Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Body work

Oldest daughter hit a deer a couple of months ago.

She is in Baton Rouge interviewing for a job so she is allowing me to fix my car.

I am not wild about body work.  I am not even very good at it.  But I can make it better. 

There are no pictures.  I tried to take a few but the lens fogged when I brought it outside.  It was in the mid-90s again and still very humid.

The front of the left side of the hood was peeled downward.  So I straightened it out with a 14" pipe wrench.  The resulted in a deep low just aft of the hood's hem flange.  The low was approximately 18 inches long.

The front corners of the hood were high so I "Blocked" the hood.  That is where you place a piece of 2 by 4 over the latch and slam the hood down on the 2 by 4.  That pushes the striker up, pushes the latch down and effectively lowers the hood.

The hood was tight on the right and wide on the left after that.  So I took that same piece of 2 by 4 and 'drifted' the striker to the right.  It takes a little bit of mental gymnastics.  When the hood is closed the striker cross-car is set by the latch.  What you are doing is moving the hood relative to the striker.  Moving the striker to the right means that you are moving the hood LEFT relative to the striker.  Capiche?

I sanded the paint down to primer where it was cracked.  I sanded the two rust spots down to bare metal.  I sanded all the clear coat to roughen it and to expose clean surface.

I slabbed on this product
http://www.amazon.com/Fibreglass-Evercoat-156-Weight-Filler/dp/B000P70USU/ref=sr_1_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1374111558&sr=1-2&keywords=evercoat+body+filler

I let it harden and then started hand sanding and scraping.

This stuff is 1000% easier to work with than the "Bondo" of 30 years ago.

I still have a few low spots that need a second coat.  That is work for tomorrow.

Max

Max (the wood chipper) picked up his 75 loaded 243 Winchester.  For some reason he thinks Hornady V-Max bullets are the best there is, the absolute pinnacle of excellence.   Hey, if it makes him happy.

1 comment:

  1. I think Hornady A-Max bullets are the best made, the very pinnacle of excellence. Hornady did something a couple of years ago when the re-did their bullet making line. The jackets now are much more concentric, better balanced. I'd frankly rather have Hornadys than Noslers these days. Better bullets at about half the price.

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