Bodywork and Paint Progress Thread!

[stprorolla49]

Hey guys...well the time has come to start the prep and body work for paint in a few weeks....im starting this thread to show my progress and offer info for any of you who are going to be doing aany of this work in the future!

Today i started fitting the hood on the car....WHAT A BITCH! First i needed to find out which bolts to use to bolt the hood to the hinges. They are 1/4" course thread bolts...

Next i had to shim the hood with body washers to get it to sit flush with the fenders...

Then since the hood was contacting the top of the headlight housing on the passenger side, i had to grind some of the inside of the hood to make it fit better...

Since the hood STILL wouldn't catch onto the latch, tomorrow i need to drill out the latch mechanism bracket because there are 2 guide holes that are preventing me from moving the latch up on the rad support....Those holes need to be redrilled about a 1/4" up, so the pins will fit in...

And heres 2 exterior shots so far...

I will be updating this thread every day or two with progress throughout my whole project! Wish me luck!:SNSign:

 

[bigcat]

have fun, this is a fun part of building cars. just remember that you have a bunch of aftermarket parts on there. the problem with aftermarket parts is that SOME FIT. if none fit, they wouldnt sell them, because nobody would buy them. one of the aftermarket parts dont fit correctly, it can cause you a headache, especially of you have not done much bodywork. keep us posted, i will try to answer any questions you might have.

 

[stprorolla49]

have fun, this is a fun part of building cars. just remember that you have a bunch of aftermarket parts on there. the problem with aftermarket parts is that SOME FIT. if none fit, they wouldnt sell them, because nobody would buy them. one of the aftermarket parts dont fit correctly, it can cause you a headache, especially of you have not done much bodywork. keep us posted, i will try to answer any questions you might have.

thanks dude...thats a great attitude to have when you work on cars, and its 100% true...i didn't think there was gonna be this much work involved with this hood, but oh well...in the end its all gonna pay off and look badass....tomorrow im gonna finish up mounting the hood, and if i have some more time, im gonna take the side skirts off, and start sanding them, and store them for 2 weeks or so till they get sprayed...

 

[Dan95-5.0]

nice size cowl on that bad boy.

lookin good man.

 

[94GTLaserRC]

I want that hood.!!!

NO hood pins?
RC

 

[stprorolla49]

I want that hood.!!!

NO hood pins?
RC

locking hood pins on the way i dont want some random steve stealing my pins at school, which someone would do...

 

[SeventyMach1]

Who makes that hood again? I've never seen where it's taken that much to mount a hood. Looks awesome, though. Good luck with the project!

 

[stprorolla49]

Who makes that hood again? I've never seen where it's taken that much to mount a hood. Looks awesome, though. Good luck with the project!

ya i think it took some more effort cause the guy at the body shop that did my frame may have had to tweak my latch cause the frame was bent...

UPDATE: the hood is on! after about an hour of fooling wit the latch, i got it to sit just about flush with both fenders....its a little bit high on the passender side by like a 1/16" of an inch which i may live with, but i might also just sand it down some before paint...

 

[stprorolla49]

update: im gonna start fixing dings this weekend....can anyone help me out with some info on the best filler to use for this? and i also need to know if i need any special flex agent or whatnot to fix a fwe gouges in the bumper...thanks

 

[bigcat]

buy a tube of flexible filler for the bumper. make sure it is clean. some bumpers need an adhesion promoter for it, or it may need to be flame treated. as far as filler, i like 3M Gold QBA body filler. it sands like glaze, but fills like regular filler. does not clog the paper either.

 

[stprorolla49]

buy a tube of flexible filler for the bumper. make sure it is clean. some bumpers need an adhesion promoter for it, or it may need to be flame treated. as far as filler, i like 3M Gold QBA body filler. it sands like glaze, but fills like regular filler. does not clog the paper either.

thanks for the info man...is it ok that i drive the car for a few weeks with filler on the car before i paint it? if it rains, will i have problems with this stuff getting soft, or getting messed up?

 

[69clark]

Take pics along the way. With out pics I get bored just trying to imagine all the fun.

 

[bigcat]

thanks for the info man...is it ok that i drive the car for a few weeks with filler on the car before i paint it? if it rains, will i have problems with this stuff getting soft, or getting messed up?

you dont want moisture to get into the filler. if moisture absorbs into the filler, then it will rust from behind. get some cheap primer and cover the filler when you are finished working for the day. you dont want it to sit bare for very long, or allow moisture to absorb into the filler, or you are asking for problems.

 

[gmkillr]

Where did you get that hood? And what size is it?
I like it alot!!

 

[stprorolla49]

Where did you get that hood? And what size is it?
I like it alot!!

i got the hood from a local guy i found on corral....its an ABC exclusive cobra RR hood...i think its a 3" rise and i think its PERFECT!

69clark- i will definately take pics along the way man...since september when i got my own digi cam, i've taken over 3000 pics, so i wouldn't worry about me forgeting to have the camera with me along the way

bigcat- im sorry for my ignorance....this whole time i knew i was going to have to shoot primer over the filler because i already bought the primer and ive been though this with my dad already , i just forgot....thanks so much for the info and i should be starting some ding filling on saturday! then im headed to the track on sunday with all my friends for my b-day...unfortunately i can't race because of my beat tranny, but i'll be racing his 2000 jetta vr6 5spd he just got

thanks for all the help guys, and keep this thread alive:SNSign:

 

[gmkillr]

cool!! Ive heard good things about their hoods.

 

[stprorolla49]

cool!! Ive heard good things about their hoods.

im gonna be honest...i heard a lot of great stuff too, and im very impressed with the quality of the hoof and the seams on both sides are perfect, but it took a decent amount of work to get to fit right...i needed 3 fender washers on each bolt on the hinges to get the hood to meet up with the fenders, and i spent about 3 hours adjusting the latch, and those bolt holes to get it to sit right in the front...i also had to grind off a bit of the fiberglass on the passenger side front lip cause it was hitting the top of the headlight a bit...overall, its a really nice hood, and i got a great deal on it...

 

[stprorolla49]

UPDATE: Well guys, its comin along nicely. This morning i was greeted by great weather and took advantage of it. I filled all the dings i wanted to on the car, then primered them. Heres some pics as i went along...

Materials: 60 grit auto sandpaper (great **** and lasts so long), bondo, red lead filler, primer, cheese grater (didnt use it)..

Took the side skirts off...

Masked up all the dings...

Sanded all the paint off around the dings...

Bondo applied...

Dings primed...

Even thought this took me all day in and out, it was pretty simple. Tomorrow i'm gonna fill all the sanding lines with the red lead putty, sand it out, them prime it again. This week sometime im going to get the paint from the painter, and spray the edges and underside of the hood, and teh edges of the new fender im gettin because the drivers fender was killed by AAA.

 

[illwood]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I realize that you're trying to minimize the amount of panels that you're going to have to paint, but by masking off the area like that, you're more likely to notice the fix by the hard lines at the paint mis-match. I figure that you're probably buying paint matched to the color code of the vehicle, but '95 has had 11 years to fade to a slightly different shade.

If you don't feather and blend the new paint into the old, you're going to notice the fix. The next best thing to painting the whole car is to do whole panels. The seams between panels help to mask the fact that they can be a few shades off.

 

[Dan95-5.0]

i'm pretty sure hes painting the whole car and just priming the areas hes doing work on and feathering out the primer spots.

or atleast i hope thats what your doing