For those of you following along with my rear fender saga, I thought an
update might be in order.
Last weekend, I finally decided the metal work was done. This included the
big (rust-out) patch where the bar-b-que grill backed bondo was, cutting out
and patching 8 or so smaller rust holes (many on the flange against the
welt), major reconstruction of both wheel arch lips, patching 4
quarter-sized and 8 pencil-sized holes where the tail lights were, patching
~35 holes from dent-puller(s), and pounding out all of the dents, as best I
could. I'm also doing the running boards, where I patched 12 small holes
(aluminum steps mounted at one time), and pounded out a few pretty nasty
dents. I burned through a whole spool of welding wire on this little
adventure...
With the metal work done, it was time to... bondo! Spare time this week was
pretty much consumed standing in my drive-way with an air-powered in-line
sander. I guess it wasn't really that bad; I'd come home from work, sand
the bondo down, and throw on the next coat; letting it dry until the next
evening. The bondo patches are large- hence all the sanding, but they
aren't too thick anywhere. Thursday night, I took a break from the routine,
and Por15'd the backside of everything.
Come Saturday, I finally turned the corner on the bondo, and was just making
small spot patches- by the late afternoon, I had decided the bondo work was
done. Cleaned up the garage, and set up the paint booth: woohoo! By
midnight, I'd shot the self-etching primer, and the first surfacing coat.
Sunday morning; I'm determined to finish the fenders today. More sanding.
This time it's 500 grit wet-sanding backed with a sponge. With everything
sanded down, I've found some areas that need more filler work. Mostly just
little pits, a little to big to count on surfacing primer to fill. So, I
got out the glazing putty and filled them all. Things are looking good.
Took an early lunch break to let it really set.
90mins later, the putty still has the consistency of bubble gum stuck to
your shoe :-(. Apparently I forgot to knead the hardener :-(. It won't
sand off. It won't scrape off. It's not setting. I finally ripped it all
off with the inline air-sander... back to square 1 with the surfacer.
Surfacer/sand, Surfacer/sand, glazing putty/sand, surfacer sand: and I
decide they're finally ready for paint that counts. Time for sealer. I put
on a good coat of (white) sealer, mostly to help my bright yellow paint
cover the fenders. Waiting for it to dry, I can only watch in horror as it
starts to sag. At about this point, I realize it's snowing outside, and
it's way too cold in my booth to be painting :-(. I can't think of a safe
way to bring a heater into my booth, and so decide I'm done for the day.
All I can do is wait for it to dry and sand it down (a quick check of the
label shows that the sealer is sandable, whew).
So that's where I'm at- the fenders are mostly covered in white sealer, with
dark gray patches of surfacing primer exposed where I had to sand out the
sags. It's supposed to get into the 70's here tomorrow, so I should be able
to sneak away from work to shoot the odd coat of paint. All that's left:
o touch up sealer
o 2 color coats (yellow)
o clear-coat/wet-sand/repeat (till I like it, or run out of patience)
o buff
I *will* have them done this week.
Ryan (the world's slowest body-man) Border.
'55 2nd, wanna-be rod, Colorado.
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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