69 AMX Body Work, will help the people doing there own bodywork.

[cudaken]

 I am doing a 69 AMX and I must say nice car. You guy's will get sick when I show how little rust this thing has on it. Body work is body work and want to take as many PIC that I can to help you guys with your cars.

Little back ground on the AMX first. Eric had stipped the AMX to bare steel and used a expoxied primer on the AMX. Primer has not been sanded yet and is rough to the touch. He is the shop teacher at high school and does not run, gas tank is out. AMX was stored at the school as well. Car has sat under other car's that was on lifts at night and few of them had some oil leaks that dripped on the AMX plus oily hand prints from pushing the AMX around. I will add one of the reason I was not ready for her yet, was in the middle of tear down a 440. Did not want rags with oil that might get used by accident on the car. Not counting my oily mitts.

First step was to get her clean. If there is oil on primer or paint you cannot sand the car. It will just drive the oil deeper in to the surfaces. On paint, just wipe it down good with Prep cleaner. But primer is a harder, it is proses and soaks in to the primer. First I used hand cleaner where the oil was standing on the body. Then I used 2 gallons of hot water, 2 tables spoons of dish soap and a gallon of bleech. I washed the AMX 2 times and washed off. More stubborn hand prints I used a SOS pad's with the bleech and soap till they where gone. Keep washing till the water does not bead when you rinses of the car. Total I went around the AMX 4 times but she is clean now.

Next step is to find the bad spots. Primer hides a lot of small flaws and are hard to see. Larger dents and rust is a no brainer. Devil is in the details and that is what I will be looking for next. This to be a street peeler not a full tilt boogie but will be a good looking Car when done. I will use a black guide coat over the primer that is on the AMX and stick sand to find the bad spots.

Few PIC for now.

                                                 Cuda Ken

 

[cudaken]

 I took PIC of the right side in guide coat but for some reason they would not show up? Might have something to do with my brother in law taking the PIC's.

Anyway a few PIC that did turn out. First some tools of the trade.

Gloves, you would not believe how fast your fingers wil start to bleed from stick sanding. 1500 grit is the worst after paint. You dont know your finguers are bleeding till you see it in the water.

Paint stick with paper wrapped around it. First make sure your paint stick is flat, cheap ones will not be. I used 220 wet dry paper to cut sort of fast. If it was a all out boogie I would used 150 air file (will see that later) but the AMX will not be blocked 3 times.

Memory Block, so far the best thing I have found for contours. I use it for rounded areas like the top of 68-70 Charger doors. In this case, top of the AMX fenders.

Squeegie, I used it to wipe the water off so I can see what I have done. Water wil hide alot of details.

                                  Cuda Ken

[cudaken]

 Body lines can be a pain in the a-s. God knows I paid my dues on my 69 Charger and wil get more detail when the time comes on the AMX. Body lines are pretty much the same, very long and all the way down the side of the body.

In the PIC I am starting to find dings in the body line. Using a stick but a 6" block will work as well. I sand with the line from front to back. You will see there is only about 2" of the paper on the line.

Black spots are low spots showen by the black Guide Coat. Most are real minor but at this point it sort of the feel of the hand.

[cudaken]

 On using a paint stick must be a semi flat surfaces like the PIC of the AMX quarter panel or the doors. Onces again you need to stay off contours and body lines. Stick will make then shallow if use the wrong way.

Paint stick being flat will cut a line in a contour. You wil see the black guide coat is pretty much un touched in contours of this PIC. I all use a cross hatch sanding pattern much like a cross hatch in a cylinder. Keeps the scrathes from being so deep.

                         

[Roth68rt]

keep the pictures and descriptions coming cudaken, maybe someday I will actually be ready to use this valuable information.
Thanks, Steve

[firefighter3931]

Excellent....thanks for posting Ken ! I'm learning some valuable tips here  

Ron

[Blown70]

I too will keep an eye on this thread.  I hate seeing some of the poor jobs on chargers that almost lose the centerline.

I plan to to a lot of my own work on my 70  Esp. once I put a new lid on her.

Thanks KEN

[cudaken]

  In the PIC I am starting to find dings in the body line. Using a stick but a 6" block will work as well. I sand with the line from front to back. You will see there is only about 2" of the paper on the line.

I want to make a correction on that part. Doing what I was doing in the PIC is only to ture up the line only. If that is the only way you block the body line the paper will cut a straight line above and below the line. When working the line keep the stick or block horizontal with the line and let the block go maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 inch over the line but still flat aginst the part you are blocking.

Blowen 70, will post some PIC later when I did my Charger. The AMX will not need the work that a Charger will. Its is pretty good now.

Ron, I rather get dusty than oily.

OK, one of the tools I did not show and everyone has is a simple rubber hose. One I was useing was pices of a old air line about 3" long. What ever grit you are using just rap it arond the hose and start sanding. Only thing I found that will fit in the scscallops of a 68-70 Charger door.

In the next few PIC I was using it on the fender wheel well and top of the door. Was to tight for the Memory Block to fit in.

[cudaken]

 For what ever reason I can not get the PIC to post. Guess I will need to waite till Troy get if sorted out.

                                    Cuda Ken

[cudaken]

 Well no PIC tonight for what ever reason. To bad had 9 I wanted to post.

                       Cuda Ken, Blocking again

[cudaken]

 A nother try, belch About 2 hours later.

[cudaken]

 You can use any sizes hose, try to find one that is close to the contours you are working. Make sure there is no oil on the hose, I normaly buy new ones.

Here is the PIC of the upper part of the door. I was going from top to bottom. Want to stay with the flow of the body contour.

[cudaken]

 Here is a PIC of the Right door after blocking. Guide coat is showing the small dents you could not see with it being in primer. Small round ones are very minior. 3 coats of high fill primer and re block will take care of them. One that is marked with tape will need some filler.

[cudaken]

 Here are some PIC of the Roof. First will show it is black guide coat. You do not need to paint the panel black, just a black mist across the roof. In the block PIC ones again you can see small dents that did not show up. In the sail panel you can really see the low spots.


                            Cuda Ken

[41husk]

looking good ken, keep up the good work!

[cudaken]

 One thing I want to talk about briefly is why people want to strip there cars to bare metal. There are times you need times you don't. Below are the reasons to strip.

1 Paint is bad, cracked, crazing (Pin holes) or peeling

2 Paint is just to thick, 3 or more paint paint jobs.

You have seen me using guide coat to find bad spots. Will use a high fill primer for the small dents. But if your car paint is good you can use the paint that is on the car to fill the small shallow dents showing up with the guide coat.

PIC of my 69 Charger the last time I did it. I used a air file with 150 grit to level out the body. I saved probley 3/4 of a gallon of primer doing this.

                                              Cuda Ken

[cudaken]

 One thing I want to talk about a little, why do people want to strip there cars to bare metal? I only strip when there is a reason.

1 Paint is bad, rather it be Cracking, Crazing (small pin holes) or peeling.

2 Paint is just to thick, 3 or more paint jobs.

If the paint is good you can use the old paint to fill shallow dents like what are showing up in the guide coat. I used 150 grit on my air file to level out the panels. Save times and cost of materials.

Here is a PIC of my 69 Charger the last time I did it. You can see the hight and low spots that are come out just like with the guide coat.

                                                  Cuda Ken

[cudaken]

 OK, looks like something goofie just happened

Hood is now blocked, found some old filler in the front. I knew I was going to find something did not look right in primer.

Then I found what I call a outie. It is a dent that went from the in side out and sticks up. I used what is either called a dinging hammer or a pick hammer. When working a dent from either from the out side in, or in side out you want to use lite hits that tap the dent down a little at a time. One big hit can cause more damage. I used about 15 hits to lower the outie on the hood. It is the PIc with the hammer.
It will need some filler to repair, primer will not cover it.

Next PIC of the hood is a nasty little dent in the back, it could be seen in primer. It will be ground down to bare metal, some filler, then a K 2 Primer (I call it spary on bondo) then a high filler primer.

[cudaken]

 Last PIC for a few day, till I start using filler there will not be anything to show. Only thing left to block is the left door and left quater.

Left front fender, you should be able to see the shallow dents toward the front and one nasty little dent on the center body line. Nothing to show on the trunk that I have not all ready showed.

                                     Cuda Ken

[cudaken]

 Last PIC for a few day, till I start using filler there will not be anything to show. Only thing left to block is the left door and left quater.

Left front fender, you should be able to see the shallow dents toward the front and one nasty little dent on the center body line. Nothing to show on the trunk that I have not all ready showed.

                                     Cuda Ken

[cudaken]

 Last PIC for a while till I start to use filler. Only thing left is a door and quater to block.

                                                 Cuda Ken

[cudaken]

Its not my fault keep getting time outs, refresh, time out, refresh and time out!

                               Cuda Ken, Cuda Ken, Cuda Ken, Cuda Ken

[moparguy01]

Whats with the michael jackson look in those early pics? hahaha
good tips btw. also, maybe if you quite drinking so much you wouldnt get the hiccups.

[41husk]

that last post ought to boost your post count

[cudaken]

 Moparguy01 and 41 Husk, seems like around 6:00 PM is a bad time to post. Like I said I keept getting either time out or web site not responding. What I did not know was the site was going to post all of the try's?

                                  Cuda Ken