I kinda figured that everyone would eventually get tired of me bumping my pic thread every time I changed something, so I decided to make a project thread. I'll be posting my updates here from now on, so scroll to the end of the thread for my latest bouts of insanity
I had Peter (Crazygenius13) weld up my taillight fillers and bumper extension holes. There was a small amount of metal warping on the driver's side so he used a stud gun to pull the metal back out. I used the FBI taillight fillers so they don't fit perfectly; I'll need to do a layer of kitty hair to bring out the contour of the fillers to match the curve of the tailgate, but for the $15 or so I paid for them, I think it's worth the extra work. I had to take off early so the tailgate is still at Peter's getting worked on, but I'll hopefully be picking it up tomorrow or Monday. Stay tuned...
Kitty hair and filler are 2 different things. You don't want either to be build up very high at all, but using kitty hair as a base for anything like what Jay is doing is much better than just slapping some filler on there.
I use a coat of kitty hair on everything I shave, before doing the filler. I have never had one thing I've shaved crack on me. If you don't use it when you shave stuff, it may look good, and work for a while, but the 'glass base seems to add a bit of extra strength to any patch panel or area that needs large amounts of filler.
They're the cheap FBI fillers; they don't have the compound curve that matches the tailgate. I still think I can make it work. Worst case senario, if it cracks in a year or two, I can cut 'em out and redo it with Grant fillers at that point, but I don't think I'll have that problem since I'm using fiberglass for the majority of the thickness. I've layed kittyhair thicker tan this before and it never cracked.
Yeah, I would never recommend someone to put that much filler on something. Like he said, the majority of the build up will be with the fiberglass (kitty hair) then minimal amount of regular filler.
There really aren't too many other options other than pie cutting the pieces and work, or get a grant piece.
Well if you're willing to re-do the work if it fails, go for it.
I've never had experience with the grant fillers,i hear they're clutch tho. My friend got a set of fillers when we were doing his S10 and he was lead to believe they were grant, they turned out to be lower quality than FBI. Flat as a board. We wound up pitching them out and I made some on the English Wheel, like I wanted to do in the first place....
Got a little bit done tonight, laid up the kitty hair on the driver's side taillight and DA'd it with 40 grit. Still needs some sanding but my air compressor kept flipping the breaker and I got tired of ****ing with it for tonight. Got it built up enough to match the curve of the tailgate, but I keep ending up with divots in the edge. I should be able to finish sanding this layer down tomorrow and have it good enough for filler. Here's the pics:
Just make sure you sand it down to the point that there is none on the paint. Also, if you wanna use my "killer" just let me know. It's an 8" disc on a thicker soft backing pad, works great for Fiberglass.
I might have to give that a shot. I've been beating the hell out of this little $15 Harbor Freight DA (and the garage circuit breaker :haha Made some more progress while the forum was down.
Sanded last night's work some more, determined it still had a few low spots that needed to be built up:
Did a lot more sanding and I think the driver's side is ready for filler now:
Shit That's coming along man! I need to get off my lazy ass and start making some progress instead of living vicariously through other's projects! LOL !
Damn I cant imagine doing all that in just two days. I'm sure experience helps tho, you're a pro and I'm learning as I go. At least I'm not having to sand everything by hand
You are gonna have to start using a block soon though. A harder foam block should work good, along with a small hard block, and maybe a radiator hose piece about 3 inches long for the reverse curve.
Ok so I need to pick up a foam block and a rubber hard block, what should I use each one for? What grits of paper should I use for block sanding? My plan was to DA the filler with 80 grit to get it to the rough shape I need, then DA again with 120 to take down most of the 80 grit sanding scratches. What should I start blocking with? Also would it hurt if I spray the work with some cheap rattlecan primer to use as a guide coat for block sanding? I'm thinking about picking up a quart kit of this stuff to use as a sealer once all the bodywork is done: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1-Qt...318QQhashZitem190242484652QQitemZ190242484652
Any experience with that brand? Would I be better off getting gray or red oxide sealer since the truck will be painted black (I figure it might be kinda hard to spray black paint over black sealer)?
Start with 40 on a short block to rough out, only for a bit, then move to 80, then 120/180. Once you're happy withthe shape, smooth out the 180 scratches with 320
My plan was to DA the filler with 80 grit to get it to the rough shape I need, then DA again with 120 to take down most of the 80 grit sanding scratches.
NEVER use a DA on filler, it turns and moves way to fast for precision work, and I gaurentee, I put $10 on the table, if you use a DA on such a curved surface you'll create at least one low spot.
What should I start blocking with? Also would it hurt if I spray the work with some cheap rattlecan primer to use as a guide coat for block sanding?
No, using the guide coat is an awesome idea! Now, it's not gonna help so much for large low spots since you're workign with a curved surface, but it'll help identify smaller lows.
I'm thinking about picking up a quart kit of this stuff to use as a sealer once all the bodywork is done: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1-Qt...318QQhashZitem190242484652QQitemZ190242484652
Any experience with that brand? Would I be better off getting gray or red oxide sealer since the truck will be painted black (I figure it might be kinda hard to spray black paint over black sealer)?
The only difficulty with spraying black paint of black sealer would be if you can't tell where you've been and missed a spot, and if you're painting correctly, you shouldn't have that problem.
Kustom Shops not bad, personally I prefer PPG (or Sherwin-Williams if I can't get anything else) over it though, but thats just my personal preference based on mixings and spraying.
Yeah pretty much what he said. YOu can use your 40 grit on the DA just to knock down the spreader ridges, but pretty much stick with the blocks. YOu will also need a med length block for the gate. Come by Today at like 6:00 of you can, and I will show you how and where to use em
Pete, thanks for the crash course on block sanding today. I'll probably be pestering you with questions all weekend :haha:
dawgnutz, who needs taillights? I'm a hardcore minitrucker, fuk da police! Just kidding the truck is still drivable since I have taillights mounted in the rollpan, but for the most part I've been driving my wife's Saturn around lately.
Gary, thanks for the props! Yeah I took this week off work. Michelle's pissed since I've pretty much spent my whole vacation in the garage, and keep tripping circuit breakers with the air compressor :haha:
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