CubbyChowder finally got a BMW 2002 - it's project time

[CubbyChowder]

Wow what a difference a bit of welding and grinding makes.. that corner looks really good mate!
Make sure to prime all the clean metal, otherwise it may start to corrode again and you'll **** grinding it back down.

Thanks man. Unfortunately, I was kind of an idiot and started taking that whole quarter panel down to bare metal way before I actually started working on it (it had a lot of body filler and I wanted to see how bad the damage was). Since then, it's developed some surface rust here and there. Once I'm done with all the welding of the fender, I'm going to spend a few hours grinding that whole quarter panel back down to perfect clean metal and then seal it so I can start on body work.

[C-Hutch]

you're putting a ton of time into that thing. I respect that. I would have chopped out whatever was in the way and rivited on some overs and called it a day. But I'm lazy haha.

[CubbyChowder]

you're putting a ton of time into that thing. I respect that. I would have chopped out whatever was in the way and rivited on some overs and called it a day. But I'm lazy haha.

thanks haha yeah I wanted to go the all-metal route, something about it is just satisfying to me, it's peace of mind knowing there's no plastic or fiberglass involved. Plus, welding is just something I've always wanted to get good at so this is great practice for me as I plan on doing lots of metal fab in the future (not really sure what for yet haha I just love custom metal stuff).

[Spatakula]

Just finished skimming the thread! Very nice work!

-spatakula

[C-Hutch]

thanks haha yeah I wanted to go the all-metal route, something about it is just satisfying to me, it's peace of mind knowing there's no plastic or fiberglass involved. Plus, welding is just something I've always wanted to get good at so this is great practice for me as I plan on doing lots of metal fab in the future (not really sure what for yet haha I just love custom metal stuff).

oh don't get me wrong, I think it's fuckin' awesome and admire that. I need to learn to weld better as well. I can get two things to stick together, but it's nothing pretty by any means.

[CubbyChowder]

oh don't get me wrong, I think it's fuckin' awesome and admire that. I need to learn to weld better as well. I can get two things to stick together, but it's nothing pretty by any means.

Well you gotta start somewhere. Honestly the only way to get better at welding is practice and experience, and soon you learn to become a lot more patient with it as well. And as far as pretty welds go, look at all mine haha they all look like dog shit but that's what a grinder and flapdisk are for

[vwracer00]

Keep up the good work. Here are some pics of my dads 2002

[SebastienPeek]

Wow, just read this thread the whole way through!

Awesome work so far, can't wait to see how this continues!

[Dwob]

Dude those fenders look amazing, my friend dave and i just spent two days straight pulling mine, my first time too...sucks but its so worth it...lkeep it up!

[CubbyChowder]

Thanks for the awesome comments guys.

Alright, got some more work done. I got the whole inner fender welded and seam sealed. It looks a bit rough, but I think it will do the job. I don't even want to think about that process anymore haha it was so frustrating:



Then I wanted to try out some body filler work, I have a tiny bit of experience with body filler but have soo much room for improvement. I figured this would be some good practice. I wanted to smooth some of the trim line holes that I welded shut on the upper part of the quarter panel. First I got rid of every little speck of surface rust in this area and then spread some filler:



Took my time and slowly starting block sanding it down with 80 grit followed by 220 grit (not really sure if this is the proper way to do it, but it seemed to work):




Masked off a small section so I can get that area in primer, I'm tired of seeing surface rust gather on all this bare metal, at least this section will be good to go now:



Primed it and I'm pretty happy with the results. It's not perfect, but at least it's better. I will perfect it all at a later time once all the body work starts to come together. Don't mind the upper right section that didn't get painted, I still have some filler work to do there:

[NorCalFocus]

How big of block are you using when sanding down the filler? The bigger (longer) the block the smoother the filler will be. If your sanding just those spots you'll get waves. After the primer drys get that area wet and look at in from different angles to see if you have waves. Don't know if you knew that but thought it might help.

[CubbyChowder]

How big of block are you using when sanding down the filler? The bigger (longer) the block the smoother the filler will be. If your sanding just those spots you'll get waves. After the primer drys get that area wet and look at in from different angles to see if you have waves. Don't know if you knew that but thought it might help.

It's pretty small, I'm going to buy a longer one very soon. There are a few waves which I can see from different angles which I plan on fixing, thanks for the input though!

[NorCalFocus]

These are the ones I like. They're foam so your paper will stick to it when wet. Plus they'll curve so you wont get flat spots on round areas. Last tip, put a drop of soap in your bucket of wet sand water. The paper will slide so much easier.

[CubbyChowder]

These are the ones I like. They're foam so your paper will stick to it when wet. Plus they'll curve so you wont get flat spots on round areas. Last tip, put a drop of soap in your bucket of wet sand water. The paper will slide so much easier.

Thanks for the tips dude! I really need them, it's been really hard to make this body filler work look perfect. Hopefully some better tools will do the trick, because it has to look perfect or I won't be content with it haha.

One question, I researched that set you recommended above and I'm a bit confused. Do they only work for wet sanding or can you dry sand too? Does sand paper attach to it or is it like built into the blocks?

[NorCalFocus]

You'll wrap the block with the paper. All blocks are sized so the 8x11 paper can be cut into 1/3's 1/4's 1/2's etc and wrap the block. The small ones (of what I posted) you tear the paper in half (across the 8") and fold around the block. One side of the block will have two layers of paper, and the grit will help hold it in place.

Those are mostly for wet sanding. Dry sand the filler down, prime it, then wet sand the primer. If you put one layer of gray primer then a layer of black when you block the whole car down, you should see the gray start to show evenly. If it shows in one spot quicker that others, you have a high spot, if the black doesn't go away as fast you have a low spot.