Ivan's coupe: bodywork is done

[zenki]

Half-assed repairs like the Bert guy did give me anxiety. That's why i never trust any of the welding repairs done on mine. Even pro-shops these days seem to do shoddy repairs. Glad you caught it in time, would really suck if you find something after it has been painted.

[banpei]

I'm happy you found this before painting the car. It's frustrating to see you have to do one step back, but soon you will be able to do two steps forward!

[Ivan141]

The saga continues...

Traveled down to the lockup today with full intention to clean last weeks repairs, spray some epoxy primer on all the bare metal, and prepare for undercoating (masking and plugging holes.

As is the tradition, reality intervened. While I was grinding the old welds down I spotted a load of pinholes around the old Bert repairs and started filling them with welds. Then I spotted another hole, and another.. kept on plugging.
Eventually I was scraping away old sealant and found yet another bit of hidden rust on the right quarter panel (which was poorly replaced long ago before I owned it).
Out comes the grinder.


You can see the amount of overlap that was there, and the color will tell you what you need to know about the state of the metal.

Everything got the chop, since the rear end is now so far away from original I wont bother recreating the overlapping sections.


CAD design:


Transferred to metal:

The clamp is holding a huge chunk of copper so I dont burn through as easily.

Weldy, weldy:

I also added some meat to very thin areas around Berts old repair sections to the left.

After another shit-ton of grinding:


And then I finally managed to hit it with a coat of 2K epoxy, using my old Wagner electric spraygun.. It aint pretty but for primer it works fine, not much overspray.

Note how awesome my bottom repair section looks next to Berts ugly stuff. But those bits are out of sight and solid enough, so im not touching them.
The patch above it (done 2 weeks ago) is not exactly perfect, but it was a difficult curve to replicate without proper tools, I think its close enough for filler to save the day.

The inside was also sprayed:


I think I used the same brand primer (Mipa) that was put on by the mediablaster guys, the color is an exact match.

Next episode:
-Fixing last remnant of Bert's work on right doorsill.
-Finish last tube of sealant around the trunk area and in roof rails.
-Clean inside of roof, primer it.
-Scuff up primer around seams, spray primer over them.
-Plugging and masking for the Raptor liner job..

[Ivan141]

So, some progress again this week. No pictures.

Last of the pinholes around repairs patched up. Most of the old seam sealant removed around the doors and floor area.

Repairs, wirebrushed seams and inside of roof splattered with epoxy primer.

Finally emptied out the last tube of seam sealer around the roof, doors and floor.

Basically ready for its coat of Raptor liner, though it still needs to be masked off.

I am looking at building a supplied air face mask setup before starting any further work with these isocyanate based 2K coatings.. The health risks are immense and I do hope to enjoy my lungs a little while longer.

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[Mylesmck]

CAD gets me every time...
Good work, well done

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[fantapants]

Happy to see this still kicking along mate

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[Ivan141]

Today was one of those days where it doesnt look like you got much done, but those hardly surprise me anymore.
After last week there are only a bunch of chores left to get the body ready for undercoating, got about half of them done today.

Firstly I scuffed some 2/3rds of the primer on the underbody to give the Raptor liner a better key to stick to. This is often mentioned in passing on project threads,
but make no mistake, it is hours and hours of gruelling work with a scothbrite pad

I also primered over most of the seam sealant (dunno why, but I saw some more knowledgeable people do this). Used a brush since it doesnt have to look perfect hidden under undercoating. This way there was no atomized particles flying around, only thinner vapours.




In the meantime I am building my own fresh air respirator out of a vacuum cleaner motor, some hose and a decathlon easybreath snorkel mask with 3d printed adapters.. Will feel better having positive pressure fresh outside air being blown to my face while I'm working with those 2K paints. The epoxy primer I used so far is also 2k and I use a half-face respirator but I am NOT very comfortable with it. Chemicals rarely look very dangerous until you're faced with the consequences.

In my next installment I have:
-Yet more scuffing up to do (underside of bootfloor/ inside car /engine bay
-Some final spots to seam seal my bodywork guy pointed out to me.
-To paint over the seams on the inside / doors / engine bay
-Masking off?

If you guys are curious I might throw in some pics of the fresh air respirator sidequest.

[Aram]

Awesome!
Keep it up man. :-)

[robokill]

can't wait to see it back on the road.

[Mylesmck]

Nice work

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