cheapo black paint is getting angry, guess ill have to spend 89 cents and touch it up.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenshinX Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 That car is sexy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gumbyz13 Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Nice work man, good looking color. Wish I had a garage to do that in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tech9 Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Looking good, were you going to maybe undercoat later? I want to do the same to mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cali260Z Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 Looks Good that's the toyota dark blue huh ? I like it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240hoke Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 I jsut saw this thread...looks really nice! I must say you picked a good color Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideways Posted May 2, 2009 Author Share Posted May 2, 2009 I jsut saw this thread...looks really nice! I must say you picked a good color I dont think I could agree with you any more As for under coating, maybe- Id love to do a good coating of por 15 or something. For now im just going to degrease the snot out of everything down there and paint it black to clean up the look when im down below it. Theres a nice feeling when youre working on a "clean" car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckolander Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 great job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 ...Remove all the mierda... That comment actually had me laughing. Good Spanish Car is looking really good, especially for a "garage job." I think after rubbing it out, you will love the car even more. Good job in tackling that yourself Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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