At 01:05 PM 7/2/00 -0700, Jeff McNeal wrote:
>
>As I was waxing the rear valance on Mrs. J., the light pressure of my
>fingertip caused some paint to crack....
>The rear valance is by far the worst piece on the entire car with an actual
>rust through spot down below where it's deftly concealed from public
scrutiny.
>
>Here's the question: Is the rear valance the easiest body panel to replace,
>or what? It certainly LOOKS like I could do it myself. What's the
>easiest/best way?.....
Jeff,
Are you trying to turn a mole hill into a mountain? Are you sure you
NEED to replace the rear vallance?
If there are only a few small rust through holes, they can be filled with
bondo. There is "nothing" wrong with bondo. Many cars have a small amount
of bondo in them. Manufactures used to use lead to hide the various weld
seams - like around the roofs supports etc. but not any more.
You might want to strip the paint off the entire rear vallance just to check
to see what the metal really looks like. Then if the metal has been hit
and butchered, has 3" of bondo on it, etc, then think about replacing it.
If you have some larger holes, you can clean them up by cutting the bad
metal out, then welding in patch panels with a MIG welder.
If you car had just been rear ended, a body shop might want to replace the
vallance because, it is quicker for them to cut the entire section out and
replace it than it is to do rework the panel, if is were badly torn or
dented.
Knowing that you have been doing the work on Mrs. Jones, I assume that you
are going to do this work also. In which case time really isn't a
consideration. So, IMHO I'd try to save the original piece if possible,
and patch it. Sort of like if you have a wooden privacy fence and one
section of the wood rots. Do you replace the entire fence or just the
rotted section.
There is one other slight advantage to repairing the old piece vise replacing
it. Trying to align a new panel is a lot more difficult than aligning the
patch panel.
John
guess the ne
John T. Blair WA4OHZ email: jblair@exis.net
Va. Beach, Va Phone: (757) 495-8229
48 TR1800 48 #4 Midget 65 Morgan 4/4 Series V
75 Bricklin SV1 77 Spitfire 71 Saab Sonett III
Morgan: www.team.net/www/morgan
Bricklin: www.bricklin.org
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