May 2007

Well, after the owner decided to charge me 50% more than the original quote to fix the body damage, I decided to repair and paint it myself. I've spent the last several weeks pounding in and out the minor damage, using AllMetal to fill any major dents I couldn't get to (some were behind the brace in the driver's door), then a skim layer of bondo. 2 weeks ago I had masked off the car, then shot a tack layer of primer, then began a more covering layer. As I sprayed the primer, it began spitting out what looked like dust bunnies. I immediately stopped and began cleaning the gun. After talking to the body supply store, it appeared that the paint had gone bad and the hardner was causing the paint to solidfy in the gun. I sanded this layer down, found some more areas that needed attention, then was finally able to spray several layers of 2k primer on it. Here's the front shot.

Here's the driver's side. It takes about 4 hours to completely mask off the car. I created a cardboard template for the front and rear fender wheel openings, then used that to cut out the masking paper to fit inside. This saved me alot of time, but more importantly, a lot of frustration.

A shot of the rear. I also cut out cardboard and to fit it into the rear taillight area.

And a shot of the passenger's side. I'll sand this down, check for any other high or low spots, fix them, then add another layer or 2 of primer. Once I feel that the primer is in great shape, I'll add the color paint.