livelotus

Greetings,

I hope this is the proper terminology, but how do you properly repair these "starburst" on both front fenders of my 76?

I have made a little more progress on the body prep before applying (insert coating here ?? - some sort of epoxy primer). Any way I have inserted a few pictures here. I have done alot of sanding to get to this point, but I keep telling myself "It's the journey that counts"

Thanks

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roger55

The panels could be SMC or fiberglass.
Not sure which panels on a 76 are which type.
You can get resins that will work on both types however.

I'd grind them out leaving a cup shaped indentation (Don't go quite all the way through). Then use resin and matting to fill back up. Cut round patches of matting starting with small ones for the bottom of the cup and then larger ones to lay on the top. I'd say 3 or 4 layers (Do it all at once).
I sand these type of things out by hand using a piece of cut-off paint stirring stick with 40 or 60 grit wrapped around it. Then smooth out with 120 wrapped around the stick.

Roger

blue6t7

Livelotus,

The advice Roger gave you is spot on. After they are fixed and the car is painted, you need to fix the cause. Those star bursts are caused by stones flying off the tires and hitting the underside of the surround/ fenders causing small stress cracks. You need to shoot 2-3 coats of 3M Body Schultz on the underside of the hood surround panel. Basically this will be the area of the wheel well between the front & back sides of the fender skirts. Hope this makes sense. You will need to have a 3M gun designed to spray this.

Dan

crazywelder

Yep. Just to clarify which type of fiberglass material, you want to use chopped strand mat, do not use fiberglass cloth. Mats come in different thickness, you don't need a real thick mat. Here's a pic of the two types:

livelotus

Roger, Dan, Ahoover,

Thank you all very much!!

Sorry I wasn't able to post a reply sooner, but work happened .

I tell you, this entire forum is great help. I don't post too much but I do lurk and learn!

BondoKing

One more thing, once you do the repairs.. seal that whole body in a couple good wet coats of epoxy and let it set for a day or so before you spray any 2k ( urthane surfacer) on it and start blocking it out for straightness

livelotus

Thanks,

Any preferences? or just use a quality product.

roger55

Everyone whom I've heard that has used SPI epoxy including me thinks it's great stuff. Their other primers are excellent too but I've haven't used them myself. All their prices are very reasonable.

http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com

livelotus

Thanks!

I'll look into it. I have seen quite a few post on this company, all good.

BondoKing

I too use the spi line.. Have used just about most everything they have to offer.. You can do a search at any major forum and read about them.

www.hotrodders.com/forums is where i first learned of spi.. Use the search engine

BTW great products and customer service that cant be beat