Skip to main content

Gary,

Great job ... I'm stalled with my BODY at the moment and trying to gather parts, got the steel flairs and I'm planning Lead ( really its a 50/50 lead / Tin ) on the seams for exactly that reason it dont crack .. but mixing a little fiberglass resin in with the body filler help strenghten the filler.

My motor is well under way .. pics will be coming soon .. priority of finshing my shop has to happen before I dig into the car to deep.

I agree I just got wind of a PANTERA owner who spent in excess of 20k on his BODY and its still not done. WHATS DA F#$@ !! I think its time to go back in the BODY Business .LOL

Anyway keep up the good work ..

Ron
Thru experience the lead on a car is really a 50/50 solder sold in bars at a Plumbing or electrical supply, lead it self will not stick to steel, a little sodlering flux ( NOCORODE brand ) and a cloth made out of JEANS material with a little wax on the cloth .. you will soon be called George Barris ..LOL

Non lead filler I think will very hard to work with with a torch. It means it has less lead and I higher melting point ... the lead is flexible and dosent crack.

As long as you dont eat it ... its the best for long lasting body work ... LOL

Ron
My experience with lead work has been passed on the me from 3 generations ..thats why I'm CRAZY !! LOL no .. to get a Plumbing lisence in NYC and surrounding it was required 10 years ago.

Save your money : get a pair of jeans cut out a square 6x6 and fold the cut edge in so you have a 21/2 x 21/2 square pad ten drip wax all over both sides.. the wax from a candle on your finger side will prevent your fingers from burning. Next you need NOCORODE flux and an acid brush. Next you need LEAD BASED SOLDER 50/50 bar solder .. look on the NET you'll find it .. let me know if you cant I'll send it to you. Then a half round file. a course one .. we also have a product called SOIL .. its a black compund you paint the surface around the area you dont want solder to stick.

Thn you need a small propane tank ..propane is best because its not as hot as Acetylene. Yo want it cooler and a wide flame.

Heat the sheetmetal to warm and start .. Ive seen your welding .. you can do it ..easy.

If you want EASTWOODS kit buy it but use LEADED SOLDER.

Ron
Oh the wax jeans cloth is your paddle .. use the torch drip solder on the areas enough to fill the area .. then with the cloth and the torch heat and wipe ...heat and wipe .. a little flus on the entire area before you drip solder and sometimes a little as you go to make it stick.

Remember same as welding aluminum ... it has to be clean a virgin steel and the bar solder I file off the outside so there are no contaminents.

A little funny thing .. when wipping lead pipe joints .. you know the lead solder content is perfect when you pour a little circle about 1" and there will be 5 or 6 little dots created on top as it drys .. why I have no idea ..but My Pop taught me this and the TEST INSTRUCTOR looked for it .. LOL

Ron
Thanks Ron, When it comes time it is something I would like to do and probably will. I am going with the lay down radiator, removed the headlight bar. I would also like to fab an aluminum hood from scratch to duct the air from the radiator. I know the gt-40 hoods are not as nice looking but I want to get my air out from under the car.
quote:
Originally posted by accobra:
I would like to see that .. I'm going to alter my steel hood to make a GT40 style .. I like the look and I will be cutting out the head light bar also but I would like to move the fuel tank up front also .. Hmmm speaking of head lights ??
LOL

Ron


I struggled with the idea of cutting out the headlight bar. In reality it would be easy to weld a new bar back in but I wanted it gone. I think for headlights I am going with individual electic motors; probably something simple to open and close thim. Still research to do there but it will probably be either an adaptation from another car or my own worm gear limit switch adaptation.

I am going to keep my fuel tank in the original location except I am moving it from the left side to the right side which means new fuel tank fabrication all together. Should be fun. I am doing it because the oil comes out the left side and I want to duct it straight into a fan/air oil cooler with ducting from the left window. The water tanks and oil acumilator will be on the left side as well.
quote:
Originally posted by accobra:
Gary,

SO what media did they use and were you happy with the job .. did it bring it to bare metal ??

Ron


Yes and no. Yes in that they removed all the paint and did so without any garnish to the metal. That is what soda is good for. No in that it left some rust. The place that did the MGB did so with glass then etch primmed it. I think I really like the glass as it does get into the metal which is essential to really getting rid of the rust. The glass roughs up the metal just a little which is great as long as you coat it right away.

On the flip side I am doing the final blasting myself which means I know every inch of the car and I don't have to wonder what the metal looked like before some one else primmed it. I could have never gotten the paint off so it served me well. Only problem is cold wet weather has moved in so I don't know when I will be able to resume. I will have to work on other parts till then. I have plenty to fab up anyway. We keep the humidity pretty low in the shop so I don't have to get in too much of a hury.

G
I understand ... I have a guy close to me that can soda blast mine .. so maybe I can aks him to glass bead the rust and welds ?? Or maybe glass only ??? I was also thinking of glass beading it myself .. but as you say the cold is upon us. Maybe it pays to shoot some primer on it quick and touch up the fab'd areas. But I have to say my engine compartment has been sitting bare and no rust has grown yet ... and thats 6 months.

Hey Man good luck and keep up the good work ..

Ron
That's been my mind delema too. These guys were the only blasters I knew so I really didn't have any decisions to make, I just had to deal with it.

If you or he can get it etch primed imediatly I would say glass. If you are going to tackle it a little at a time lime me I would say soda. Suposedly since the soda does not etch the metal the metal will resist rusting better.

My sand blaster could never have removed the paint as they did. I was glad I could find some one who could do it. As I did it I am going over every square inch myself which I like because I know the metal is 100% rust free. I am using por 15 on everything but the body. It says it needs something rough to adhere too. It gives you 3 options. One is brush the rust and go over the rust. I wanted the rust gone. Second option would be to treat it with metal ready acid then wash it off.....So you can wash it into vevery nook and crany and then begin the surface rust right away with etched metal and water? I don't think so. The third was to blast it or sand it. That''s what I did.

If you look here you can see the metal on the right was still shiny from the soda blast. A lot of what you see is some sort or glue or something. Where I sandblasted is lightly rough and clean. I believe being freshly blasted like that anything would stick well!

By far what your doing is the best way .. obviously even Detomaso didnt do as good of a job. Just make sure you blow some POR15 in the inside of frame rails and in the nooks and crannys.

I cant say I have BLASTED a car before .. but what I did do was acid dip a few ... after the dipped them they would dip it in a nuetralizer ... then send it home.. the car would start to rust within hours .. so it had to go right to my Garage then my process was qucikly wipe it down with A DUPONT Metal Prep mixed with water .. then a REDOXIDE primer .. after that the body work followed always capping the metal with REDOXIDE .. then a FILL AND SAND primer ... back 20 years ago it was all laquer based ..

Ive heard of the etching primer but have never used it ??? I cant wait to get to that stage.... I will be doing it slowly like you.

Ron
I really have reservations about acid dipping. These things have too many channels. I have heard of people who finished their restoration only to have the acid drip out on their paint first drive. That just concerns me. I have heard of some with accelerated rusting from the inside out too. If you can't get all the acid out how would you know if it has all been neutralized?

I intend to srpray inside the channels but I am not sure how to go abut doing it yet. I have some ideas.

The etch primer is a standard Dupont primer. The metal actually does not have to be roughed up for it. It will etch in and I like that. That's a good place to start. Guy at the paint shop said one of them actually got some on his glasses when he sprayed and it actually etched into his lenses.

This is the MG when it came back and now:

http://www.rc-tech.net/MGB/engine/e2b.jpg
http://www.rc-tech.net/MGB/etched1b.jpg
http://www.rc-tech.net/MGB/tunnel/cart1.jpg
http://www.rc-tech.net/MGB/gal/d1.jpg
Acid dipping .. not sure how acid would run out .. it has consistancy of water and the Nuetralizer is a base that brings the acidity back to about 0 ... the issue is .. yes it tears up rust and usually eats it .. buit not to worry nobody does it any more. I like the glass .. I think soda is the best route and maybe a little glass or sand on the rust.


I heard the etching primer is the way to go .. that MG is a work of art. Is this your hooby or business ??

I'm stuck at the same point I was 6 months ago .. had to devote a lot of time to my Business as it need some restructuring .. like firing all Union employees in my office and starting a split shop. So the project suffered. And got married ... ok these are my excuses .. but the motor is well on its way .. i'll get some pics this week. 351W SVO block C302B heads off a alcohol blown drag car and we are building 393. solid roller 12 to 1 compression dry sump ... I wanna go racing. Ive been told PANTERA is not the car to do it IN ! BUT THATS WHAT I WANNA DO !

Ok here is the last pic of its present state

Ron

Attachments

Images (1)
  • 3_-
Lte me put it to you this way .. in my opinion .. this is the car to cut up ... everytime I turn it upside down sand comes out of it ... its not too rusty .. but it was bumped in the front left and on rocker was dented ... it has been worked on before ... thats why I'm still up in the aor about blasting it ... yes there is a blaster 30 min from me.... but dont think he will prime it ...

Ron
I forgot to answer, the MG is my first car. Just doing it for fun.

Body repairs would be the hardest but look at every thing underneith. Repairs are just work. Structure wise I don't think there is anything you or I couldn't cut out and replace. I stared at the frame work of this car for hours. I think we could have made the jigs and built these cars. It tells alot about a race car builder building cars in the early 70's. Pretty cool.
I can easily prime this up after they blast in in either my shop or my barn at home ... its just that I have to complete stripping the car of its parts .. only one thing makes me nervous is the electrical ... It not my strong point. I will be completing stripping this up coming weekend and calling the blaster ... just hop theres not too much metal work under the paint.

Ron
quote:
Originally posted by jeff6559:
If it's blasted, the media leaves a residue that protects it from rust for a pretty long period of time. Just don't touch it with your hands or body as that takes away that protection and lets surface rust start. Besides, you don't want to prime until you've got as much of the media out as possible.


Blasting provides no measurable protection. Since soda or walnut shells don't get into the metal they don't expose it as much to fresh rust like sand or glass but there is a hint of rust if you look close in a very short period of time even in dry weather. There is no time to waste here! That is why I am going back over every inch right before I prime. Getting the media out is no issue. Roll the car around on the roto, vacume here, blow out there. Wherever sand or dry media is it will not create future problems like liquid. It is not going to get into a channel and start stripping anything on it's own. You only going to sand what can be primmed with an air gun so you can work the cavities latter anyway.

When I first put this car on a roto before stripping, some blasting material and some "bondo dust" came out from when the car was re-done in the 80's.
quote:
Blasting provides no measurable protection. Since soda or walnut shells don't get into the metal they don't expose it as much to fresh rust like sand or glass but there is a hint of rust if you look close in a very short period of time even in dry weather.


Actually, I was talking about sand blasting since this would be on the shell of the car and it can easily handle the more aggressive media.
The flairs as I said before were patch panels spot welded over the top. Ton of filler to make it smooth. This was where a lot of cracks were.

I cut the flair with a dremmel cut off tool. I cut about 8" at a time and the outer skin would line up then Mig weld a little as I go. After it was all tack welded then finished closing the gap. Nice and slow so it doesn't get hot or warp. Slowly grind it down.

Threw some acid etch primer over the left side, still more to do before the rest of it but the metal is now even across the fenders:

Overlap:


Cut and welded flush:



Getting there, more to gind:

Gary,

Not sure I understand ... those are the exact flairs I just bought ... but I was thinking of putting the 3/4 flap behind and tacking it .. then welding the front edge. Your work look great... the MIG did a fine job.

Ok its coming back to me now .. I used a product called GORRILLA HAIR as a first coat over the welded seems ..this has fiberglass hairs in it with body putty and is mixed with hardener.. This is used to rebuild fiberglass bonding strips. It reinforces the seem with the fiberglass hairs. I wouldnt recommend finishing that seem with bondo alone. You could also use fiberglass mat and resin.

Ron
I will look into thet Ron. If you look where the primer is there is no more seem. I still need to grind beyond the primmer (continuing to the right) which is why I only primered that far.

I think most flairs I have seen have the flair on top of the fender. If you look through the mags you will see them with the seem as part of the shape. For instance in front of me is Pantera International Spring 2005 #122. Look at the Hawaii Pantera starting on page 40.
Yes I see what your saying ... you mean they try to simulate the mounting flange of the fiberglass flair where they rivet it on ??? Hmmm

Yes Spring 2006 page 22 both cars have what your saying .... ok i got it... missed that detail .. its a good thing I didnt start yet ...

Ok one more thing I just remembered .. theres a long dispute ... putting body filler on .. does it go over primer or on bare metal. I was taught on metal and check out autobodystore.net he did a test. the ebst result was over I think 120 grit prepared surface.

Ron
Your right about the dispute about which goes first.When I took my apprenticeship for autobody in college they taught us to etch the steel and apply filler directly,so that is why there is a dispute.Many bodymen really don't want to do it any other way.There is really no way of knowing which is better.I personally like to apply filler over properly applied epoxy because you know that there will be no reactions with the catalyst in the filler and the steel.Using a high build epoxy is always best so that the material is not easily sanded off when you are shaping the filler.That's only my opinion . Sam
The proper way is to apply over the steel. Why ? because the epoxy is flexible and doesnt allow the bond to be created and thats how cracking starts. There is a way to tell which is better and AUTOBODYSTORE.NET ran a test ....check it out... whats really unusual is that the body filler bonded to metal that was sanded with 120 grit paper better then the one that was sanded with I think 40 grit. Look at the test they ran. Applying Epoxy and Etching primer is great .. a real break thru in primers ... one of the old prducts that was around 20 years ago was Eliminator 1100 was the same principle .. it mostly prevents shrinkage that years ago might bleed thru after the paint job is complete.

There are body fillers that are fiberglass based that prevent cracking .. that should be the first layer which add strenght to the seam.

Just my experience.

Ron
Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×