Best way to learn how to repair rust and respray

[VKev]

Hi All,

My VK has a bit of rust that needs seeing to. I don't have the budget to pay for someone else to repair and haven't tackled this sort of repair yet. Pretty much everything I do on the VK is a learning experience(which is part of the reason I bought the car). I was wondering if anyone could give recommendations on the best way to learn, eg Tafe course or is there any decent online guides that would be decent. I've attached some pics with what I'm looking at repairing. Bonnet, Drivers Door, around the front and rear windscreens, the water drainage area below the windscreen and in the boot.

Cheers
Evan

 

[whats up]

There is good tutorials on Youtube that can help U out
Damn rust is a killer of cars.
Just do a little bit and see how U went.
If OK the go on to another small bit.
And good on you for wanting to have a go.

 

[gossie]

One thing at a time.
Cut rust out. Weld in new metal is best......Or kill rust, undercoat and paint finish colour.
I must say though, with all due respect......That car is VERY rusty.

 

[losh1971]

I must say though, with all due respect......That car is VERY rusty.

yeah I agree you might be better off keeping it as a donor and get another VK with a better body. A decent VK would be cheaper than what it will cost to repair and respray. What it looks like to me is it needs a complete gutting. Engine needs to come out. Wiring can be left in place. Some of the rust needs sandblasting but the sand gets into everything hence the need to strip the car back as much as you can. 200 bucks buys you a sandblaster but you need a 13cfm FAD compressor to run tbe blaster properly.

 

[EYY]

Definitely repairable, but not something you’ll like learning on. YouTube NZStato for tips and insight.

 

[losh1971]

TAFE does prevoc in paint and panel. Only thing is that not many colleges offer it. Each state will have at least one college that offer it but it may mean some travel to find the TAFE that offers it. I can say from experience learning to do body repairs is pretty hard. I'm an amateur but am quite anel so ends up taking me 3 or 4 goes to get the repair to where i am happy. What i find is you can bog something, sand it all smooth, prime it and it is not until you top coat it that you see your flaws in the job. It's actually quite hard to get a dead straight panel. And its once the panel is polished you can tell fairly easy the job is amature.

 

[EYY]

If I were to do a whole car again I'd have it dustless blasted, do all bodywork at home, then hire a booth for paint. Worth it for the better lighting/ventilation/controlled environment etc.

 

[losh1971]

If I were to do a whole car again I'd have it dustless blasted, do all bodywork at home, then hire a booth for paint. Worth it for the better lighting/ventilation/controlled environment etc.

yepp and no insects..... lol

 

[losh1971]

So I am an amateur at the resto and paint work. Over the years I have dabbled and I helped a panel beater when we repaired and repainted my old LX. So in my dabbles I have really only learnt enough to get me in trouble and probably not enough to get me out.... VKev, below is a quote from my build thread; my latest drama in a job I started 2-3 weeks ago...... Something that is relatively simple that can end up a major catastrophe because I made mistakes.... Painting and panel beating is easy to mess up and it can cost 2-3 times fixing the problem...

Far friggen out...... The whole painting thing is going from great to bad to an absolute sht fight.... I touched up where I had rubbed through to the original primer on the roof and the bonnet. I packed a really thick coat on the roof but thought it would be a good idea to tape the edge and paper to prevent too much overspray.... Worst possible mistake I ended up with a sharp edge. As a result of trying to feather out that sharp edge, I have just lifted a sht load of paint and because of the sharp edge and it is peeling like a bastard. I hit it with the hose and it lifted even more. So what was supposed to save me time is now going to cost me more primer and another 500mls of paint...... Not to mention another two hours of work.....
Should have primed the roof before top coating but Youtube tutorials say it's not always a good idea.... Or I should have used blending thinners, so it bit in and I definitely should have not taped the damn edge.... All of this could have been prevented had I bought a litre of paint in the first place, so that I laid it on thick on the roof the first time round and went easy on the wet rub so I left enough white paint....

 

[losh1971]

This roof looked **** hot until i wet rubbed it and its gone down hill from there....