Creslin89

Alrighty...just got my RS running, so now its on to cosmetics

Its got many bondo spots that need re-applied and sanded, but those are relatively simple and easy fixes

Problem im posting about is on the rear bumper, or atleast the plastic cover, it has a massive crack that goes all the way down it, about 8 inches in on the drivers side...i looked under it, and the push-in plastic washer things dont have any metal to be pushed into...its all rusted away...so it flaps and such, but i can live with that.

What would be the best way to go about fixing the ginormous crack in the plastic?

I thought about putting fiberglass pad/repair things on the inside of the plastic, and letting it hold it together and then applying bondo/body filler to the crack itself, making sure to fill it in completely, then sand/paint...

Will that work, or am i going about it completely wrong?

o, and a side note, how do you fix the arm rests on the doors where they aren't in the proper place anymore? its like the clips that hold the rubber taunt have disappeared...

I've heard of heating them with a hair dryer and stretching them back into place...but ? to that lol

camaronewbie

Armrests are relatively cheap around, at like Thirdgen Ranch, or on eBay - I'd just get a new set.

The rear bumper cover I'd look for another one in better shape as well. Fiberglass won't work from what I understand - there's a special plastic repair stuff that's needed, and it isn't cheap - but I don't remember the name of it. Stop in at a body shop and ask them what it's called, and you can then check Eastwood for it if you want to attempt it on your own. I'm no body man, so I'm lazy and just replace these things. Wish you were closer, I have a rear bumper cover in decent shape you could have!

Creslin89

thanks, sry it took awhile for me to reply, been working on sanding out the rust spots and redoing all the bondo that has bubbled up...such a pain...lol oh well, it'll be worth it i hope

Im planning on Dupont 44490, its the color of Elanore off of Gone in 60 seconds lol always loved that color, and my 89' RS is already gray and looks cool, so i figure it'll pull it off nicely. Don't plan on the black stripes, i might do something if the mood hits me tho.

Any offhand advice on how high i should take the sandpaper? ive always been told dont first coat till your at 1000 grit, then sand it all back out with 1200+ and do 2nd coat...that sound about right? i mean the higher u go, the better it'll look in the end is basically how it works lol

bsporty

THis stuff works great for plastics.http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...glLXCCKC564Xbl
Just make sure you get some plastic adhesion promoter to use on the raw plastic before you prime.
As far as the sand paper goes 320,400, and wet sand with 600 if you are using a urethane bc/cc.1000 is usually used for blending areas.The basecoat needs soemthing to adhere too.Preping for plastics we usually use 600.Hope this helps.Like the sound of your color choice.

Creslin89

i just put (literally lol) the first coat of primer on my hood, and i plan on sanding more, but atm its all at 220 grit wet sanded...

Mainly i wet sanded because the sandpaper lasts longer and im try to be as cheap as i can and still get a good result...

So whats the difference tween dry/wet sanding?

On those rust spots i sanded out, i just did the majority w/ 60 to get it out, then 120 (wet) to smooth it out...then 220 wet to get rid of scratches...then i put the primer just on those spots and they didnt show, then re-did them with the 220 over the whole hood (wet) and primed the whole hood and now they're showing...sooo...resand again i guess? Any tips on stuff like that?

Creslin89

Is that plastic repair stuff wat i would need for the bumper cover thing?

bsporty

Without pics of the damage its hard to say.The 3m repair kit is made for plastics and urethane bumpers.It should come with patches.You sand the back of the bumper where the rip is with 80, wipe with the little wipes they give you then apply the patch.Then sand out a little valley with 80 on the front of the bumper and apply the epoxy.Let that dry, shape with 80(on a block), then go over with 180 to get out the 80 scratches.Then 320 out around that area,blow it off, wipe with prepsol,spray 1 light coat of plastic adhesion promoter, and prime.When you spray the primer you want to do a 50/50 pattern.I mean when you spray go back over where you sprayed 1/2 of that area.Let the primer flash then apply another coat.Make your 1st coat light and step it out with each coat.Make sure you mask off areas that dont need primer and that will be a bitch to sand.

As far as the hood, sometimes it may look like there are still scratches but they may sand out.It wouldnt hurt to
block sand and reprime the hood with 1 more coat.You can also put some guide coat on it 3m makes a powder guide coat that is awesome.It doesnt clog the paper and it covers the area better.Although I am not sure how expensive it is.
Also usually wet sanding paper can be used dry also.If it says wet/dry on the back you should be good.Dont forget to etch prime any bare metal spots.
Hope this helps ya!

Creslin89

i woulda put pics up but this computers ports are all messed up from when the motherboard died and the ppl we took it to didnt re-install the software to recognize the ports...*shrugs* o well..

thx for the info, this is the first car i've prep'd and painted lol, i did a couple tractors but yea...those were tractors lol

The spots on the hood are were i took out little rust spots w/ 60 grit, then smoothed out...the first time i primed after i couldnt feel them didnt show anything, and i was like YAY! then i went and sanded the whole hood again, then wiped it off and primed it, and they all showed up again...and i was like @!@#$#@!!!!!!!...

lol just to clarify, that last post was kinda confusing on that point lol

i tried filling them w/ body filler stuff/bondo and smoothing it out, but when i sanded em out w/ 220 and a block it just took out the bondo too, so i decided not to waste any more

bsporty

You really should have went over the bondo with polyester(metal glaze) before you primed.
So now we are both confused!haha
You primed over the 60 grit scratches?The areas you are applying primer to (on a metal surface) need to be finished off in 180(i guess the 220 will do.Primer wont fill 60 grit scratches.
Is that what you were confused about?

bsporty

You shoulda used some polyester(metal glaze) on top of the bondo and then primed.
Did you prime over the 60 grit scratches?Primer wont fill those!
Im confused too!!!haha!
How did I confuse you hun?

Creslin89

Alright lol, ima redo the whole story from the beginning, so we both can understand, so if anyone else grypes, live with it.

Used 60 grit to sand out rust spots till i couldnt see the rust anymore. I felt the spots, and it had a pretty significant dip where i had sanded, so i figured i would level it out with some bondo/body icing stuff. Tried that, didnt work, kept sanding off, so i quit using it and decided to just sand them out until i couldnt feel anything b/c i did that to a little one and it worked

So, after failed bondo attempt, i took wet 120 and did the spots until it was smooth to my finger tips. Then used wet 220 to finish out the spots, ended up with prolly an oblong circle on each spot 2 inches by 3 inches where each rust dot/spot was. After the 220 i wiped everything down, went over each one with my finger tips to see if i could feel any raise whatsoever, then wiped it with a dry cloth (blue shop towel) and then primed ONLY the spots i had sanded, just to see if they needed more work.

couple did, so i went back in with the wet 120 grit and smoothed em out some more, then redid the 220 wet to reduce scratches...primed them again, and NONE showed up, therefore i was like YAY! as i said b4 lol

So, after that i took the 120 to the whole hood to get rid of the top coat so the primer would stick, then decided to take wet 220 over it to again reduce scratches...wiped off everything, felt around, felt great, no bumps/dips/anything.

Primed whole hood after i had wiped it down again, and Boom. Could see about 3/4 of the spots i had sanded out showing in the primer as it dried. Left it overnight, came back this evening, sanded w/ 400 grit and got some of them to disappear, but decided i needed to take a break b4 i got burnt out on it lol...prolly 1/2 of them didnt go bye bye

Then i took my car out in the field and did some donuts and let out some frustrations, went and saw my brother (lives like 500 ft away from garage) and when i went to start it at his place, was really hard to start, but it started and i got it over to the garage and it died...got out and looked @ carb and someone had jacked with my idle mixture screws on the front, so i spent an hour dicking with those again trying to get em to sync up and idle right, then got fed up and shoved it back into the garage until i get the patience to set it all again. *sighs* lol this car has been a pain, took a year to get it running to where its slightly reliable, now its not running again and im like OMG! @!@#.

Anyways...thats the whole story atm, hood is actually off the car sitting on a work table

Edit: Yea, this isnt my 'first' car, but it is the first one ive built from scratch...so, engine was/is a learning experience, and now its onto paint, so i dont know anything but the basics lol

micktroup2

OK, I am not a painter, but I have been studying up on it a lot lately so I could a) paint it myself and have my 18 yearold daughter wet sand and buff it out(she finished top of her autoshop class in high school!) or b) know enough so the painter couldn't **** me around...anyway, I thought I would pass on what I have learned.

*This is providing you are shooting a base/clear...

Prep is EVERYTHING. Well almost- wet sanding and polishing is almost as important. The spray stuff in the middle you can train a monkey to do.

Get the body as straight as you can, with any dents as small as possible and at or below the surface of the rest of the panel. Use an etching primer on the bare metal and a high fill primer over everything as needed. Use filler on bare metal but the spot glaze over primer.

BLOCK SAND EVERYTHING! Get a long board sander, some 30 grit if you have a lot to knock down or 60/80 grit if you don't want to be too agressive. No matter how careful you are, a small block is not as good as the long board. Sand at an angle across the panel- you don't want to cut grooves. The longer the board the straighter the panel- simple as that.

Go over the panel dry to start and see what areas are shinny still after the first few passes- those are your low spots. Scuff by hand and hit the area with some of the high fill primer. Then mist a 'guide coat' of a contrasting color- black works fine- let dry and go over it again. Repeat the primer coat/guide coat again as needed(obviously if it a real low area you need to use some spot glaze to fill it) and sand AGAIN. REPEAT UNTIL PERFECT.

MOVE TO NEXT PANEL- REPEAT!!!

Once the car is blocked with 80, you can go over it with a 180 or 220 if you like, then wet with say 350-400 and 600 if you are a masochist or perfiectionist(same thing, really...)

Reprime any bare spots, repeat above steps until satisfied.

They spray a couple of coats of color.

Do NOT sand between the base and the clear! It has to a) have something to stick to and b) paints these days CROSS LINK between coats, so sanding screws things up...

Once you have enough clear on- 2-3 good coats should be enough- more if you want- you can REALLY start the sanding process!!

Some painter like to hit it with something agressive to knock the orange peel down quick, but I would err on the side of caution. Start with maybe a 400 grit until the car is uniformly dull and all orange peel is gone. Then go with a 600, then a 1000 wet, then 1800 wet then 2500 wet if you want it to really look like glass.

Stay away from ridge lines, peaks and edges where it is thinnest when you are using a block- hit those VERY carefully, by hand if necessary.

Make sanding blocks out of rubber squeegies, lengths of radiator hose- whatever will give you a block that will EXACTLY match the contours of the area you are sanding.

Now, once ALL the wet sanding is done, buff it out with progressively finer polishes and glaze. This will require the right type of variable speed polisher- do NOT cut corners on this or you will be respraying after you either burn through the paint or knock it off a peak or ridge.

Like I said, it is ALL in the prep and finish. Good luck- hope that helps...

micktroup2

OK, I am not a painter, but I have been studying up on it a lot lately so I could a) paint it myself and have my 18 yearold daughter wet sand and buff it out(she finished top of her autoshop class in high school!) or b) know enough so the painter couldn't **** me around...anyway, I thought I would pass on what I have learned.

*This is providing you are shooting a base/clear...

Prep is EVERYTHING. Well almost- wet sanding and polishing is almost as important. The spray stuff in the middle you can train a monkey to do.

Get the body as straight as you can, with any dents as small as possible and at or below the surface of the rest of the panel. Use an etching primer on the bare metal and a high fill primer over everything as needed. Use filler on bare metal but the spot glaze over primer.

BLOCK SAND EVERYTHING! Get a long board sander, some 30 grit if you have a lot to knock down or 60/80 grit if you don't want to be too agressive. No matter how careful you are, a small block is not as good as the long board. Sand at an angle across the panel- you don't want to cut grooves. The longer the board the straighter the panel- simple as that.

Go over the panel dry to start and see what areas are shinny still after the first few passes- those are your low spots. Scuff by hand and hit the area with some of the high fill primer. Then mist a 'guide coat' of a contrasting color- black works fine- let dry and go over it again. Repeat the primer coat/guide coat again as needed(obviously if it a real low area you need to use some spot glaze to fill it) and sand AGAIN. REPEAT UNTIL PERFECT.

MOVE TO NEXT PANEL- REPEAT!!!

Once the car is blocked with 80, you can go over it with a 180 or 220 if you like, then wet with say 350-400 and 600 if you are a masochist or perfiectionist(same thing, really...)

Reprime any bare spots, repeat above steps until satisfied.

They spray a couple of coats of color.

Do NOT sand between the base and the clear! It has to a) have something to stick to and b) paints these days CROSS LINK between coats, so sanding screws things up...

Once you have enough clear on- 2-3 good coats should be enough- more if you want- you can REALLY start the sanding process!!

Some painter like to hit it with something agressive to knock the orange peel down quick, but I would err on the side of caution. Start with maybe a 400 grit until the car is uniformly dull and all orange peel is gone. Then go with a 600, then a 1000 wet, then 1800 wet then 2500 wet if you want it to really look like glass.

Stay away from ridge lines, peaks and edges where it is thinnest when you are using a block- hit those VERY carefully, by hand if necessary.

Make sanding blocks out of rubber squeegies, lengths of radiator hose- whatever will give you a block that will EXACTLY match the contours of the area you are sanding.

Now, once ALL the wet sanding is done, buff it out with progressively finer polishes and glaze. This will require the right type of variable speed polisher- do NOT cut corners on this or you will be respraying after you either burn through the paint or knock it off a peak or ridge.

Like I said, it is ALL in the prep and finish. Good luck- hope that helps...

Blackdog36

iTrader: (3)

mick, thanks for the info. I've only read a few articles on paiting but one guy said to spray on epoxy sealer before your shoot color. Read in post below. Have you seen this recommended before?

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...ter-needs.html

micktroup2

Check with the paint shop. Most places (1 Day, Maaco etc) spray a sealer over the paint that is on the car once it is scuffed up- this seals the paint and takes care of any incompatability issues between the original and the new paint. What I might do is complete all the prep, take it and the paint to 1 Day, have them spray it and bring it home to finish sand. As I said, the spraying is the easiest part- and the cheapest!

micktroup2

By the way, don't get tempted to 'skim coat' filler over everything. You see that on some custom chopper shows where they coat the entire tank and fender(s) with bodo and them sand it all back straight and smooth. Looks good on a show car, but won't last on a daily driver. The more and thicker the filler the more vunerable you are to having it shrink and crack...

Also, all the questions about how to use various paints can be answered by a) the paint shop b) the manufacturer and c) the side of the can. Use the same system (same make of paint) throughout and follow their steps and you should be fine...

Creslin89

All thats really great info man...im definately new to the terms, but google is a blessing lol, still a few things didnt pop up, or they did and im still a little ? on them lol

basically i need like a step by step guide on what to do, i mean i get the basic sand, prime, look, sand more, look, prime, etc...

The Etch Primer stuff prevents rusting, but doesnt work as a primer...long board/short board sanding? is that for like shaping ur body panels to get those really sharp lines and stuff like u see them do on the TV shows?

So...i hate to be a pain, but i want this to turn out really good...its like im getting alot of info but its like at the start, then the end (like the skim coat thing) but im still kinda clueless in the middle...

micktroup2

The best thing to do is ask an auto paint shop for a book reference- there is one called How to Paint your Car on a Budget. It is full of great info.

Either that of take a picture into the paint shop, ask "what is the first thing I do?" Then do that. Take another picture when done, take it in and say "Now what?" Do that. Repeat.

Eventually, you will be done.

By the way, a long board is a sanding board that is around 18 inches or more that enables you to sand in long strokes. I have seen guys use boards 3-4 feet to enable them to get the panels as straight as possible...

Creslin89

huh...lol i live in the middle of nowhere, but ill look into the paintshop idea