This messge was posted to one of the Porsche mailing lists. It has
some good info about leading your car. The warnings at the end have
convinced me to just stick with bondo. Bondo has a bad name because
of a few select idiots. The fiberglass imbedded and other varieties
of bondo are darn good stuff.
Jay
> Dan Bajwa >>
>
>Dan, definitely remove all of the repaint. The factory paint is very
good, the
>primers that they used adhered very well to the metal. If you can
sand down to
>the original finish, this would make a good base. If you can't get to
the
>factory paint cleanly or easily, you will need to strip it to bare
metal.
>There are strippers made that will remove top coats only, you can try
those.
>The best bet would be to sand it to the factory finish.
>
>You really wana use lead huh? If your going to repair top panels like
hoods
>and trunks, you might want to try it. If you are going to do side
panels like
>doors and fenders, good luck. When doing lead work, the metal must be
as
>straightened as possible. The first 3 rules of lead work, clean,
clean and
>clean. the metal must be clean. You will need lead bars, tinning
compound,
>paddles, bees wax or tallow, and body files. You can buy a basic kit
and video
>from Eastwood Co. Lead flows easily when too hot, and doesn't flow
well when
>too cold. You need to tin your clean metal, this is easy as long as
the metal
>is CLEAN, you brush on the tinning butter, heat with a torch, then
wipe with
>steel wool until the tinning looks even and shinny. Now you heat the
metal and
>lead bar, not too much and not too little, then start to push the
lead bar
>onto the repair area. When you have applied enough lead, get a paddle
and coat
>it with tallow. Now heat the lead until you can paddle it and shape
it. This
>can be tricky, this is most likely where you will over heat and run
the lead.
>After you have shaped it, let it cool. Now clean the area with baking
soda and
>water to dilute the acids from the tinning flux. Then wash well with
wax and
>grease remover to remove the tallow or bees wax. Now you need to
shape and
>smooth the lead with the body file. When the shape is real close,
stop and
>finish with a sander. Now, if the area is still to low, try and add
more
>lead. Can't do it easily. You will basically start from step one
again. Don't
>let me discourage you, if you really want to learn how to do lead
work, I
>think its great. I'm just trying to point out that it is very very
difficult
>to learn and do well. It takes years of practice. Polyester body
fillers,
>Bondo, work extremely well if used correctly. They are easier to work
with as
>well.
>
>I used lead over all of my new metal patch work and welds. This is
where lead
>is the ideal filler. On the rest of the body, I used Bondo to level
and smooth
>the body.
>
>Again if you are really interested, get the video and lead work book
from
>Eastwood Co. If you decide to try it, I will coach you.
>
>Keep in mind, that lead is bad for you. You need gloves, a
respirator,
>goggles, exhaust fan etc. The fumes are dangerous, when heating. the
lead on
>you skin or in you lungs can really hurt you. Also, do not wash your
clothes
>with other family laundry, you can contaminate them with lead during
washing.
>Put paper or plastic on the floor to catch lead filings, lead on the
floors
>can harm children and pets.
>
>Ed
>
>---
>You are currently subscribed to 914 as: [mhartwig@cbu.edu]
>To unsubscribe, forward this message to
unsubscribe-914@porschelist.org
>
|