Mikey's Ghia Thread...

[yellow73]

Keep going Mikey,
We are enjoying your progress. Thanks for the updates I can't wait to see the finshed car!!

[Mikey]

Originally Posted by yellow73

Keep going Mikey,
We are enjoying your progress. Thanks for the updates I can't wait to see the finshed car!!

Thanks Nigel for the motivating words. They do help.

If I can get a break from working at my job every weekend, I'll put some time in on it. This is my kind of weather.

[Mikey]

I've been lazy for a while, but I'm back after it hot and heavy. It's going to be finished. I worked 4 hours both monday and tuesday, 6 hours wednesday and today, and about 8 thursday. Along with working at the shop about 3-4 hours right after I finish with my car. 10am til 9pm makes for some very long days.

I have my fenders Finished. well, as close as I can get them, they match too. Side to side. I also have the rear inner fenders peiced back in place. That has been a chore, a few days have been spent just on that, and I'm still at least 1 day away from moving up top. I have a few more places to fix in the body for I start preping it for paint. I can't wait, I want to start thinking about the 2007 show season, but I don't want to put the buggy before the horse, I have to finish the car first.

I wanted to avoid it as much as possible but the fenders will have filler in them. I'm sure Dave and Yeti will help. From bare metal, where do I go? Epoxy primer? Filler? High build?? I'm totaly lost. I can ask Tim, but I want to get a second opinion first. Where I can, I'm going to take it down to bare metal.

I have a goal, for it to be painted or VERY close by the end of january. I know it's crazy, but if I work every chance I have, I know I can make it. Tim said by the end of March. I kinda want to prove him wrong too.

Thanks,

[wrenchnride247]

Originally Posted by Mikey

I wanted to avoid it as much as possible but the fenders will have filler in them. I'm sure Dave and Yeti will help. From bare metal, where do I go? Epoxy primer? Filler? High build?? I'm totaly lost. I can ask Tim, but I want to get a second opinion first. Where I can, I'm going to take it down to bare metal.

Regular body filler works best on bare metal. Shape the filler as close to smooth and level as you can, then shoot two coats of primer just on the filler work. Then shoot the rest with three coats (so thats five coats just on body filler sections) of primer. Your going to be sanding those filler area's more than the rest of the car. So, the two extra coats on the filler will help to "block" the area out with less recoats. If you've never done auto body before... I suggest getting a book on the subject (cheaper and less time consuming then redoing everything ) I use Evercoat, and House of Kolor products (sometimes PPG). Check out www.hok.com for some good info on lots of products. There are links in a nav bar that takes you to sister sites with book's, tool's, and color codes. Hope this helps.

[Rob]

Hey Mike,

Glad to see you are still at it. I admire your persistance and courage in taking on all these changes. Car is looking good, keep us posted !

Rob.

[Mikey]

Originally Posted by wrenchnride247

Check out www.hok.com for some good info on lots of products.

Is that the right website? I saw a bunch of buildings. I'll do a search after I get home later tonight.

Thanks Rob, It's been a long, long road but there is an end in sight. I just have to work harder.

[wrenchnride247]

Originally Posted by Mikey

Is that the right website? I saw a bunch of buildings. I'll do a search after I get home later tonight.

Thanks Rob, It's been a long, long road but there is an end in sight. I just have to work harder.

Oops! Sorry Mikey . Its: www.hokpaint.com

[yetibone]

I'm nowhere close to being an expert on paint and bodywork, but I now know far more than I ever wanted to about the craft. Wrenchnride has the right idea. When you apply your filler directly to bare metal you will get the best adhesion. On my car, I rubbed the spots to be filled real good with 80 grit to give the filler a good hook into the surface.

For primer, you can use Urethane based 2K primer, or Epoxy primer. 2K primer is good high build material. Most can be applied to bare metal, builds up good to give you some sanding room, and dries flat with no orange peel to sand out. Epoxy primer can seal out moisture, most will apply to bare metal, and can be bondoed over if needed. A friend in the biz recomended http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/ for their epoxy primer. He said it is user-friendly for DIY projects, and high quality for professionals. They're semi-local too, so you'll be supporting Georgia's private commerce sector .

If your car's got a lot of small low spots to fill, or metal/filler spots to be blended you can use Dave's favorite primer, Evercoat Slicksand which will build extremely high, and dry hard. I found out it's often used to repair hail damage, and door dings. I used it on about 80% of mine to make sure I filled all the small creases and dings, and to blend the welded repairs I did. It works great in place of blending putty, but dried with an orange peel that needed some dry sanding.

Just don't use a self etching primer. Anything polyester based (most fillers, some surface primers) won't stick to it. The stuff I used dried very slow for some reason, and was a pain to remove from the areas that needed filler. Actually, by removing it from places that needed filler really works against the purpose for using it in the first place, which is to seal the bare metal.