Body work, '89 rx7 gtu.

[N.RotaryTech]

So I finally did something about the dents in my fenders on my gtu.
This was done rough.
At first I thought I was going to paint the whole car too, but that has to be postponed.

Anyway.
There was a bracket that was disconnected from the frame that held part of the fender.
I fixed that.






Crappy welds, I know. Haven't been welding long. But it holds, I can shake the car with it.


I missed the color match a little. lqtm.


Ill be back.

[N.RotaryTech]

Fender dents removed.
Before an after.







All I did was take a hammer to the inside of the fenders.
Also epoxied the crack.

[project86]

i wouldnt count on that epoxy to hold the way you did it. i can offer an alternative though if youd like

[N.RotaryTech]

Ok,
I had the bumper off, found a way for the crack to be held together, then put epoxy on both the inside and outside, also worked the epoxy inside the crack.

Had a friend mention to me, use the fiberglass resin an cloth method. But I decided to do epoxy instead.


What's the alternative?

[N.RotaryTech]

I'm going to paint the hood red, so I don't look like a ricer. lqtm.

Sanded it today, with what I had, starting with a 60 grit then a 150 grit.
More car work inside, lqtm, cause I did not want to do this out in the heat.




Now just to find a not hot morning to paint this outside. And I got to play with the weather to find a morning where its not raining.

Can't wait till its done.

[Prodigy]

I am going to say your welder is either a flux core (no gas) or you are just learning the basics of it... either way looks good..

one question though..


what does "lqtm" mean, you wrote that 3 times, and I am not even remotely sure what it means..


cheers..

J.

[project86]

Originally Posted by N.RotaryTech

Ok,
I had the bumper off, found a way for the crack to be held together, then put epoxy on both the inside and outside, also worked the epoxy inside the crack.

Had a friend mention to me, use the fiberglass resin an cloth method. But I decided to do epoxy instead.


What's the alternative?

you dont want to use fiberglass resin and matte. that will be much to rigid and will probably crack on that bumper if it even sticks.

My suggestion, and the way i was taught in school, (the right way to do it as far as im concerned). V out the crack on the front and back with a die grinder or some coarse sand paper. Get a role of plastic mesh ( should be able to get it from you local auto paint store) along with some plastic fusor. the brand im familiar with is LORD Fusor 142. Its a 2 part like alot of epoxies but its a plastic repair material for this type of application specifically. you do need a gun for it similar to a caulking gun.

Start with the backside. Apply the fusor generously to the back side of the crack. I say try to make it seep through to the front side so you dont have to re apply the fusor to the front. After you have applied the fusor put a piece of the plastic mesh(big enough to cover the whole crack) on top of the fusor.) you might want to apply some more of the fusor on top of the mesh and spread it around just to make sure you have the crack covered.

Keep in mind this fusor does have a fairly short working time, meaning it will harden fairly quick.

Once the back is all dried up flip it over. If the fusor came through enough on the front side you should be able to sand it smooth and the crack should be gone. if not generously apply more on the front and spread with a squeegie to make sure its covered. You will need to sand it once its tried.

You may want to get another type of fusor to go over the top of the 142 for the front side. I cant remember the number of it but its make by the same company and its red in color. this stuff is like a plastic friendly filler. I recommend it if you dont mind spending the money on this whole process. It comes in a white tube and you dont need a gun for it because it has both materials in the tube and mixes as it comes out.

Ill get off my soap box now. Hope this helps

[project86]

Do you have Dual Action sander?

[N.RotaryTech]

Can't sleep post!

My welder.
I am using the flux core wire.
I do have gas but I haven't acquired the right connection fittings yet.

lqtm, is something I leaned on the internets, stands for "laughing quietly to myself".
Most of the time I'm not really "laughing out loud" (lol). So it fits.


Interesting about the Fusor stuff, never heard that before.

I don't have any power sanders.
I did the sanding all by hand.

[project86]

Originally Posted by N.RotaryTech

Interesting about the Fusor stuff, never heard that before.

You probably havent heard of it because alot of DIY people (when it comes to body work it seems) dont learn from people that actually know how to do collision repair the correct way.

Originally Posted by N.RotaryTech

I don't have any power sanders.
I did the sanding all by hand.

If you can try to get a DA if you have a compressor that will run it. Otherwise there is a very good chance that you will see alot of your sanding scratches through the paint. The DA will sand in a very small "swirlly" patern if you will. So when it comes time for paint and primer if youve sanded with fine enough paper you wont see sand scratches. Judging just by the picture of your hood, which is sometimes hard to do since you cant see small things, the paint looks to be in good shape so you probably dont need to prime it. But it never hurts to.



EDIT: Also on your welding i noticed that you didnt sand any of that paint off before you welded, or at least it didt look like you did very far. It should weld better to clean bare metal instead of trying to go through paint.

Hope ive been helpful

[N.RotaryTech]

About the weld, yeah, I should've cleaned the metal farther. Inside the circle was clean. but above wasn't done far enough.

[N.RotaryTech]

Note to self: Don't go as low as 60 grit, and go finer than 150 grit before paint. Duh.

[project86]

Lol i thought i mentioned something about that in one of my posts but maybe i just thought about it and never did.

Generally speaking if youre going to take whatever you are working on down to bare metal (or what ever the substrate may be) 80 grit is a good place to start. For the most part 80 grit is the recommended, bare minimum size scratch you need for mechanical adhesion for materials like your first coat of primer and body fillers (whether it be normal lightweight filler or long strand kitty hair). For fillers you can go as deep as 40 grit scratch.

Either way you obviously need to get progressively finer.

Now, ill just explain the necessary steps for both stripping the hood to bare metal and if you just want to scuff it and use the old paint as primer (only use this method of the paint is in good shape i.e. not cracked or peeling etc.)

If you are going to strip the whole hood you can either use 80 or even your 60 will be fine but i wouldnt do it by hand because its gonna take a LOOOOONG time to do it that way. If your budget allows try to find a decent 6" DA sander. Im using Snap-On but if you dont wanna spend that coin you can use paint stripper.

Orielys or you local automotive paint store should carry it in gallons. Its just Aircraft Quality paint stripper. It smells terrible and it burns the fuck out of your skin so wear a respirator and some thick ass glove. Before you put the stripper on duct tape about 1" around the whole outside edge of the hood so the stripper doesnt seep to the underside of the hood. (you will have to just scuff the under side of the hood by hand for the most part if you want to paint it at all). Scratch the hood bit with keys or a knife or something randomly on the hood. These scratches will give the stripper a good starting point to get underneath the paint and make it strip faster. Put the stripper on generously and let sit for like 20min or so just to make sure it has the time to work and cover it with a giant sheet of paper if you can. Not a big deal if you cant.

After its done you can simply scrape the "melted" paint off onto the ground or into a garbage can and then THOROUGHLY RINSE WITH WATER The water nuetralizes the stripper. Then you can feel safe to not wear gloves. Take the duct tape off and that paint you can hand sand away, but it shouldnt be to difficult.

At this point you can fix any dents you may have. ( i can explain proper filler uses later if you like)

Method 2 if you deem that the paint is in good enough shape you can DA sand the whole thing with 180 grit. Fix your dents with filler if they arent too deep. Spot prime the areas you put filler and then you should be ready to paint.

When youre there, i can also explain sanding progression in the primer stage as well.

[N.RotaryTech]

Hood is painted.
The underside of the hood I just cleaned and painted with 2 coats.
The topside I cleaned, sanded, and painted with 3 coats.
Looks bad.
But I'm surprised with the color match!





I have just the hood vent to do next.

Otherwise this is going to be it for now.
It can be done better and might be done better one day.
Ive had thoughts about painting the whole car. I'm just not ready for that yet.

[classicauto]

Originally Posted by project86

You may want to get another type of fusor to go over the top of the 142 for the front side. I cant remember the number of it but its make by the same company and its red in color. this stuff is like a plastic friendly filler. I recommend it if you dont mind spending the money on this whole process. It comes in a white tube and you dont need a gun for it because it has both materials in the tube and mixes as it comes out.

110EZ

FWIW, I've found the TPO plastics on our bumpers dont repair the best. This will work by all means - but if perfection or long term hold out is what you're after, I'd toss the cracked cover. You can try welding them, I've had good success on FC/FD bumpers with that.