Good books on body repair (bondo)?

[Vanguard]

I've got a '92 Legacy with lots of rust. It has always been outside and
some kids poked at it with an ice pick awhile back with started that
accelerated some of the rusting but it has other rust simply due to lack
of care. So there are several spots that need bondo & paint (and maybe
fiberglass patching then bondo and paint). One fender will have to be
replaced (after repairing the body around it). I called the local tech
schools but they don't accept outside vehicles to work on (they only
accept donated cars).

So I'm looking for some good texts on how to bondo. Prep work, bondo,
shaping, and painting. The painting doesn't have to be great. I figure
I'll prime the bondo, sand, prime again, sand again, and repeat until
the surface is satisfactory, prime again, and then use a matching spray
paint to seal and then later I'll have the whole car painted but after
getting the rust spots repaired. I don't have another worse car to
practice on so I'll be starting on the small spots to get practice.

So I'm thinking there must be some good books around that I can read to
get some info on how to prep, possibly fiberglass patch, and bondo. I'm
looking for the type of books that you would find in the library (I'm
unemployed right now so no money for books). Any recommendations on a
book that you thought was very helpful and instructive?

 

[CompUser]

So I'm thinking there must be some good books around that I can read to
get some info on how to prep, possibly fiberglass patch, and bondo. I'm
looking for the type of books that you would find in the library (I'm
unemployed right now so no money for books). Any recommendations on a
book that you thought was very helpful and instructive?

Haynes has a book on body work...I haven't used
it, but if it's on par with the rest of their
stuff, it should be good.

 

[Joe Kultgen]

I've got a '92 Legacy with lots of rust. It has always been outside and
some kids poked at it with an ice pick awhile back with started that
accelerated some of the rusting but it has other rust simply due to lack
of care. So there are several spots that need bondo & paint (and maybe
fiberglass patching then bondo and paint). One fender will have to be
replaced (after repairing the body around it). I called the local tech
schools but they don't accept outside vehicles to work on (they only
accept donated cars).

I live in Wisconsin where they salt the roads in winter to control ice and
my car budget has never been large so I'm very familiar with rust. Bondo
has some real problems as a long term fix. If you just want to make it
pretty so you can sell it in a hurry, go for it.

Generally by the time there are rust holes in the body it is beginning to
develop structural issues that may not be apparant on casual inspection.
The older Soobies I'm fond of have a multilayer welded floor pan that has
no rust proofing between layers. They rust from the inside out and tend to
unravel with great speed once the problem has become noticable. It's
really sad when you put a lot of time and effort into the surface only to
watch the wheels fall off. :-(

Later,
Joe

 

[Vanguard]

I live in Wisconsin where they salt the roads in winter to control ice
and
my car budget has never been large so I'm very familiar with rust.
Bondo
has some real problems as a long term fix. If you just want to make
it
pretty so you can sell it in a hurry, go for it.

Generally by the time there are rust holes in the body it is beginning
to
develop structural issues that may not be apparant on casual
inspection.
The older Soobies I'm fond of have a multilayer welded floor pan that
has
no rust proofing between layers. They rust from the inside out and
tend to
unravel with great speed once the problem has become noticable. It's
really sad when you put a lot of time and effort into the surface only
to
watch the wheels fall off. :-(

We salt in Minnesota, too (hi, neighbor). No floor pan rusting ... yet.
What I've got is a rust-through hole in the driver door (well, it's not
through yet but I could punch it out with a finger), some rust where
there was paint damage, about a hand-size area below the passenger door
outside mirror that is bubbled (the paint is there but it looks like
bubbling underneath), and a driver side front fender that definitely
needs to be replaced in its entirety (because some kids poked holes in
it with an ice pick) but also a bit of rust on the body around where the
fender rusted away. Other than the bubbly spot under the outside
mirror, none of the spots are large enough to cut out and weld in metal
or use a fiberglass patch. Most are where the paint got peeled off
because some rust started underneath and about the size of silver
dollar. The fender I figure will have to be completely replaced so I'll
have to hunt around the salvage yards for a used one in good condition.
Other than the fender (and possibly the bubbly area), I don't think
there is any structural damage.

Cutting out the metal and welding in new metal seems too drastic for the
size of the rust spots that I'm talking about. Other than bondo, how
else does one repair palm-sized, or smaller, rust spots? The fender is
removable but the body is not. I am surprised at how fast the exhaust
system rusted. I replaced everything back from exhaust headers (except
catalytic converters) and it's all rusty. Had to use the aluminum-metal
can trick to cover a hole that punched out in the pipe just ahead of the
muffler (which costs $120 because a section of the exhaust pipe comes
attached to the muffler, so I'm just delaying replacing the muffer-pipe
section until the muffler actually goes).

 

[Vanguard]

Haynes has a book on body work...I haven't used
it, but if it's on par with the rest of their
stuff, it should be good.

My county library carries 265 of the "Haynes service and repair manual
series". Alas none are for body repair. Thanks for the suggestion,
anyway.

 

[QX]

On Fri, 9 Jun 2006 13:47:19 -0500, "Vanguard"


I learned a few body repair points that I still remember while I was a
GI fixing up my old VW while stationed in Germany. My buddy was a
body man who grew up in Wisconsin. (There were a lot of old VWs around
because the German vehicle inspection system was many times tougher
than the US military overseas standards for personally owned vehicles
(POVs). When the cars owned by the Germans wouln't pass the German
inspection due to body/chassis damage, the locals would sell them to
GI's. We had on base hobby shops with tools, welding equipment, work
areas & spray booths available).
He told me "Bondo" will absorb water. If you use it over a hole that
can get water on it, it will eventually bubble, blister and crack. An
example is the hole in the exterior door panel. Water will get INSIDE
the door as it seeps in around the window gaskets. Once inside the
door, it will contact the bare (innser surface) bondo where you
patched.
He always recommended using a fiberglass patch to seal the hole,
covering a much larger area than the hole. An example: small holes
along the bottom of the door panel. Power sand off the paint on the
bottom of the door, and prepare a fiberglass patch to cover the entire
bottom of the door. Chances are, there is more rust just beneath the
surface waiting to pop through anyway. In addition, more rust will
form inside the door panel in the future. Once the fiberglass is in
place, sand the fiberglass to smooth, and feather the edges. Then use
your bondo to further smooth the fiberglass and blend from the patch
to the solid door area, feathering the edges. Don't be afraid to
spread the filler over a large area. The larger the area, within
reason, the easier it is to gradully feather the edge. The smoother
the feather, the less noticeable the patch will be when you finish
paint the car. Nothing is worse than a visible step where the bondo
meets the metal. We then used a body filler that came in a tube to
get rid of the super fine scratches in the bondo. This finish filler
was not a 2 part - sorry, I don't remember what that was called, as it
was in the 70's when I was doing this.
Then paint with primer AS SOON as you finish working with the bondo.
That will prevent the exposed bondo from absorbing any water and
ruining your work. Then go on to the next section and spray the entire
car when all the body work is primed & finished.

 

[CompUser]

My county library carries 265 of the "Haynes service and repair manual
series". Alas none are for body repair. Thanks for the suggestion,
anyway.

I think it cost me all of $14, new, a couple of
years ago.

 

[Vanguard]

I think it cost me all of $14, new, a couple of
years ago.

Is this the one to which you refer?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/18...f=pd_bbs_1/104-4019490-9612732?_encoding=UTF8
(short URL: http://snipurl.com/rm7y)

 

[CompUser]

Is this the one to which you refer?


(short URL: http://snipurl.com/rm7y)

Dat be it.

 

[Stephen H]

If you have rust that was picked through, then Bondo will look ok for a year
or two, then come back. The only way is to cut the rust out then replace the
metal. Generally, the car isn't worth the time; drive it until it becomes
unsafe.