Third Step: Body Work

When I bought the car, it had a small dent under the passenger headlamp that was ruining its appearance. Could I successfully pop this dent back out or would I need to fill, prime, and paint it? The answer turned out to be both.

I was able to pound out most of the dent with some mallets and clamps but there were still some areas that wouldn't pop out thanks to the solid sheet metal used on older cars.

So I sanded the area down with 320 grit sand paper and filled it with body filler. It took about 4 or 5 coats of filling and sanding to get the perfect surface I was looking for.

Since the nose panel and headlamp covers had so many stone chips I decided to sand down and prime them too. Luckily I had access to a spray booth because primer is highly toxic and should only be used in well ventilated areas.

I also filled and primed a few other areas of the car that needed attention including a spot by the passenger rear wheel and an area on the rear end. (There will be plenty more body work to come when I prepare the car for its new paint job.)

The results turned out great, especially given that this was the first bit of body work that I've done. Check out the results below!

--M/o