Good for you. Yeah I gave up on insurance work 2 years ago. I was having undesireable experiences that guided me away. I still dabble and love restoring cars or parts. I find that is where my passion is. About 15 years ago I was approached by a church member to help guide some misguided boys and showed them in a new direction. Every Tuesday and Thursday I opened my shop in the evenings for 3 hrs each night I would show these boys the true art form of body work. Sadly after only 6 months the group went from 12 boys down to 1. Then totally none. Iin today's day and age these young kids don't do any hands work unless it's video games. So from time to time I pick a guy from (trolling sites) that is doing his own work on there car, and I will travel to them to help guide them. I love that. It brings me joy seeing their faces when we accomplish something they were struggling with.
This is great stuff, body work has always been something I have wanted to try but was always too afraid to attempt. Seeing how little my 67 really needs and wanting to keep it unrestored for a while I may just take on a few small projects. I don't think many body shops will want to do rust repair without prepping and painting the car afterwards.
I actually don't mind doing just metal work, the filler work, priming etc is the real tedious work, I'll do metal work all day every day and send it on down the road, but that's just me
Ethan, Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge. I’ve printed off the advice in my thread as well this info. It has helped me so much as I work on my project.
Here's some pics of a 66 Chevelle I been doing, should have color in it by end of the month. New fender had to die so the original could live again New hood required close to 12hrs repair time, then the primer/block time, just because it's new doesn't mean squat, lot of people have a hard time understanding this aspect of it This is how proper filler application, feathering, and thickness looks. I don't understand why some guys end up with filler that looks like woodgrain and 20 different colors, here you can see it's minimal in all those areas described. How primer should look after blocking no metal showing, no filler peeking through, none of that mess just a velvet smooth level surface. The black is a spot of guide coat where I was finessing the body line. In the sheet metal repairs, you notice the seam is all but nonexistent, it's a butt weld done as described earlier, simple coat of glaze and it's ready. The backside is finished in the same matter, except with body adhesive which adds strength and protection. Hopefully this will serve as a visual guide as what it should look like.
This is a great post! In the next year or so I'm going to start the tear down of my car and people who know me, I do everything myself even if it takes me awhile to to learn it. So ill learn how to weld, block, and paint. Too bad you dont live in South Florida, I would love to learn from you. Keep up the great work!
9hrs of cutting and buffing on just the hood and decklid and some people wonder why it cost so much....
Very much so, its physical work also, you never stop moving and usually in anything but comfortable positions. it's not perfect, no paint work is, if anyone says they have seen or done perfect paint they are mistaken. Urethane wave is so hard to combat, it makes perfection impossible. You can block and block and have it all but gone but the buffer just moves it around again. Pictures of body and paint work are pretty much worthless but it gives an idea I guess.
For those that are curious, I started with 800 on the hood and 500 on the decklid with it being nothing but a large flat area clear wave is an issue. Gotta be extra careful obviously as one too many times over an edge and you are repainting. If your new to cutting and buffing I wouldn't go lower than 1000
Done the vette but 3yrs ago, he stop by to show me since completion. Chevelle pics are from a few months ago, hope to get the frontend back on next week and get it moving around under it's own power very soon
The vette is all PPG products, tbe Chevelle is a mix of tried and true products topped with sikkens base and clear
Driver side fender was a mess all the way back to the vents, hood took more hours than I care to talk about ha