I have been debating what to do with my camaro for some time now, mainly due to not having cash to spend on it (wedding and house buying). Now that those things are over, I can start to take a look at the car again. It currently has some electrical issue so I am going to re-wire the whole car. While I do that I would like to smooth out the firewall, wheel wells, battery tray, etc.... I can weld so there is no problem there. I have never used bondo before or done any kind of body work. What tools do you guys use to do this kind of work.

I have a Dewalt angle grinder and an air powered cutter. What else do you guys recomend I get to be able to do a real good smoothing job under the hood? When I watch custom car shows on TV they seem to always have a convex grinder of some kind to help grind welds smooth. What is that called?

Anyways, this is just the first post of many about this topic that I am sure I will be posting.

This time I build the car (3rd time). I want to really go full smooth/custom look and put this project to bed.

Thanks for any insight.

 

I will be doing my car before to long and Im doing under my hood also but Im not doing much to the firewall you cant see 90% of it but I am going to weld the top part of the strut tower and grind it smooth and cut out the mounting points for the overflow and washer bottle and put patch panels in as far as tools you have a welder and grinder all you will need would be a cut off wheel body hammers for shaping metal and a dolly a da sander sanding block and primer gun

 

Bondo is pretty easy to use. Just follow the mixing instructions. Might want to go a touch light on the hardener the first batch you mix so you have some more time before it sets to work with it till you get used to spreading it.

As for grinding the welds, I use sanding discs for my angle grinder. I think that's what you're referring to. The look like a grinding disc made of layered sandpaper. As they get used up, they wear down to a convex shape. I get them at Harbor Freight as they have the best prices. Depending on how high your beads are will determine how coarse a grit you want to start with. Mine are usually pretty high so I start with 60 grit, sometimes 40. Then go up to 120 for the last little bit.

 

Flap disk if this is what you are talikng about I use them too they work great because they dont leave behind deep scratches http://www.ebay.com/itm/MERIT-8834196985-Arbor-Mount-Flap-Disc-7in-60-Coarse-/331082095455?_trksid=p2054897.l4276

 

If you'll be bondo-ing over the ground weld, what difference does it make? Plus, the rougher the surface, the better the adhesion

 

[QUOTE=Pocket;5713757]If you'll be bondo-ing over the ground weld, what difference does it make? Plus, the rougher the surface, the better the adhesion[/QUOTE

Well the big difference is that it wont grind as much metal as a 40 grinding disk but you will use more flap disk

 

Well I plan to cut some of the small bumps out of the wheel wells. Then grind the firewall as sooth as possible. Smooth the battery tray areas and then once all the welding and grinding is done, go back and fill small imperfections with a thin layer of bondo, smooth it all out and lay down some coating/paint of some kind.

Still a ways away, garage has been so cold up here in MA that I have only been doing little bits of work at a time. Still thinking I may be able to pull the motor and T-56 in once piece.... fingers crossed.

 

That's exactly what I was talking about.

 

I don't see why you can't pull them both at the same time. I've done my engine twice with the T5 attached to it in a garage with a 6.5' ceiling. I know the T56 is a couple inches longer than the T5, but if you use a load leveler so you can easily tilt the engine/trans you should have no problems. I don't have one of those, just a long chain, and have plenty of room. Lift it at about a 45 degree angle while pulling the whole thing towards the front of the car till you get the back of the oil pan even with the top of the radiator support, and then level it out while angling the whole thing diagonally across the engine bay and you should be able to pull it out. It does help if you can remove the trans crossmember first.

 

Right on, I will try it for sure. Trans member out and all. Might be this weekend