hey guys.

i am coming into about 6k in a couple months and would like a new paint job on my car. however. there is rust!!!!!!

there is significant rust in heater channels and a couple bubbles around windows .etc.

now. i got quoted 6k for someone to repair and paint it with them doing all the work. but in effort to cut costs. i was thinking of doing prep work myself. removing panels, sanding back .etc
only i dont know where to start and what with. car at the moment is fully painted. so no prep work done at all.

can someone please give me some info on what to do.

i am looking in the end for a GOOD quality job.

Anthony

Heater channel is a pain in the arse to do (i did mine recently this is what is involved: http://www.aussieveedubbers.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=24785. If there is significant rust there, it'd be better to just swap the body for a better one.

First step is to strip back all the paint, how far you want to go with this will determine how much $$ you want to spend. You could take the body off and get it done inside and out and below. Either strip it by hand (which will take a long time and is labour intensive) or get it sandblasted by someone.

If you are tight on money you could just sand back the existing paint and go over that instead of stripping to bare metal. Although you would have to make sure the paint is stable. It's best to go back to bare metal but if $$$ is tight...

As for prep work, you would fix up rust and panelbeat out any large dents or anything like that, then you would use filler to get out smaller dents or uneven areas. Then you would etch prime the car, spray primer filler, put a guide coat over it. Sand it back smooth, then depending if the primer is thick enough you could do colour over that. Between each step you would go over the entire body with wax & grease remover.

If you've never done any panel work before it'd probably be a good idea to do some practice panels to start off with to familiarise yourself with the process. A good paintjob is in the prep.

What tools do you have and can you panelbeat and weld? You'd want to have a welder, compressor etc.

what type of welder?

we have a mig welder, a compressor. and most tools.

do not plan on painting it myself. plan on putting it into a shop for the final painting. just plan on doing some prep with my dad on the car.

i have not seen too many bodys around perth that dont have rust in the heater channels.

like i said. overall budget including paint is about 5k.

anthony

Get yourself into a Tafe night course on panel beating and you will learn more hands on than you could any other way. Then the skills will be with you for life.

i didnt know that tafe did a night course for panelbeating. lol

how long they last ?:S

cos i am doing a light vehicle mechanics aprenticeship already


Anthony

They do them here in Melbourne? I just assumed they did them over there too. If you already go to tafe for your apprenticeship, you may get it cheaper.
The Tafe I went to did light mechanics, spraypainting and sheetmetal too and we were allowed to go to other sections night courses for free if they were not booked out. That was 15 years ago, dunno how strict they are now.

yeah I do one at night here in sydney. Learnt how to weld and panelbeat etc there. Also doing one in spraypainting too.

doing the heater channels all depends on your skills, coming from the uk nearly every beetle you see has had one if not both channels replaced and i have do so many over the years i find it a breeze. In saying that to some one that is not that skilled will find it a long job. the most important thing when doing channels is to make sure everything is totaly square when cutting out and refitting... so if you going to try and do it your self get that tape measure out and double, triple check. i had a jig built but i was doing two/three a week so it payed for its self in no time.

To give you some idea if you get someone to do it for you it should take no more than a day to do both sills if you give them the car striped(seat carpets etc) at the most. best try to get someone who is into vw's and has done it before as they will know the process.

As i said all depends on your own skills and if you are able do it yourself. at the end of the day always feel better if when someone asks who did that u can say ME :thumb


steff....................................