Back in the day, (late '60s to early '80s) I spent more than my fair share of time hanging out around a body shop. My Dad's best friend, Chester, was an old style body-and-fender guy, and I spent a lot of Saturdays hanging out at Chester's shop. Working on one project or another, I've told some stories here about Chester's shop. But, I learned the basics of body work.
Basically, what I learned is that I hate body work. But I learned more than that basic fact. So, last week I ordered the parts to repair my Mercury. And, like Chester told me repeatedly, the first thing you do is prep and prime.
It's plastic, or fiberglasss, or some other such composite, but it responded well to a good sanding with 600 grit and the first coat of primer is on it. For the next several days, I'll sand and prime it a couple of more times, then start disassembling the sedan to get ready to re-install this header panel.
One of the things I noticed at Auto Zone, is that I can buy color-match rattle-can paint. I bet that Chester would turn over in his grave if he knew I was going to use rattle-can, but we'll see how it goes. I'll have to get the color code off the inside of the door and do a little homework.
Have fun with that... :-)
ReplyDeleteI had to replace the nose on my then-wife's '89 Escort, 20 or so years ago. I used factory-matching rattle-can paint & clear-coat, with finish sanding/wooling between. Came out great.
ReplyDeleteIt helps that I was then a cabinetmaker, & had some experience with real spraying. Would've done it at the shop, with the good DeVilbiss gun, but the boss would've dismembered me. He had the land & the backhoe, too.
Good luck! You've done it before; I'm sure it'll turn out well. Of course, if you're like me, you may always focus on one tiny imperfection & curse yourself for it. So it goes.
--Tennessee Budd