Slow, Driving Rustoration 1972 Dart
This stage of bodywork isn't something I would normally share or recommend in general. It was purely a way to get the rust hidden for awhile while I enjoy the car. That said....
Here a few more pictures of what I did. All of this "bodywork" was done over about 20 hours. The first coat of all-metal filler set up very quickly because it was about 100 degrees that day. My method on the quarter and the rocker was to press the all metal into fiberglass cloth and lay it over the "great stuff" spray foam. I had previously sand blasted, wire wheeled, and "rust restored" the pitted rust that was left over.
I blocked and reapplied all-metal filler until there were no more holes and no more foam or fiberglass showing. I then used regular body filler to shape and block out areas.
I used regular filler primer until the scratches were gone. This side had been panel painted on at least 3 separate occasions. There were hard paint lines where the body side mouldings used to be and had been masked off. Other than that I left most of the blemishes in the finish. I prepared the entire side with a comet and gray scuff pad bath. I masked off at the top of the body line with the reverse mask method that leaves a fuzzy line.
The paint was a great match but covered very slowly so I ended up with far more base coat outside of the repaired areas than I had planned on. But there still isn't much basecoat above the door handle line. I also used reverse masking a the front and rear valances. I cleared over a few chips and buffing thin spots in the old finish.
I have a very small air compressor and it would lose pressure in about the same place every time resulting in some very nice orange peel in the clear. I also managed to hang a spectacular run on the lower rear of the fender. It was near dusk when I finished and I was painting on the East side of the fence, so I'm going to blame that on the very honest fact that I couldn't see what the hell I was doing.
Like I said before, this isn't even close to a decent job, but seeing this side all in one color, and shiny, and "rust free" has given me a big boost. I'm ready to do the same on the other side now! I did buy a lower fender patch panel for that side because there just isn't much to work with on that side.
I wish I had taken a before picture of the rally wheels. They were pretty ugly, 2 of them had been painted orange. It was a quick repair too, just comet and red scuff pad scrubbing and a can of genuine mopar Argent spray paint. I did wire wheel and paint the rust off the bead areas though.
This stage of bodywork isn't something I would normally share or recommend in general. It was purely a way to get the rust hidden for awhile while I enjoy the car. That said....
Here a few more pictures of what I did. All of this "bodywork" was done over about 20 hours. The first coat of all-metal filler set up very quickly because it was about 100 degrees that day. My method on the quarter and the rocker was to press the all metal into fiberglass cloth and lay it over the "great stuff" spray foam. I had previously sand blasted, wire wheeled, and "rust restored" the pitted rust that was left over.
I blocked and reapplied all-metal filler until there were no more holes and no more foam or fiberglass showing. I then used regular body filler to shape and block out areas.
I used regular filler primer until the scratches were gone. This side had been panel painted on at least 3 separate occasions. There were hard paint lines where the body side mouldings used to be and had been masked off. Other than that I left most of the blemishes in the finish. I prepared the entire side with a comet and gray scuff pad bath. I masked off at the top of the body line with the reverse mask method that leaves a fuzzy line.
The paint was a great match but covered very slowly so I ended up with far more base coat outside of the repaired areas than I had planned on. But there still isn't much basecoat above the door handle line. I also used reverse masking a the front and rear valances. I cleared over a few chips and buffing thin spots in the old finish.
I have a very small air compressor and it would lose pressure in about the same place every time resulting in some very nice orange peel in the clear. I also managed to hang a spectacular run on the lower rear of the fender. It was near dusk when I finished and I was painting on the East side of the fence, so I'm going to blame that on the very honest fact that I couldn't see what the hell I was doing.
Like I said before, this isn't even close to a decent job, but seeing this side all in one color, and shiny, and "rust free" has given me a big boost. I'm ready to do the same on the other side now! I did buy a lower fender patch panel for that side because there just isn't much to work with on that side.
I wish I had taken a before picture of the rally wheels. They were pretty ugly, 2 of them had been painted orange. It was a quick repair too, just comet and red scuff pad scrubbing and a can of genuine mopar Argent spray paint. I did wire wheel and paint the rust off the bead areas though.