Stop Me Before I Do Body Work Damage

[JGross]

I'm new to body work but I have done a lot of reading on the forum so I thing I'm ready to give it a try. Instead of asking whats the best way to do this or that, I'm going to describe what I plan on doing and someone please stop me if I'm all screwed up.

So here we go, I'm going to start with a front finder, the PO had painted over I don't know what with gray primer. I plan on using a DA sander with 60 grit sand paper to get down to bare metal.

I can't spend a lot of time each day working on the panels so once have it down to bare metal how long do I have before I need to cover it with primer, hours, days, weeks ?

This is what I starting with:





Thanks for the help

[markeb01]

Just go slow with the 60 grit. Light pressure and take your time so you don't warp the panels. Depending on how humid it is where you live, bare steel can rust in a matter of minutes if left unprotected. The easiest solution is pick up some Picklex 20. It's expensive but goes a long way. I bought the spray bottle size over 10 years ago and it probably has about half remaining.

Here's where I bought mine:

http://autobodystore.net/Merchant2/m...gory_Code=RCAC

And here is the manufacturers page:

http://www.picklex20.com/

It sprays on like water, and if kept dry, will protect bare steel indefinitely (it won't tolerate being outside). I've had a bare 1960 GMC grille hanging in the basement for over 5 years now. I had it soda blasted and sprayed it will Picklex, and it looks just like the day I mounted it on the wall. I originally intended to have it chromed, so I didn't want any paint on it that would have to be removed later, and the Picklex has performed exactly as promised.

Another option is to spray everything in epoxy primer as you complete each piece. You can do body filler on top of it. But it's a lot more work painting individual pieces and cleaning up the mess multiple times than it is to simply squirt on some Picklex.

[DPowers]

I am not a body man, but when my buddy and I did my hood (he's a body man). If I remember right, we took it down to metal with 60 and 80 grit. DA'd it all over with 180 and 320 grit, did the repairs, epoxy primered, fill primered, water sanded, and then base coat clear coat.

[p_rubottom]

The key is what Dpowers said epoxy primer. After stripping with 60 hit it with nothing finer than 180-ish and a quick coat of etch prime and a few good heavy coats of epoxy prime and it will be rust proof inside or outside until your ready to topcoat it. Good luck!!