Thursday, April 28, 2022

Metal Work Complete

I'm finally finished with what I can do to improve the metal on this car.

I stripped the driver's wing down and did some hammer/dolly work, pulled some dents, and cut out that big smash and replaced with a patch.  It's decent, but not awesome.  I feel like I could have done better.  But it is solid and will look good when filled - with 1/8" or less, of course.  Most places are 1/16".  You can see that this car got hit, hard - hard enough to dent the inner fender well.


Then, since I couldn't stand it, I made a patch for and replaced the passenger's sill like I did the driver's side.  I am glad I did - there was junk in there and the metal wasn't super great either.


I also touched up a couple of spots and fixed the hole where the passenger's door lock goes.

So here is what I have to work with now...


On to sanding!


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Monday, April 4, 2022

The Home Stretch III

Well, I thought I had crossed the metalwork finish line... and I suppose I have, in a way.  But this car is the gift that keeps on giving.

I made a patch and closed up the sill.  I think it came out pretty well!


That makes all the holes that shouldn't be there go away.

But then I nicked the edge of the driver's front fender with the sander, and saw... more Bondo.  So of course I had to investigate.

I mean, come on, man.

What HAPPENED to this car?

At least the metal is all there and I'm not fighting rust.  I ought to be able to get most of this out with a hammer and dolly, and my handy dent puller.  But it won't be what I hoped for.  If I can get this down to 1/8" of filler in places, I guess I can be okay with that.  It's better than the 1/2" divot by the door.

Sigh.
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