# help with body work on 66 lemans



## woolsey10 (Oct 18, 2011)

i'm finally going to start the body work on my 66 and I just have a few questions. I've been told to do the first sand with 180 grit sand paper using a sander ran by an air compressor, then prime the entire car and sand it again with 320 grit using a sanding block, then prime again and sand with 600 grit using a block. my question is, when do I wet sand? and also, how do I wet sand?...not really sure what that means. and also, do I do the bondo work before or after I've started my first sand? 
any help is greatly appreciated. thank you in advance.


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

Hey Wollsey,No problem how much body work does it need, post some pics and i can give you a little more specific info. If it's original paint on it and theres little to no rust you can cut it with 180 on a DA (dual action sander) down till you start seeing the original primer. Sand only the rust spots down to bare metal and clean and spray bare metal immediately with etching primer in a can. once you have it scuffed down to the factory primer and before you apply any filler, spray the whole car with a coat of Epoxy primer. This will seal it from rusting while you work on it and act as a adhesion base for the filler which sometimes pops and bubbles when applied over bare metal and usually does it after the final paint is on. 
Now you will apply any filler, i used Rage Gold, sands easy. This is where the fun begins. Any dents deeper than 1/8" should be bumped out, holes should have patches welded in and ground flush. Apply a skim coat of filler over these low areas and asit just starts to harden use a body file (long cheese grater) to take them down flush (saves a lot of sanding). it will look rough but all you want at this point is to feather and flush it. 
Next apply a polyester spot filler suck as "body icing" over your filler and any small dings or deep scratches. Sand and feather all fills with 220 on a long block. Now get grey high build primer, you will need a basic gun and compressor set up. Apply 3 wet coats, basically three times around the car. Let dry and then spray a mist of black primer as a guide coat (see "100 dollar 66' hood" for photos). 
Now you get out the big blocks, i used a piece of 1x4x4' with paper tacked to it for the doors and rear quarters, this is where it counts on getting a nice paint job not the spraying. Sand dry with 280 alternate directions in an X pattern you will see the small flecks of black disappear as you sand, any ares where the flecks remain are low spots and need more sanding or more icing, do not sand through the gray to the black epoxy. If need be fill imperfections, then apply another coat of primer, guide coat then same thing only with 320 dry. At this point you should be straight and flat, now sand it again with 400-500 wet sandpaper and use a spray bottle to wet the surface as you sand your goal is to remove all the 320 scratches. and if you spray water on the primer it should reflect your hand just like the finish color and clear will when done.
100's of hours later you are ready to add some color, one coat sealer primer, 2-3 coats base coat and 3-4 coats clear all flashed in between (no tack when touched). Thats it in a nutshell check out my Photobucket link down below, i just did my GTO hood i salvaged from the dead...it is a lot of work but no one will care how good it looks more than you so take your time and make it straight and you'll have a paint job as good or better than what it rolled out of the factory with, and the pride of saying "i did it myself!"...:cheers


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## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Good advice :agree

Let me add that there's more than one way to approach it. It's pretty important to stay with the same brand of materials from the primer/surfacer all the way up through the finished paint so you can be sure that everything is all chemically compatible.

Kevin Tetz, the guy on Trucks! on Powerblock TV, has a complete series of video training available. Go to Paintucation.com to find them - they're also available from other sources like Eastwood. Those videos, and his web forum (there's a link to it on Paintucation.com) are excellent resources for learning. I've watched mine many times, and every time I've learned something new.

Bear


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