Body Work
The first question I am asked is “was it a kit”? The second question “is it “fiberglass or steel”? The third question
“what has been modified”? If that’s all you want to know, here are the answers. (No, Yes, Everything).
I wish it was a kit, that would have made everything a lot easier because someone else would have done all the engineering
and testing in advance, No it is not a kit. Everything but the bonnet (one piece front end) is steel, the bonnet is
fiberglass. There isn’t an inch of the body that hasn’t been modified, it has been widened, lengthened and lowered.
Rear
Starting at the back, the turn signal lights have been removed (the tail lights now do double duty).
The rear bumpers have been removed. The rear pan and hanging gas tank have been replaced with a
Jaz foam filled fuel cell
and new sheet metal pan. The rear wheel wells have been cut and flared, the rear fenders have been winded, the
fuel filler has been relocated with a custom unit from a Harley and all the seams have been welded and smoothed.
Undercarrage
100% of the chassis and sheet metal from the firewall forward has been replaced and is totally custom,
new floor pans have been installed and a new transmission tunnel fabricated.
Front
The one-piece front end is hinged in the front by four-rod ends attached to the frame and secured in the back by quarter
turn Dzus fasteners. a steel reinforced rectangular center section revels the blower. The turn signal lights have been
removed, turn signal lamps integrated with the headlight now replace them. Steel is used to reinforce the entire band
around the rear of the bonnet while adding 2 inches to the cars length and wheel base. Fender flares have been added to
widen the front end and gas struts are used to slowly and completely raise and lower it.
Process
The process started with the removal of several layers of paint applied over a 40 year period. I removed the paint the
old fashioned way with paint remover and a scraper followed by DA sanding. I removed all the old body filler because
I didn’t know how old it was or the quality of the work and than straightened the sheet metal, again the old fashioned
way with a hammer and dolly. New filler was added sparingly, actually, it didn’t need much.
Paint Tips and Tricks
In 2007 the car was painted by Geans Custom Paint
in San Bruno California. 10 years earlier, I painted the car in my garage, and the following is based on my experience.
Have patients, body work goes slower than everything else. I can’t tell you the number of times A neighbor said “are you
still sanding”?
Have you ever wondered why professionally built cars look so great compared to those built by a hobbyist? Well there are
two primary reasons and neither of them have anything to do with applying the paint. It is all about the preparation before
the paint is applied and the detail after the paint has been applied. To get that deep smooth finish, the body “must” be
perfectly straight. How do we accomplish that? Assuming you have done neat bodywork, it is all about primer, and block
sanding. Apply several coats of high quality primer (yes, paint quality counts) than block sand, do it again and again
until the body is as straight as a sheet of glass. Between each process spray a mist of contrasting primer, this will
allow you to see the low spots, your long board will not sand off the contrasting color and bingo…there is your low spot.
In some areas, you may need to repeat this three or four times to get it right, don’t cheat, because I guarantee you will
see every low or high spot after you have applied the paint.
Once every square inch of your body in primer is perfectly flat, you are ready for paint, I won’t get into paint techniques.
There are books on the subject, but I can tell you that it is possible to achieve a high quality job in your garage without
a spray booth. Once you have painted many coats of color and clear, are you done? Nooooo
Your paint job is going to have some orange peal, and will look more like a $99.95 job than a show finish when you are done
painting. What you do next will make your job look like a show car. It is time to put sandpaper to it once more. You have
applied enough clear (at least 4 coats) that you can sand without ever touching the sandpaper to the color coat. Starting
with 1000 grit paper and working to 1500 you will wet sand until there is no orange peel. This is time consuming and a
delicate process, be very careful on corners where the paint always is thinner and be on the look out for color, any time
you see color being sanded stop in that area immediately, you have already gone to far. Once done with this phase your
paint will have a semi gloss finish but look extremely smooth.
It is now time to give it that shine. Starting with polishing compound and an electric polisher carefully polish that semi
gloss finish to a brilliant shinny finish. Polishing compound is very abrasive and can easily burn through the clear
especially on edges, if you are not careful. I suggest polishing sharp edges by hand to avoid this. When you are done
with this phase, your new paint job will have a deep shiny appearance but it is not protected yet. Based on the paint
manufactures recommendations, you may have to wait a few weeks to apply wax for protection.
So there you go, it isn’t about how well you spray the paint on (although that is important) it is about what you do
before and after that really makes the difference.
