body finishing

[jjgree]

For those who have completed cars, how much work is entailed to get the body ready for primer and paint.
Do the bodies need any fiberglass work? Do the doors etc. fit properly.

thanks

Jack

[tpiini]

Just about every manufacturers body will need SOME work. I bought my Hurricane after seeing a body in the raw. There's certainly filling and door gap work to be done, but it's a LOT better than some I've seen.

I have mine home now and I figure on spending no more than a few days on body work to get it ready for paint.

Of course, that's a few days worth of work spread out over a few weeks.

Tom

[jjgree]

Tom,
What kind of door work are you referring to and what is the process?
Thanks.

Jack

[Snakebit]

If your door, trunk and hood gaps are too large, you can close them up by grinding off the gel coat and apply layers of fiber glass matt or use Evercoat Fiber Tech filler. After filling and sanding the gaps, you should be able to take a 3/16 rod or dowell and be able to run it around between all the gaps. It Should be like the Lexus commercial, where a small steel ball will roll evenely around the edges of the gaps.

You can make templates out of thin cardboard to make shure the curves around the doors, hood, grill opening, and trunk are simetrical. Remember 90% of a show quality pain job is how well the prep work was done. Paint won't hide defects.

[khansmith]

Originally Posted by Snakebit

If your door, trunk and hood gaps are too large, you can close them up by grinding off the gel coat and apply layers of fiber glass matt or use Evercoat Fiber Tech filler. After filling and sanding the gaps, you should be able to take a 3/16 rod or dowell and be able to run it around between all the gaps. It Should be like the Lexus commercial, where a small steel ball will roll evenely around the edges of the gaps.

You can make templates out of thin cardboard to make shure the curves around the doors, hood, grill opening, and trunk are simetrical. Remember 90% of a show quality pain job is how well the prep work was done. Paint won't hide defects.

It sounds similar to working on a metal body for show quality. Even with brand new body panels, you will have to add/take away material around doors, hoods, etc to get uniform body gaps.