Well this is an area that I’m becoming more comfortable with. But it takes a lot of practice. And has many levels of difficulty. This kinda goes back to my blog on buying an old car, and the amount of work your willing to do. When I found the Rambler some body prep had been done. It basically consisted of a mediocre application of a reddish primer, and a fair sanding. But there was a lot that should have been done prior to that. There was small patches of rust coming through the primer, nothing serious though just surface scale. And there was passenger side rear-view mirror. It was from a Nissan pick-up and looked wierd, and there originally was no mirror there. So I removed that, which left the screw holes to deal with. Also a cb antenna was attatched to the front fender, and stretched back to the rear roof pillar where the end was bolted down. So that too was removed leaving more screw holes. Besides that there was a fair sized dent below the driver door on the running board, and several normal dings, etc….. So since I wanted the car to be white it would make since to go with white primer. But first I needed to fill all the low spots, dings, screw holes, etc.
So for the starters, I went to the auto store and bought supplies. You will need things like: several grits of sand-paper, a suitable size can of bondo and hardener, red glaze(a putty-like filler for things like key scratches), a sanding block, masking tape, a small bottle of mineral spirits, a rust removing grinding pad that fits on a 3/8 drive drill, a can of spray rust converter(turns rust to primer), and some old news-paper. That should get you started and altogether should be less than $75. That should give enough materials to get going.
Next wash the car, and really scrub it good with some old t-shirts or something like that. I’ve found using original Dawn dish-soap is excellent for removing oily residue and bug-guts. Next you should mask and news-paper off windows, tail-lights, head-lights, any-trim, etc. Eventually all the lights, door-handles, trim and grill will be removed. But I’m assuming that you are still driving the car, so I try to calculate these steps keeping that in mind. Masking is an art-form… So spend time doing it right. Keep a pocket-knife or exacto-blade handy to cut or tuck the tape in tight areas. But in areas such as the grill, You can kinda crudely mask it, because that will be dismantled later and you will be able to get more detailed then.
Now one product I forgot to mention is chemical paint remover. It is a gel-like substance that you basically slather on the paint and it eats it away. The process is a little messy but very effective. You can use wadded up news-paper to scrub stubborn spots(don’t get it on you), and then you basically hose it off. You should start with a small area to get the hang of it, and then gradually go bigger to suite the effort and time you have on a given day. If you’re paint is already faded down to a primer like finish you can skip that part.
So your car is clean and masked off, and you’re ready to sand, fill (bondo), and prime, and sand, and sand again, and sand some more. First we’ll deal with any rust. Now if your floors and running boards are rusted through, this blog is not for. But if you have some surface scale, or tiny spots where the rust may have started penetrating metal, we can deal with that. Take a Sharpie(marker) and go around the car circling any problem area(rust, dings, uneven spots, etc). That makes it easier to stay focused on the problem spots. First lets deal with any rust. Any of the surface stuff can be scrubbed of using the rust removing pad you bought for the drill. You basically “buff” the rust away. Thats a pretty self-explanitory and fairly easy process. I like to keep the surfaces clean, so after doing that I wipe of the dust using the mineral spirits. Now if there are any areas where the rust has penetrated you can drill those out. Be careful and keep in mind what might be on the other side when you drill(a guy I know had his window rolled down, and was drilling rust out of the door and drilled through the window). But always drill out a little extra just to make sure you got it all, it might have spread a bit more on the side you can’t see. Now this process is only good for small spot areas not massive cancer. Once drilled use a heavy grit sand paper and smooth out any burs, or raised spots. Sometimes part of the metal may have pulled up, don’t be afraid to pound it back in with a hammer because you are going to build it back up with filler(bondo) anyway. And once again wipe it down with mineral spirits. The mineral spirit wipe down is importanant during this phase. All that dust is rust and from this point on you’re trying to remove all impurities as you go.
Now we’re on to dealing with dings, and maybe screw wholes if you’ve removed things like cb antennas, etc… This means using body filler (bondo). Now this is a true art for and takes practice if you’ve never done it. But it’s actually kinda fun. Body filler basically consist of a puddy-like filler, and a small tube of hardener. I recommend reading the instructions for mixing the two. And practice mixing it on a scrap piece of flat wood or something. You’ll need to learn how fast your mix is going to harden. It takes the tiniest bit of hardener to activate the process. And do not mix more than you can apply before it dries. It usually takes just a few minutes for it to harden to a point where you can’t work it anymore. So you’ll need a flat surface to mix it on, something you can hold in your hand. I generally use pieces of scrap plywood. Maybe 3inches x 8inches. Or a piece of scrap metal of similar dimensions will work too. It just needs to be a flat hard surface that you can hold in your hand and comfortably work the filler with a puddy-knife (oh yeah, you’ll need that too). But mix up a batch or two and apply it to another piece of scrap wood, and check your results. See how sandable it is, and how fast it’s hardening. If it’s hardening to fast for you to do what your trying to do, use less hardener. It usually just takes a drop or two. When practicing use different grits of sand paper to sand the hardened glob you just applied to the scrap wood. Just make mental notes how each grit of sand paper acts on the hardened filler (bondo). Now pick an easy spot on the car and mix a small amount of filler. Apply to said spot, take care when apply. Put an excess and build it up a little more than necessary. But don’t go crazy, or you will be there all day sanding that one spot. Now wait a while for it to harden. Then get your sanding block, and start with your heaviest grit of sand-paper. Start sanding with smooth even movements across the filled area. Once you’ve gotten rid of most of the excess switch to a lighter grit paper, and sand further. Once it’s start looking smooth, run your hand over and feel for un-even spots. This is where the art-form part comes in. Learning to feel the uneven spots takes practice too. At first you may think it’s smooth as a baby’s butt, but once you’ve applied primer…. you can see imperfections. And once paint is applied it will be even more apparent. So properly applying filler is key to an even looking paint job. And time of day plays a role in showing imperfections too. As I spend the day woking on the car, every couple hours I will get at one end of the car and look down the body for areas that need attention. A lot of times you will see wavy areas in the sheet-metal. You can cirlce those areas, and spend a little time building that up with bondo too. It will pay off when the car is painted. So once you’ve practiced on the one spot of the car, you can now mix larger batches and hit several spots. In fact go ahead and hit the whole car. Take a little extra care when doing any areas that you may have drilled out, you can get bubbles when applying. Just be a little smoother with the puddy-knife. If it gets difficult in those areas, build them up a little at a time.
So now you’ve removed rust and applied body filler. Now it’s time to sand. Put fresh batteries in your jam-box or charge the i-pod, keep a six-pack of cold beer nearby, put on a fresh dust mask, you’re gonna be there a while. So, same as before, start with the heavy grit sand-paper and hit all the filled spots, getting rid of the excess. Then gradually go to lesser grits getting it so smooth you won’t be able to notice it when you prime and paint it. One thing you can do to get a little extra life out of the sand paper, is wet-sand. Keep a water-hose with a nozzle nearby. And keep the part you are sanding wet, and ocassionally spray your sand paper. It basically keeps the sand-paper from clogging up so quickly. It’s messier but also keeps dust from building up on the car.
So lets assume thats all you have patience for today. And it’s time to call it quits. A good idea is to have a can of spray primer handy. And just kinda lightly hit any area you may have sanded down to bare metal. Rust flakes can appear over night in some climates. It’s no big deal it will sand right off. But spraying it easier than going back over it time and again with sand paper. So if you need to drive the car, all you have to do is remove the masking tape and news-paper, and wa la! It will look ghetto, but you can drive it. When we get a little further down the line, you will have to remove trim, door handles, etc…. But for now you’re making progress, and still driving it. Try to save the news-paper and it’s shape, so you can easily re-apply it next time. That will save you a ton of time. Next time I’ll discuss furhter sanding and priming the car. You will need to buy primer. And since we’re all poor-boys doing it on the cheap. That means cans of spray primer! So be prepared!!!!!!!!
