Project 240

[S13_love]

awesome progress

Thanks man!

Doing all this body work is very time consuming...but since im pretty much going for perfection here, i knew that it was gonna take a while anyways.

If only i had access to the shop (or any air tools) on the weekends, this would have been done a week ago.

[noobdrftr]

yea i know what you mean...air tools are the s***

[JoseBronx]

not having a garage FTL, mines is still a ugly primer orange

[mikep1745]

looks like a fun project. good luck with it

[S13_love]

Work done so far this week.

Sanded down this area to get it re-primed.



Lol.





DDDDEEEENNNNTTTTT.



...and another.



Soooo....I had to spread some bondo onto those areas.





I had to put some on the roof as well.(driver side)



(passenger side)



Oh, also i sanded all the rock chips out of the front part of the fender.



The bondo that has been sanded down...this took me forever...









Masking this was a little tricky.





In the paint booth all masked up.



Sweet! Half of my car is now gray colored!













Tomorrow, im gonna try to get more done...

Also, i apologize for not being so detailed, but if any of you guys have questions, feel free ask and i'll try to answer them as best as i could.

[Karateboy88]

What kind of body filler do you use? Bondo?

When would you use fiber glass?

[S13_love]

I have to check on that. For body filler, i didn't use bondo, i used something else...ugh...totally forgot what it's called. I'll get back to ya on that tomorrow.

Lol, sorry if i confused any of ya, I just call all body filler stuff "bondo" anyways.

When would i use fiberglass?

Well.....never. I don't need to use that stuff at all unless, i had fiberglass parts that needed to be repaired (which i don't).

[Karateboy88]

typo
Modified by Karateboy88 at 7:54 PM 7/10/2009

[S13Joe]

Well.....never. I don't need to use that stuff at all unless, i had fiberglass parts that needed to be repaired (which i don't).

Thats not necessarily true. Fiberglass can be used on things that aren't only fiberglass, I used this to shave my antennae on my coupe. Either way, looks great so far man. The body work is really good, thats alot of time put into this car already, keep it up dude.

[Bumnah]

What do you use to fill in the holes and sand smooth the holes in the front bumper?

I've done very limited body work, and I know polyurethane bumpers are a pain to work on.

[sean@z1]

very nice keep up the good work

[duffman1278]

Had a question, did you apply the body filler before the primer or after? As in, the filler to the bare metal or onto the primer first?

[Didderson]

Only apply bondo or filler to bare metal is how I learned in auto body repair class.Primer after so paint doesn't have random color changes behind the coat.

Bondo and fib. resin work on paint, but Idk if it holds up as well. Bondo is great for lic. plate hole fill in with some type of mat backing.

[S13_love]

Fiberglass can be used on things that aren't only fiberglass, I used this to shave my antennae on my coupe.

This is true too. I guess its just all about personal preference and for me, i avoid that stuff because i have only worked w/ fiberglass only once before and also if that stuff gets on your skin, its gonna itch like a motherf***** lol.

thats alot of time put into this car already

Bwahahaha, oh man, you have no idea...let me put it this way, this week alone, i have only gotten about 18 hours of sleep so far.

What do you use to fill in the holes and sand smooth the holes in the front bumper?

I'll have to check on that too. There is a specific name for it...um, it was some type of fusor bumper mesh stuff first of all....well, i'll have to take pics of the back side of the front bumper to show ya what i did.

I've done very limited body work, and I know polyurethane bumpers are a pain to work on.

Oh yeah, they are a pain to work on....you'll see why in the next update when i get to it later on tonight or tomorrow morning.

Had a question, did you apply the body filler before the primer or after? As in, the filler to the bare metal or onto the primer first?

You definitely put the body filler on the bare metal first; block it down til is smooth and flat, then spray primer over it...then block that down to knock out any noticeable sand scratches and to check to make sure there are no high or low spots, etc.

If you put the filler on top of the primer...you'll be setting yourself up for trouble later on down the road.

Ugh, loading the pics onto photobucket taking longer than i thought...

[S13_love]

This week was definitely a busy one...

I had to sand down the front bumper...i knew that it was gonna have to be re-primed anyways. Also, the area where the license plate would be had some intense high and low spots...



More pics of the bumper.







Ahhh yes, the rear bumper...Here are pics of the damage of where people have grazed it and where the paint is peeling.









In all honesty, i think that was the first time that rear bumper reinforcement was removed in at least 10 years...holy f*** that was a pain in the a**.



Took an air gun to the areas where it was peeling...





Like the front bumper, the rear bumper had cracks in the paint in it...in order to get rid of those for good, i had to sand the paint down to the plastic...







Spraying the primer



This one i did a little different lol...i basically sprayed on 4 heavy coats of primer just in the area where the front license plate would be at...then i went on to primer the rest of the bumper.



All done! ....hopefully.



As for progress...im getting pretty close to finishing up the body work...just 3 more patch panels need to be welded in, the replacement door just needs to be touched up (as well as the new fender...just wait...you'll see what i mean)...and some quick dent pulling that just needs to be done on certain areas of the rocker panels.

[duffman1278]

As always it looks GOOD!!

Thanks for the tips also I'll need to do this by the weekend.

[S13_love]

Thanks!

Well, i though i might as well tell you guys what grit sandpaper im using, just in case if you are wondering.

For the areas that i put body filler over, i sanded that area w/ 80 grit by hand first before i appiled the filler.

Then after the body filler was hardened, i used 180 grit on a hard block and sanded those down...after the body filler has been sanded down, i went over those areas w/ 320 grit to knock down those 180 sand scratches.

Once primer was sprayed, i just used the 320 to sand that down also...i would normally would use 400 grit for this part, but it was quicker and i thought it worked out better for me anyways.

Im not at this part yet but once all the body work is done and the primer has been sanded...i'll go over the areas where the primer had been sanded with wet 600 to smooth out those 320 (or 400) sand scratches.

So yeah, this is the way that im doing it. Of course, there are also other ways to go about this process

[Karateboy88]

Do you ever go up to 800 for wet sanding?

when you're wet sanding the car with 600 grit, do you use a block or hand?

Thanks again

[S13_love]

Do you ever go up to 800 for wet sanding?

Actually, i have before. At the shop that i work at, we sometimes get new bumpers in which the factory primer on it sands away waaayyy to easy...

But once i get to wet sanding this car, im just gonna use 600...it'll sand those deep sand scratches (if any) a lot easier than the 800 would lol.

But on the other hand, if you wanted to take the extra time to wet sand the car w/ 800, that wouldn't hurt at all.

when you're wet sanding the car with 600 grit, do you use a block or hand?

Thanks again

I use a soft block to wet sand the car...but there are areas in which i go over by hand...i just show a few pics of the areas where it's marked red where i would go over by hand.

Any sharp edges or body lines like that i would go over by hand



For the bumper, these are just some of the area i would go over by hand...basically any area where i can't get the block to it or will have it on a edge, i just go over it by hand.



Here's another example...



Soooooooooo...to answer your question...i use both.The soft block on flat surfaces, etc. and by hand when trying to wet sand any grooves, nooks and crannys, sharp edges, etc.

I hope this helps!

[Karateboy88]

Thanks, that helps a lot

[S13_love]

Didn't get a whole lot done this week...just only a few things

Started off by repriming these areas







For the replacement fender and door, i had to fill in that body line groove thing...



As for the door, i also had to take care of a few dents...and yes, the door looks like s*** right now lol



And got another patch panel welded in finally...its not very clean either lol



Hopefully...the metal work will be done on monday...............that is if my car decides to run again! (its just sitting there dead...on the driveway)

This brings me to my next issue that I have with this thing.

Since thursday, when i try to start it up...it would crank over slowly, but then it would fire up fine and run like normal. Then everytime after that, it would start to crank over slower and slower each time i would try to start it...up until it wouldn't start anymore which happened yesterday.

The battery is good...the windows, headlights, radio, etc. still work.

When i would turn the key all the way over, there wouldn't be anything, not even a click sound...i also checked all the fuses. They look good. The wires and grounds look fine.

It'll run if i pop clutch it.....sooooo, im guessing the starter maybe completely shot then?

I already posted this in some other thread but got no responses...so im hoping some of you guys here might have opinions (or solutions) about this.

Also if there is a decent thread on KA24E starter removal and installation (with pics) that i can reference off of, please link that too lol, thanks.

[duffman1278]

Check your relays and make sure they're good. Sounds like something is sucking up your juice also.

[S13_love]

Check your relays and make sure they're good. Sounds like something is sucking up your juice also.

Relays appear to be fine...hmmmmmm.

I guess i'll try to pull the starter off and give to napa or some other place to test it. I have a slight feeling the starter solenoid is gone...i can't think of any other reason why there wouldn't be a click sound.

I also am starting to wonder if my alternator is starting to crap out on me too...

[duffman1278]

Definitely have the alternator tested because it could be that it's not fully charging your system. You also don't want to be driving one and suddenly your car turns off on you. lol <--- happened to me when my alternator took a dump

[S13_love]

Got it fixed!!

Yeah, it was the starter... I took it off this morning and brought it down to napa to have them test it. It was completely dead, the damn thing didn't even want to spin...and luckily, they had one in stock so i picked that one up, put it in, and now it runs!

[jeb1517]

Wow, keep up the great work man. This thread is great for noobs like me.

[Karateboy88]

I'll do the welding for you if you lay down the paint on my car

[S13_love]

I'll do the welding for you if you lay down the paint on my car

Lol...

I'll spray the primer and do everything else...but as for paint, im not really that ready to do that yet. God knows if I did the painting on this car, there would be runs, dry spots, etc. lol

Anyways, for anybody out there, i just want your opinion on something.

When i took my car to get it aligned last week, basically I was told that I need all the inner and outer tie rods replaced on the front of my car, as well as those steering rack boot things....tire-rama told me that the cost to just get those would be about $500. Yeah f*** that.

While looking online i found this:

http://www.240sxmotoring.com/tetieros1.html

It has everything that i need for about $200 soooooo...would anyone know if these are any good or reliable? Thanks.

[Karateboy88]

How much experience do you think someone needs to just lay primer?

Lol...

I'll spray the primer and do everything else...but as for paint, im not really that ready to do that yet. God knows if I did the painting on this car, there would be runs, dry spots, etc. lol

Anyways, for anybody out there, i just want your opinion on something.

When i took my car to get it aligned last week, basically I was told that I need all the inner and outer tie rods replaced on the front of my car, as well as those steering rack boot things....tire-rama told me that the cost to just get those would be about $500. Yeah f*** that.

While looking online i found this:

http://www.240sxmotoring.com/tetieros1.html

It has everything that i need for about $200 soooooo...would anyone know if these are any good or reliable? Thanks.

$500 sounds like an a** pounding price but so does $200. My brother works at an auto parts store so I tend to get my stuff for 30-50% off.

I am actually in the middle of replacing the outer tie rods and we got some beefy ones about $18 a piece. They were MOOG so not a s***ty company either.

In general, Tein is high quality so if you plan on going balls to the wall with your car it might be worth it but if not you can probably find some 90% as good for 50% of the cost. After all, its not really a load bearing part compared to, lets say a control arm.

[S13_love]

How much experience do you think someone needs to just lay primer?

Bwahahaha none...you can literally learn how to do that in like, 20 min lol.

$500 sounds like an a** pounding price but so does $200. My brother works at an auto parts store so I tend to get my stuff for 30-50% off.

I am actually in the middle of replacing the outer tie rods and we got some beefy ones about $18 a piece. They were MOOG so not a s***ty company either.

I can handle 200...but yeah, since i work at an auto body...i can pretty much get parts and stuff for discount prices also.

I also heard about MOOG, i might have to check them out too but....

In general, Tein is high quality so if you plan on going balls to the wall with your car it might be worth it but if not you can probably find some 90% as good for 50% of the cost. After all, its not really a load bearing part compared to, lets say a control arm.

Well, quality is definitely one of my priorities...so i guess this one is pretty simple to make a decision on lol.