Dog Gone

[greg g]

Well last week I posted an in progress photo of the Stude PU fender I have been working at. As of today the Bondo dog has gone back to the pound, and I have declared it ready to paint after scuffing down the brushed on primer. Next will be the other fender, then the grill and hood. Then to drag the cab and doors home. Oh yeah, the 2nd one is the before picture. I removed about 12 lbs of old bondo, and put about 2 1/2 back on over a combination of metal and fiberglass fabric/resin patches. The other one is in a bit better by comparison and should only take a week......

[eric wissing]

Gregg, you actually saved that fender, the one in the 2nd photo? Amazing . Eric

[Don Coatney]

When I owned a Corvette I soon learned that there is a ground wire running to every electrical component. Suggest you do the same on your truck as bondo is not a good conductor. Looks great so far. when will you be "on the road"?

[Plymouthy Adams]

They told you that was a ground wire..actually that was what held it all together...

All jokes aside, good grounds are a must...bondo or not...

[55 Fargo]

Lookin good Greg, what's next, paint or primer/surfacer, blocking,then paint. Or is just ready for paint. Man what a mess to start with, did you weld in metal first, then cover with fibreglass resin, a big job, but she came out nice, what a good feelin to look back and see that transformation. I know the patches I have put on my 47 Chrysler turned out pretty good, and so far not a bubble or a rust spec on them, and their still in primer.......Fred

[55 Fargo]

I see in one pic the trusty/handy palm sander, these things are great little units, I did a lot of stripping with mine........Fred

[greg g]

On this one, I cut as mch of the rust back to solid metal as I could with a cut off wheel. I replicated the little curved deal out os sheet metal and used some panel bond to glue it into place. Then I used some Gorilla tape to put some thick platic vapor barrier on the outside of the fender outlining the hole by about an inch or so. Then I cut a piece of thin cardboard about two inches larger than the hole and taped that in place on the inside of the panel.

I then filled the void between them with expanding foam between the cardboard and the plastic. Let that sit over night. Next morning I pulled off the plastic and using a wood rasp shaped the foam, (about an inch thick) to the rough shape of the fender. then I took some 60 grit sand paper and relieved it so that it was lower at the edges then the remaing metal edge. There is a new product out that is similar to the old glass mat fabric kits but uses a trowlable gel rather than the old brush on resin. a layer went onto the foam, and then the cut to shape fabric goes down followed by another layer of squegeed in gel. Next morning I had a hard glass patch in the place of the rusty hole. Next was to untape the cardboard backer and remove the excess foam from the back of the glass patch. I got most of it off, with a scraper and a rotary wire brush, then covered the back of the patch with some Kitty hair, short strand fiberglass reinforced body filler. This I just troweled on semi smooth for strenth and to seal out moisture from the back. Some undrcoating will finish the job. The outside took a couple layers of regular body filler and some feathering out. The other side has the more traditional welded in metal patch. I'll start filling that one later this week.

Here is a before and now of the pass side.

[55 Fargo]

You are a creative devil aren't yah. I always admire you innovators, I can follow a lead on things like this but never have the creativity to start. Just not my attribute.........Fred

[Don Coatney]

Greg;

When do you expect the rest of the snow to melt up there:D You need to move to Tennessee. There is more snow in your picture than we had all winter. And your picture is about as close as I want to get to snow.

[greg g]

That is Pennsylvania snow....