Take what I suggest with a lot of caution I am not a professional and I did not sleep in a Holiday Inn last night. What Niles said is very close to the way I was doing it when I finished but not what I started with. I think I learned a lot. A friend, Barry, recommended the Evercoat body filler. It seemed to work smoother and more solidly than the Bondo brand products. Most of the body men around here seem to use it too. Stay away from the simple fillers in tubes. My car was so bad that the first time Barry saw it; he said that it could not be helped. About a week later he decided he would like to try. We actually cut the doors into pieces and reconstructed them to try to make them fit. The rear deck and trunk gapped about ½ inch--vertically. Unfortunately, Barry moved away before we could do very much of the filling process so I had to learn on my own. Many of the low points were too far off for simple body filler and had to be fiber glassed in. I bought a cheap paint gun from Wal Mart and applied the primer in the garage. If you mess the Wal Mart gun up you can throw it away and go buy another cheap one—no big loss and it shoots primer good enough. As Niles mentioned, the Evercoat Rage Gold seemed to work the best. I think that my final tally was five gallons of it. (Probably a world’s record
) No, the first time or two did not go smoothly but gradually it became fairly comfortable and even fun to do. Each time after I had come to what I thought was the last place to do, I had learned more to realize that the body was still not right and would start over again. Putting water on a surface and looking at it in the light helps but after a while you will really learn to “read” the surface with your hands. Like Niles mentioned, it is something you just learn by doing. Little lines make such a big difference when they are made right. One thing that might be mentioned is use a paint stick or sanding block when you are sanding-forming; do not do it with your bare hand. It will have you going in circles. Each time after I had come to what I thought was the last place to do, I had learned more to realize that it was still not right and would start the whole car over again. It took a long time but it added immeasurably to the value and appearance of the car. You will take more effort to make it right than most professionals can afford to take time to.
Do not hesitate to try it. It’s a lot of fun and besides what is the worst thing that can happen with filler and primer if you mess up? It’s not like brakes or mechanical or electrical do-it-yourselfing. If you mess it up with primer you won’t run through a stop light and have a wreck or have to tow your Cobra two hundred miles to home or watch it turn to flames and smoke the first time you hit the wrong switch. No, with primer or filler you just sand if off and do it over. And if you’ve done it right what do you do? You sand it over again too. It’s a kind of no-brainer side of the hobby.
that everybody keeps a secret.
Yeah, fool that I am, I was so confident with the primer that I tried to paint the car in the garage too. That did not work too well. Maybe if I had used a better gun--any way I sought professional help. The professional painter commented on how smooth the body was after he had painted it. He did not have to do any body work on it at all.
Like Niles said…it’s worth your time. And it is something that you can do.
Good luck the guys here in CC are good help if you have questions.
Rick