I had a slow day at work today and thought id get stuck into some of the prepwork for the respray I'm doing next month. I had 2 nasty dents one on the rear quater and one above the passenger door handle. The right front quater needed some attention too as there were 3 or 4 little dents there as well. I then got stuck into removing all the stonechip (i think thats the name for the protectant paint) from the lower half of the car. One damn messy job but it looks heaps better now its smoothed out. I also pulled my front badge off as it was crappy and filled the holes Here are some pics of todays effort.
so did you just bog up the dents...? then sand them back,what about the stone gaurd,did you use a orbital sander or whats the go there...... this is all stuff ill be doing this year as well,lots of hard work ahead..
Yeah most of the dents were small, eg. up to 5cm diameter so after roughing up the surface underneath i bogged and sanded back. The stone guard is easy, because it is a rubber i just got a stanley knife blade and scraped/cut most of it off and then hit it with the sander. All the bog sanding should be done by hand IMO just because you can feel how much bog you are taking off as well as feel the shape of the panell underneath. The hard part and the one i found out today is that the rear bumpers stoneguard isnt stoneguard. The texture is actualy in the mould of the bar. Thats where the orbital with 40grit comes in handy. 10 minutes of sanding had the bumper back to the polyurethane and smoothed out.
LOOK WHAT ARRIVED IN THE MAIL TODAY Thats right, AN AIR HOCKEY TABLE Well a new front bar anyway. It made me forget all about the sunburn i got today sanding the stoneguard of the other side of the car. Cannot wait to get it on......the car that is. Im thinking, and i dont know if anyone has tried this, of bogging in the groove that goes around the car. The one between the smooth paint and the stone guard at the bottom of the pannels. Has anyone had a crack at it? I dont want to do it if its gonna fall out when i hit a big bump.
Got a quote today for a little nip-tuck myself, was happy to know it was in my fund range then I remembered I'll need to paint them, lol.. ...
Update Well i have finally finished smoothing out the back bar. It took a couple of sessions with the air sander and 40grit but its all smooth. I found some small dents in the roof which i filled. Me being me couldnt stop at just having one corner of the roof sanded, so started rubbing back the roof and hatch. Im using 120 grit which is a bit over the top but im using a primer surfacer as a primer so it will all block out and still have good adhesion. Weekends job was fitting the new front bar. Anyone who thinks that fitting a fiberglass bar is a quick and easy job is mistaken. What a PITA!!! I dont know if others experiences have been as hard as mine but this job sucks. The edges of the moulding werent straight, all had to be sanded to mate up with the pannels. Some of the lines dont match up and will have to be sanded and re fiberglassed. And then there is the modification that goes on under the bar. Trimming the front intrusion bar back, Removing all traces of the original mounts, sanding and trimming the front fascia mounts so i can close the bonnet. Im starting to see the wisdom in spending $800 in a genuine polyurethane bar. All that aside, Damn the front of the car looks good now. I just cant stop looking at it. Ill be picking up the paint sometime this week. Hopefully ill have chosen which colour she is going to be. Black or blue, Black or blue. Heres some pics.
fk its looking sweet... that bar is soo sweet as well...and the skirtz and rear bar look fkn sweet without that shit...ive only ever seen grahams (tektrader) car without that stone shit and it makes the car look that much better... dude there is no competition its BLACK all the way....if u want something with a twist chuck some pearl in it of ur choice...even put a blue pearl in it if u like blue...i personalli have a black zed with green pearl in it....looks great in the sun although u really cant see it much....im thinking maybe a real blood red pearl or dark purple pearl would go real well with the black paint.... i too will be doing wat u have done...cant fkn wait lol...
looking good. Is that the Greddy bar? I'm choosing between the Greddy or the 2000spec bars for my car. What sideskirts and rear bar are you going to run?
Its a Carmate bar, but its a Greddy copy. I painting it without skirts or rear bar in the short term but i am going to make custom skirts and rear bar. Nothing frilly just dropping all the sides low and straight. If you have seen the black diecast zed that everone has, thats pretty much the look im after.
Funny you should sai that...I have the Greddy style front already, but my car is red and I have the model 300 to match, except its black, so I pulled it apart, sanded it and Im painting it red! haha, kinda the reverse Cheers, Andrew
Another dull day at work. Pulled off the bar and re-fiberglassed the dodgy edges and reinforced all the bolt holes. Sanded and smoothed it off and now it fits sweet. All the edges line up and all the joins are straight. Im a very happy boy now
HAMMER TIME After a week back home in not so sunny Townsville I now have a week off work to get this car finished. I must say to all you Townsville zedders I love all the wide open roads you have, and I love them even more in the wet. If I still lived up there and had my zed I'd be Drift King by now All the shell was prepped and masked of yesterday as was the garage. Todays effort was 2 thick coats of primer then had a quick block back where the were a few imperfections and then another 2 coats of primer on top of that. I guide coated and blocked back the hatch to 400grit and it looks so good This car is gonna be one hot momma Next two days will be (yes Bones) more sanding, blocking the primer back to 800grit. I love this part as it is the part that makes or breaks a good paintjob. I love the look of primer, its like a clean canvas before the masterpiece is painted on.
hrmm ive always wondered how a zed would look if those lines on the side bottom and rear bar were filled up (since the aftermarket front doesnt have it) ....what u think?
Drumroll.!.!.!.!.! TADA!!!! After a week of hard work and suffering I am proud to unveil the new Toy. I have sanded that car so many times over the last week that My arm hurts more that it did when i was 14yo boy. . It got 3 coats of primer, 2 of colour and 5 of clear. When it has cured properely It will get a block back and a buff to get rid of a few runs and dry patches , but she is looking great.
