body repair stuff
 

in recent years i have not done much of this but i decided to jump in and do some on my 82 300cd.

the car has a large place on the drivers door and under the rear side window that had some surface rust and poor paint. my first thought was to take it to maacos and have a cheap paint job put on. but the rust thing was sometihng i didnt want them to do since i didnt think they would take the care that i want.

so my brother and i dug in. we found after grinding away 1/4" of bondo that the panel had been pulled out with a screw in puller. the holes from the puller were admitting moisture in behind the bondo. we drilled out the holes to remove all bondo from behind. as the solid appearing bondo came off we found rusty alligator stripes under it. they were superficial and we ground them off. where the rust was heavier we ground it down and rust bound it all. after sitting overnight we sanded again and reapplied the rust binder. and then sanded again and began biulding it all back with fiberglass filler.

it is almost back where it all belongs now. i discovered two products that i didnt know of before: one is a plastic handle that clips on a spray can so it can be held like a spray gun. slick. the other is the high quality paint which i buy for touching up that is mixed to match the original color can be put into a spray can. this spray can set up provides a much higher quality of paint application than any spray can i have been able to buy off the shelf. i tried a section of the door with impressive results.

in the end we will spray the areas repaired only and reapply the trim. i think it will look pretty great.

and the other areas have responded to buffing out with rubbing compound. after that we will apply a polymetric wax that is supposed to stop the oxidation from coming back.

i never dreamed the little navy blue cd could look this good without an overall paint job. now my daughter will prob not let me sell it.

we will pay a pro to apply new pinstriping when the rest is done.

tom w