EVILFACE

I'm getting ready to start the prep work on my Camaro that I'm getting painted next month. The paint is in pretty good shape and the body is straight for the most part except for a couple door dings. I'll just be ruffing up the original paint.

I was wondering if there is anything specific that I should wash the car with before I start?

Also, the nose has a small crack that is between the turn signal and the grill. Its cracked all the way through, but only about 3 inchies long and not on the curved areas. What would I use to repair this?

Thanx


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EVILFACE
"Never scared of the things men fear"

88 Camaro
Stock 305 TBI Auto,
Flowmaster Muffler, Full 3" Exhaust, B&M Megashifter
Runs A Blistering 16.5 @ 81.5 mph

http://www.evilface.com/evilscamaro.htm

scooter

iTrader: (11)

I think my cousin just uses windex on the car before he paints. Ammonia strips wax off too, so you may want to go over it with some detergentless ammonia.

James

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If the women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy
88 GTA Notchback with 91 gfx and ROH Snypers
Aftermarket T-56 (pain in the A$S but worth it)
Lots of things to do still

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (2)

Most auto places sell a specific pre-paint cleaner, commonly referred to as "Prep Sol" or "Final Wash" which works excellent. Just don't forget to feather-edge all knicks and scratches, and to properly fill the door dings. To fix the nose, it should come off the car. There are various bumper-repair epoxies. Grind a "V" shaped grove into the crack, then run a bead of this stuff down the front, in the crack itself, and along the back. Make sure you work plenty in between the crack. Let it dry, then block sand it until it's smooth. It'll probably take a couple skim coats of flexible filler or putty to provide a perfectly smooth result. Here's some pics of my GTA bumper that I filled the license plate holes on:

here's the epoxy already in the holes. Each hole was hit with the grinder to give a large surface for the epoxy to adhere to. If you just fill the hole, it will poke out the back when you sand. Likewise, if you don't grind the "V" shape into the bumper along the crack, there won't be enough epoxy to create a strong bond.


Damn. I didn't upload any intermediate pics. Anyway, after I block sanded the hell out of the 4 spots, I put a couple thin coats of putty and sanded each coat, and then primered the bumper. The pic here is with it resting on the car with the final coat of putty unsanded.


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"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

EVILFACE

Kewl. Thanx for the tips.


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EVILFACE
"Never scared of the things men fear"

88 Camaro
Stock 305 TBI Auto,
Flowmaster Muffler, Full 3" Exhaust, B&M Megashifter
Runs A Blistering 16.5 @ 81.5 mph

http://www.evilface.com/evilscamaro.htm

TomP

Here's another tip; to stop the crack in your urethane bumper from cracking further, you can drill holes in the extreme ends of it. This converts the sharp "point" of the crack to a circle, and it evenly distributes any stress. So you'd be turning that "|" shaped crack into an "I" shaped one, with holes at each one.

For more prep stuff, see these old messages:

https://www.thirdgen.org/messgboard/...ML/000202.html
https://www.thirdgen.org/messgboard/...ML/000948.html (Appearance message board)
https://www.thirdgen.org/messgboard/...ML/000455.html (Appearance)

Good luck & wear that dust mask!

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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

Happy17yearold

They hit it right on the spot...My dad has his own body shop and basically the best thing you can use on your car before you paint it is pre-clean.It removes any grease that may cause fish eyes(dots on the paint).As for the bumper you should drill a hole to stop the crack and fill it with epoxy...Bondo is not a good choice because the bumper is flexable and will crack the bondo in the long run

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1988 Trans am.......best 600 bucks ive ever spent...305 5.0 but will save my lunch money and every penny to swap for a 350 tpi in the coming two years

82 TRANS AM

Evil. The stuff Jim has in his hand, Duramix 4040, kicks *** . The problem is the gun he has in his hand. Last time i lost one at work it was about $50. You could have someone at a shop fix it for you for less. The 4040 is about $20-$25 plus the gun. If you could grab that gun out of the picture and use it , you would use maybe $10 worth of 4040. What i'm tring to say is have someone in a shop at least glue it for you for $20-$40 and take it home and finish it. You may need the fiberglass mat on the back side for strength. Another issue is the finish coat. Duramix has a finish coat, ("glue" )that goes on top of the 4040 for a final sanding but i can't remember the number because i've been using Fusor for about 2 years now. I've used polyester putty on top of 4040 with no complaints but it is not recommended. It sucks, especially on a Camaro, but the cover does have to come off if you want to fix it right. Another tidbit of advice is to get it done at least 2-3 days before it gets painted if it's going to get baked. Sometimes if you paint and then bake the car, it moves or shrinks a little and you can then still see the repair area. But if it's that low on the cover you probably won't have to worry about it. It's been awhile since i worked on a third gen Camaro but if you take the grill out can you reach in behind the crack? If you can you may not have to take it off. I hope i never have to take off a Z28 front cover ever again. What a pain in the @ss. And i do it for a living.

Don't bother buying pre-cleano because that stuff only matters just before it's painted. Wash the car with dishsoap. Dishsoap strips of wax and other contaminats.

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Kenney
82 Trans Am WS7 notchback
83 Trans Am WS6 T-tops
72 Vista Cruiser 455
90 Olds Trofeo
80 K-10 w/snow plow
Painter @ Chevy dealer
GM junkie

EVILFACE

Thanx for the extra tips as well.



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EVILFACE

88 Camaro
Stock 305 TBI Auto,
Flowmaster Muffler, Full 3" Exhaust, B&M Megashifter
Runs A Blistering 16.5 @ 81.5 mph

TomP

Happy17's right; you can't use straight Bondo. I found a Bondo kit at Strauss Auto for $5 that had the two-part epoxy for bumper repair. It came in a package just like RTV sealer does; one black tube & one white tube, package was labeled "Flexible Bumper Repair Kit". The stuff was easy to use, and very sandable.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

EVILFACE

That's the stuff I got Tom, it worked perfectly. It was very easy to use and looks perfect now.


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EVILFACE

88 Camaro
Stock 305 TBI Auto,
Flowmaster Muffler, Full 3" Exhaust, B&M Megashifter
Runs A Blistering 16.5 @ 81.5 mph