doing my own body work?

[Cameron84K10]

Hey y'all, Im at the point in my build where I want to do some bodywork and after getting a couple different quotes from shops and huge amounts of money that I just cant afford the last shop I took it to recommended trying to do the work myself. With that being said me and my dad have NO body work experience my dad is a 20+ year diesel mechanic and we do build our own company work vehicles so he does have paint experience. But the body work is another thing ive watched quite a few YouTube videos about how to use bondo and other ways to do DIY body work but honestly how hard is it? Im willing do dedicate a countless number of hours to do it myself, hell id prefer to! Wheres the fun in letting a shop do all the work? But any tips before I attempt it? Or should I just give in and let a shop do it?

 

[Sprockmonster]

What do you need to do for body work?

 

[Cameron84K10]

What do you need to do for body work?

just some dent removal and to allign all the doors etc. no major rust repair or anything.

 

[Sprockmonster]

I used youtube to align my doors after I replaced the door hinge pins. I just used washers to bush the top and bottoms of the doors in or out. HF has dent pullers if you have one around you.

 

[Jarhead79]

Just a word of advice on body work. Find ya a fender, or hood, or something to tinker with. Pulling a dent isn't as easy as it seems. You can use a stud gun and pull the center part of a dent out but the outside edges of a dent create high spots, a hammer and dolly can fix those but finessing them can be a booger sometimes. It takes some practice but it isn't impossible to do. I practiced on a huge hood that had some major dents and creases in the center body line, it was a bitch at first. My main talent right now is motorcycle tanks and fenders, if you love working with filler and love to sand it try doing a set of stretch tanks, lol my first set of tanks turned out so well my buddy started having me come get them ready for him to custom paint, I'd mud them, and get them smooth and primed, then he'd finish them off. Get ya some practice in, then move up to cutting and patching, I've not had as much practice with welding but I'm confident enough to do everything else....im wanting to experiment laying paint, can do well with rattle can and plastidip but painting and clearing still worry me.....patience and prep is key. Lol good luck with it. It can be fun but also a nightmare! Hahaha

 

[smoothandlow84]

I did 80 percent of my own bodywork including using a wire feed welder to fill in the holes from body mouldings and trim. Bondo isnt too difficult to work with as long as you DON'T add in too much hardener...the more hardener, to faster it sets up. Practice is key. Start off small, get familiar with how bondo works (mixing and cure time). Youtube is a good resource for tutorials. Don't let the bodywork intimidate you. Fill the dents, sand off all paint to bare metal (I usually sand down to bare metal a mimimum of 3 inches beyond the low spot). Use a curse grit of sand paper first, to remove excess bondo, then work your way to a finer grit. I used a random orbital sander starting with a 60 grit, then 100 grit down to a 150 grit. Use a drop light and a straight edge to verify the low spot is feather out to the rest of the panel. Block sanders are a MUST in order to straighten out body lines and waves in fenders. If you continue to find low spots after your final sanding of the repair, add a little more bondo to the repair and work the area until its flat and smooth. Believe me...it takes practice and patience. Prep is KEY to a great paint job.

 

[Cameron84K10]

Thanks yall, im feeling pretty confident on doing the work myself now.