"Doing it Right"

[hls30.com]

What Carl said! if it ain't broke, and the color isn't being changed, why worry about it!

On the Hardware, call Chloe at MidwestZ, she has all of the pieces-or at least the current Nissan version.

Ditto on the rotisserie, if you want one, but don't have the time or inclination to build your own, email Kmack(Z of the month fame!). I got one from him several days ago, well built, painted, and cheeper than I could have put it together myself!

I am hoping to ge the '72 on it next week!

Will

[Bruce Palmer]

... are the how to videos & DVDs from www.paintucation.com. Covers all aspects of a project of this type. Metal Prep and rust repair to body work and paint to color sanding and buffing. Kevin Tetz does most of the body and paint work for the TV show "TRUCKS".... Real talented guy

[BadDog]

I can't stress this enough: get yourself a Supplied Fresh-air Respirator (Hobbair, etc.) if you plan to paint the car yourself. Heck, I even used mine when using naptha to remove the weatherstip adhesive (read the bottle on that stuff: respiratory failure, nervous system suppression etc. etc.)

If you want lots more tips, advice, and decent prices on tools and supplies, check out www.autobodystore.com and its BBS.

[Zhorse]

Just my 2 cents, but having been down this road, I would not recommend a body/paint novice take on a project of this magnitude. Probably too late now, but here's my advice anyway: if you want to learn body-working the RIGHT way, you have to work under someone who already knows it. Books help, but just as you can't learn to play the trombone from a book, you can't learn bodywork. You have to get out there and do it, and a teacher makes the process go exponentially faster. Said another way: why make all the stupid mistakes on the one car you DON'T want to make mistakes on?

I wanted to learn bodywork bad enough that I enrolled in a tech school at a junior college and did it for a year and a half. That's one avenue, and has the advantage that everyone you're around is learning, too. You could also inquire at body shops to be a go-fer in return for instruction from someone, or 'hire' a guy to show you the ropes in his spare time/weekends. You can buy all the tools and trick stuff in the world, but if you don't know what you're doing, they'll only get you in trouble. Especially spray guns. I've seen some real paint disasters come out of spray guns in the hands of someone who didn't know what they were doing.

Finally, it is a bit of a myth that the "best" paintjobs require you to strip down the entire car to bare metal. Actually, it is VERY difficult to get as good base down as they do at the factory. Yes, you have to get all rust areas down to fresh metal. But you don't have to take all the GOOD paint off. If it's not cracked or degraded, just leave it on. It's not going to hurt a thing, it's on there as good or better than any primer you're going to spray, and if you do the prep right, you'll never know it's there under the new paint.

[gema]

I appreciate the advice, but this is a learning car, not a show car. I bought this with the intent to make myself do everything I could learn how to it, and that's what I intend to do. I will probably hire out the painting process and floorpans/framerails, but the rest I will do myself. Gotta learn somehow.

[DoctorMuffn]

To revive an old and very informative topic...

What can you enthusiasts tell me about lead filling holes in the sheet metal of the chassis? I've heard this process to be very complicated and only a few know it well enough to sell their work. Where do I start if I want to pursue this practice?

[Bambikiller240]

Custom bodywork shops that build Hot Rods can probably advise you. As you said, not many people do this work anymore. If you can stand to talk to the guy, Boyd Coddington or one of his peers could point you in the right direction.

[g72s20]

This was the preferred dent and hole filling method untill the advent of nikky/bog/ bondo/plastic filler which was much safer and user friendly, and eventually cheaper, but as time has proven introduced its own problems to the art of body restoration. As BambiCarl has said, this lead wiping is a repair method kept alive mainly by the steel bodied hotrod builders and the vintage & classic vehicle restorers.

During the '70's I remember seeing an early fifties Holden (Australian GM) after it had been media blasted.The roof had many examples of lead wiping dent repair. It was very obvious to the eye due to the colour difference in the metals, yet to run your hand over it I simply could not detect any contour variation in the turret panel. The guy doing the work pointed out that some of the lead wiping was actually applied at the factory during the body assembly to fill imperfections in panel joints. Bottom line is it's a good panel finishing method, but a technique best left to those who do it for a living.

Jim.

[hls30.com]

The last build I saw from Boyds shop had bondo wiped all over it, no bumping metal to perfection, just get it close and fill with plastic. That was last week.

economies of scale in skilled labor, cheep materialsm and completion time. I would be upset to pay that bill and find any bondo...

Will

[Bambikiller240]

The last build I saw from Boyds shop had bondo wiped all over it, no bumping metal to perfection, just get it close and fill with plastic. That was last week.

economies of scale in skilled labor, cheep materialsm and completion time. I would be upset to pay that bill and find any bondo...

Will

So what you're saying is, If Boyd could point him in the right direction, he wouldn't be pointing at himself?

[e_racer1999]

HAHAHA,,,,, that's pretty damn funny, carl......

[DoctorMuffn]

Outstanding, thanks for the response...

I guess I'll start by researching "lead wiping".