damoroso

Sounds like a good plan. No, I'm not going to paint here at the house, a friend here in the hood has a paint booth in his shop behind his house, we'll shoot it there. Either that or another friend is a paint and we can shoot it at the shop he works at. Either way, I'll spare my neighbors! I think I'm going to keep with the original two tone, but update the colors to what some of the new cars have. I like the dark burgundy metalic of the new Ford F250's, and some of Acura's, and the darker metalic reds of the Cadillacs, Chevys, Toyotas and Dodges....lots and lots of colors out there, I shouldn't have to mix anything custom to have good colors. I'm also going to have to stripe it along the belt line (like the original) but I'll paint those in rather than use the factory tape stripes...

I'm also going to do some openings in the hood along the sides of the L88 rise back towards the windshield, thinking of 4 slots that would follow the angle of the front of the hood rise, backed with some black mesh, to let some of the hot air out from under the hood.

damoroso

Okay, did another round of fill work, it's getting much closer now. I think one more time and then finish work, and this part should be done!! I used the 407 filler vs. the 410 mostly because the 410 said "not for use under dark paint" and I'll be using dark paint. I'm sure the primer would have taken care of that but didn't want to take the chance. This stuff is still super easy to file/sand so I think it's good. You can see in the pics how close it is now compared to where it started...






Should have a good fit of the bumper cover when I'm done...

rogman16

Getting a lot closer... Looking good...

Rogman

markids77

Progress is GOOD. Now that the repair filler is into the headlight opening don't forget you need to feather the repair that way as well. Reinstall the headlights before you finalize the contours so you avoid a "surprise" in fitment after paint. Ditto the fit at the side of the hood since you have built the fender line so high. It ALL needs to blend and harmonize before you apply the shiny stuff.

damoroso

Thanks Mark, I'd made the headlight template for the corners of the opening, but I know what you mean about the contours. I have to work the left side door a bit, it looks like whoever did the repairs before, bent at least one corner to make it "fit". I'll use the right side as a guide. I've adjusted the entire front clip just a bit by loosening the radiator support bolts, and then used a floor jack to gently lift it just a bit. It worked, but there was still some fill needed in the corner at the hood (the hood was always high in that corner), and the hood bumpers will have to be redone, cause now the hood sits just below the fenders on the sides but flush in the front and rear.

I've got the bumper cover fitting as well as I can get it I think, the lines look good, but I'll have to put some primer on it to be sure everything looks as good as I think/hope it does. I've put the final skim coat on in the areas that needed it. This thing was broken pretty bad, and I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out so far!

Next will be to fix the smaller repairs in different areas that are really just spots. Then it's the doors and back of the car!

markids77

That looks pretty darn good! An old bodyman's tip for skimcoats... always cover the entire repair area; especially as you get close to final contours. As you "spot sand" a coat like the one on there now you will always create waves in the surface because of the broken edges around the "spots that need it". Sanding a continuous thin coat sounds like you are creating more work for yourself, but it will go faster, and look "of a piece" since you'll be sanding a continuous, unbroken surface. You can measure your resin and hardener with a syringe, but each coat will have a slightly different hardness than the last and sand differently.

damoroso

Thanks very much Mark, if I need to add more material, I'll take you suggestion and coat the entire area! Gett'n there though!

929nitro

Nice progress, keep it going. Are you using any guide coat when sanding? I find it easier to detect high and low spots.

damoroso

Yes sir, primer and guide coat so I can see what's what!

damoroso

Gotta say, pretty darned happy with the way this has turned out especially considered how badly it was damaged and repaired before. I primered the repaired area so I could see how it was, and it's pretty darned good I think. I blocked out the side and the top area of the fender, and it only took once to get it clean. I scuffed the primer on the top for contrast to show the line. The area around and on top of the headlight still needs a little, work, but not much and I can finish that tomorrow. Then it's off the the other minor (in comparison) repairs on the front clip....

markids77

Excellent job. Smooth and sharp just like it should look. Don't forget to reinstall that headlight assy before paint to be certain there's no "tweaks" needed. You should b proud of the result!!!

damoroso

Thanks Mark, I did test fit the headlights, and on the drivers side, looks like they'd bent the forward corners down to fit the old repairs. I'll be bending them back, again using the right side as a guide. Nothing huge, but the forward corners are under the panel about 3/16", and it's just the corners.

Also, it looks like this front clip was replaced or at least re-glued at some point. I ground out all the areas I could find that had previous repairs, oddly enough most of the paint issues were right at those spots! It looks like there are holes (screw holes it looks like) in four places at each fender by the doors, pluse two small "repairs" on the fenders right at the back of the inner wheel wells. They were filled with a green bondo type material, so I ground that out and used the 404 dense filler, and will follow it with the 407 to finish. I've got the fender louvers smoothed back into the fenders now too.

I'm actually enjoying this process, thanks for the tips along the way!

929nitro

Nice work. Lookin real good.

rogman16

You're doing great work...

Rogman

damoroso

Thanks guys, started on the other repairs this afternoon, but I have to travel for work for a couple days so things'll have to wait a few days. I'll post more pics when I get back!

markids77

That green stuff is likely a fiber reinforced polyester body filler known in the industry as "kitty hair", "tiger hair", "bondo glass" or a similar take off on that theme. It is passable as a "filler" to build like you have just done although there are vastly preferrable methods like the one you chose...it is often used as a structural repair in "slash and slop" production shops to repair cracking or to fill small voids. As you can attest it eventually fails when used in such a fashion. If your other areas showed cracking or crazing once that green stuff was gone please redo the repair using vee grinding and at least 3 layers of nonwoven fiberglass mat and the 105 or the cracking will likely come back before you want it to. Finish with the fillers like you already do. HTH Mark

damoroso

Mark,

I ground out the green stuff, it seemed like it was just filler, like the finish putty I've used before. None of the repairs that had this stuff in them were deep oddly enough, and those that were, had a green fiberglass material (much darker than the other stuff) in them and you could see the fiberglass strands, so I left that stuff. I filled the holes and really low spots with the high density filler and sanded that down. I then put a skim coat (over the entire area to save time ) over that and will sand it when I get home. I'm sure I'll need one more skim coat though.



I use a file to knock down the ridges from spreading the filler (I'm working on my technique to limit those!) before sanding...



The fender on the drivers side sits quite a bit lower than the door, so there'll have to be some build up here....




One area I have no clue how to fix is the door gaps at the top of the fenders. The gaps open up about halfway up from the belt line and get worse at the top of the door. Not horrific, but not right. In looking at them, if I were to close the gap, the fender is out farther than the door in that area and closing the gap would make it much more obvious. Plus, if I changed that corner of the fender, the line with the hood would be AFU. So, I think the gaps are going to have to stay like they area since I'm not going to break and reglue the fender at the firewall...

Oh, and working on cleaning up the headlight hardware too...

zwede

You should see if the door can be adjusted inward. If it can't, the surround/fender should be busted loose and re-bonded further out.

damoroso

Zwede, the door fits really well in the back and from the belt line down, it's just the front from the belt line up, and the fender actually is out farther than the door at the top. In three out of four places, the door fits well. I think it's the fender that's messed up and it's not in any one direction. It's below the door as you see in the pic, even with the door below that and the fender is out farther (not by a lot) than the door at the top corner. That's why it seems to make sense to fill the fender to the door in this one area. Does that make sense?

zwede

You've made sure the door skin hasn't come loose from the door frame, right?

It will be less work and better results if you bust it loose and re-bond with the right curving. Just put a spacer at the point it is too far in until the bonding adhesive sets. The front clip is very flexible once it is loose.

Reason I'd recommend against building it up is that you have a lot of lines and curves right in front of the door. Duplicating those will be a lot of work. I'd also worry about filler that thick shrinking or cracking.