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GT6 Bodywork amateur - What have I gotten myself into?

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UltimateQuestion

UltimateQuestion

Jedi Warrior
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I have been working on the tail of my GT6 Mk3, what a mess! Removed loads of Bondo (up to 1/4 inch thick), revealed wavy dented panels with poor repairs. I am attempting to straighten things out, but I'm not a skilled metalworker. And then I still have to replace the floors and rear wings. I may be in over my head.
 
I took a class at the local junior college to learn body work, paint and welding. As a result, I turned a pile of parts into a real nice looking TR6.
Good luck, Scott in CA securedownload1.jpgIMG_20180421_085850968.jpg
 
No one is born with those skills. YouTube videos and classes can help a lot, but in the end, OJT is the only path to real proficiency.

Ed
 
I agree with Ed. Don’t expect perfection with your first attempts. You will learn along the way...

I find it easier to make a plan to break the project down into smaller parts...fix one area and move on to the next. Sometimes, if you look at the big picture, the task may seem to daunting and you will get discouraged.

Cheers
Tush
 
When I started they had a shop class in High school, didn't cover a lot of anything. Dad worked in shops while going to college and passed his knowledge over to me. From then on it was learn by trying, all mistakes can be redone. Now they have classes for each different aspect of repair. Always hate someone saying you can do it, I can't, my answer is I did learn to read. Just take your time, don't stop on anything until it passes your inspection.
 
I found it comforting to find the previous owners work to be worse than mine. I found a dent in a rear fender that was larger than my fist, filled with bondo. Since I could improve on that, I knew the project would be better. I also work on an area, then leave it for a day and come back to it. The new eye on the dents is a better way for me to continue working an area.
Jerry
 
Jerry said:
I found it comforting to find the previous owners work to be worse than mine. I found a dent in a rear fender that was larger than my fist, filled with bondo. Since I could improve on that, I knew the project would be better. I also work on an area, then leave it for a day and come back to it. The new eye on the dents is a better way for me to continue working an area.
Jerry
Click to expand...

That’s the same kind of philosophy that I work with...most of what I do is try and fix poorly repaired areas or totally non existent rusted out areas...I always say to myself before starting, I can’t possibly make it any worse so whatever I do in the end is considered an improvement!

Cheers
Tush
 
Preparation is everything. Body filler is ok - used to have a bad reputation when people actually leaded fenders. Take your time and go online to learn how to tell when your surface is truly smooth especially if you're going to use a dark paint. "Black is merciless". I know. I spent hours sanding and filling doors and fenders of a Corvair convertible only to find it came out of the paint shop looking like it had been in a major wreck.
 
You can learn how to do it Tony, I did. Anybody can.
 
Just takes patience and time. Hurried jobs turn out horrible.
 
Nahhh, you're not in over your head.

Your car sounds a lot like mine. I had to replace the floors and rockers. Then, when I stripped it for painting, I found that almost every panel had been dented at some point. A few of the dents were competently repaired, but most had thick layers of bondo, sometimes applied over untreated rust!

Anyway, I sanded it all off, hammered the dents out better, reapplied the body filler, and painted it. One panel at a time. At the outset, I had virtually zero experience at this, but it all seemed pretty logical and I more or less figured it out. I'm a lot better at it now than I was at the start--and that's the idea, right? Same thing will happen to you. When you're finished, it won't be perfect, but you'll be intensely proud of it.
 
Thanks for all the encouragement, you're right that it can't be worse if I fix it at all. I broke out my body hammers & dollies set and got to work on the taillight panel. I'm surprised at how hard you have to whack the metal to get it to move at all. Most if the dents are small and many seem to be on the reverse side of where the various brackets are welded on the inside of the panel. There will still be filler, but less than what was there.
 
So one of the things taught in my body repair class is that big hits are a no, no. Lots of small taps, taps, and more taps. Sheet metal repair is thought to be like massaging the metal, not beating it into submission. Take my suggestion if you want.
Cheers, and good luck!
Scott in CA
 
One other suggestion: If you have a deep area that you can't get the dent out, or need to mold the area to fit an adjacent panel, use fiberglass kitty hair first. It will not absorb water or crack. Then a thin layer of bondo on top to smooth it out.
 
Here is what I first started with on the RH side 20200410_150127.jpg and here is what I found 20200519_164211.jpg
 
And the LH side is worse 20200522_152133.jpg20200622_145213.jpg
 
You want to minimize filler, but, as mentioned, it got a bad reputation in the days when people tended to grind out rust in the fender wells and rockers sanded it and painted it, only to have it swell and rust through in a year or less.

Modern filler over properly prepared, solid metal shouldn't shrink, swell or lift. Still a good idea to minimize it's use but do the best you can, rough up the metal finish for good grip, then start the various steps for getting that smooth nice finish.

I have had good luck with this level of prep work, but can never seem to get that last level of perfect smooth finish, always some waves when the light hits it right. Again as noted, you will not tend to see this until you have a shiny finish.
 
Use some heat on the big dents. There are shrinking hammers for shrinking metal. Triumphs are heat formed metal, stiffer than out cold rolled steel. Just use putty least as possible for filling very small areas. Before the 70s there was a lot of lead used in smoothing joints. Just take your time, your TR6 looks good, just remember what you learned. Patience, your not on a reality show to make it look like it was done overnight. Keep at it a little at a time. Injave 3 yrs on my Valiant and 21 yrs on my Jag.
 
glemon said:
I have had good luck with this level of prep work, but can never seem to get that last level of perfect smooth finish, always some waves when the light hits it right. Again as noted, you will not tend to see this until you have a shiny finish.
Click to expand...

This is where a guide coat comes into play. Keep on sanding and blocking until the guide coat disappears. You may need to do some more bodywork or filling and glazing, but this process really works. You may not be able to use the really long boards on our cars because they are curvier, but use the longest one you can and work in an X pattern. I'm not a progessional body guy or painter by any means but I've been able to do enough really nice prep work using that method that I've paid a pro painter to shoot over and got beautiful results.
 
The number and variety of dents in this car amazes me, and I now think the entire car is coated in thick bondo. 20200905_134827 (2).jpg I don't even know how you can get a dent like this!
 
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