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Re: Bodywork Knowledge.... good advice, but long....



Michaeal, 

I dont know of any books that I could recommend, but I could give you a
few pointers that are very valuable, especially if its your first time
doing bodywork.

 1) Whenever you have been working on/near/around bare metal, make sure
to use wax & grease remover after you are done.  So much as a tiny tiny
spot of grease from your finger will start rust, and I mean the tiniest
spot, or water for that matter.

 2) If you really want to feel the body for dents, use a papertowel or
thin cloth to gentle move your hand over the area in question.  I have
seen many a people use their bare hand but you wont be able to pick up
as much with your bare hand.

 3) If you plan on filling an area with some filler (get a decent brand
of poly-filler), & make sure to use something like 36 grit sandpaper to
really scuff up the area before applying.  I have seen people use
grinders, but as far as I am concered thats a little extreme.  

 4) Get a longboard.. they are your best friend.  Longboards usually
measure something like 11"x2.5" and are what you use to flatten out your
filled in dents.  Dont forget a small block sander too for the hard to
reach spots.

 5) If you want to check your results after you have done some filling
and sanding to see what the surface would appear as when it was painted,
you wet down the surface in question with some wax & grease remover and
you look at it at a very sharp angle.  For example, lets say you were
working on drivers side portion of the hood.  BTW, this requires that
you work in an area that you can control the amount of lighting.  So,
what you do is you place a shop light in from of the car, maybe about 5'
away & about 3' high.  Then wet down half the hood with the wax & grease
remover (be generous as this stuff evaporates quickly), then stand next
to the drivers side door and look down at the hood until you see the
reflection of the light in there.  

 If you turn off all the other lights and use that shop light as the
only source of light, you can see all the little featheredges that you
missed.  This method can also be used to find very very fine dents. 
Also, the lower you place the light (keeping it higher than the
roofline) the sharper the angle you must look at the hood in order to
see the light which also makes it easier to see the feathered edges, or
lack there of.  =)

 6) Patience... don't skimp on bodywork as once the car is painted and
waxed, all your flaws that you thought weren't very noticable before
will stand out like you wouldn't believe.  Take your time and get it
right the first time.  

Here is a listing of what I used when I did my car

 Orbital Sander w/36 grit (takes paint off in a hurry) Needs compressor
 Long Board
 Small sanding block
 Small ball peen hammer
 Lots of sanding disks & longboard paper, lots...
 Lots of wax & grease remover
 Too much filler (went through 4 gallons.. HEY, I was learning)
 Various plastic spatulas used to mix and apply filler
 Mixing board (like a painters board with hole for thumb)
 Paper towels
 Thin rags
 Cheap spray gun (For primer who cares....) Also needs compressor
 Tack cloth (need to use before shooting primer)
 Did I mention sandpaper?  lots of that...
 Mask (unless you like having funky colored boogers, use a mask)
 Lots of masking tape & painters paper 
  I recommend taping and then doing bodywork, then when done primer and
  after that replace paper with new stuff for the paint process.  Dont
  want dingleberries on paper when it goes into the shop.
 Primer (cant forget that.  I used old skool primer, but newer/better
  ones are out there)
 Laquer Thinner (needed to use that with primer)
 Mixing sticks (mixing primer with Laquer)
 Measuring buckets/cups for measuring out primer and thinner
 Water trap on compressor and on gun (water is bad)
 Scotch pads (comes in handy in hard to reach places for sanding)
 Beer (if you like that sorta thing)

Lastly, my advice isnt to do all your sanding first and then work on
this part or that part (unless of course you are having the car media
blasted), but instead sand the fender, work on it, get it right, move
onto next piece.  You want to avoid having exposed bare metal for long
periods of time.  Anyways, thats all I can think for now...  HTH...


Andre'
Lime Green 79
Kirkland WA
ICQ #76283458
http://mk1scirocco.com


Michael Leach wrote:
> 
> Can anyone reccomend a book or something to educate me on the basics of bodywork....rust
> removal(por-15) dent repair....etc ..everything but painting...I will still try to leave
> that to professionals
> 
> =====
> Michael Leach--Rochester,NY
> 87 16v
> 97 A4 2.8 quattro
> 
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