April 2007

Well, I found a local painter and I've decided to repaint the car. To save some money I agreed to remove all of the trim, bumpers, lights and the paint. This shows the stripping in progress. I found a considerable amount of bondo on the driver's door. This shows a close up of the prior repair. I took me about 5 hours to strip this door.

This shows a wider angle. After this pic was taken, and the door stripped, I found some more bondo on the left rear fender, but not nearly as much.

At the end of each day, I wiped the bare metal with Ospho and sprayed on a light coat of etch primer.

To keep the overspray to a minimum I taped everything off.

Here's the tool of destruction. I used this hand drill and 3M scotchbrite pads. I used 6 pads, at $40/4-disc set.

This shows the amount of dust. I wore a ski cap, painters breathing filter and googles to keep the dust out as much as possible.

Well after over 40+ hours it's finished. You'll see the flash rust already starting.

Here's a shot from the rear.

I drove the car to the painter's today. Robin followed me because I had no blinkers or brake lights. The trip was uneventful.

I was given a quote before I stripped the car, but after the owner checked out the door damage, they might adjust upwards. We'll see later this week. If the price doesn't go up too far, they should have the car painted within the week.