I just got finished cleaning my undercarriage and getting most of the paint of my firewall!! what a job that was!!!!!! graemlins/angry.gif
http://www.geocities.com/codybouc/restopage.html
http://geocities.com/codybouc/firebirdpage.html
I could really use some help learning all these techniques, I have a bunch of indentations on the firewall along with a bunch of holes, i think i will be able to fill the holes pretty good by fililng them with weld(with a piece of copper on ohter side) and then using a angle grinder or DA to get them pretty straight. my quesitons are
1. what is the best body filler
2. how should i go about filling in the small dents? fill with filler and then sand down?
3. what is the best tool to use to sand down the body filler? and try to get it as straight as possible?
4. any tips on filling in holes on firewall?
5. I have dupont paint on my car, i will try to get the paint matched as close as i can, but what stages do i need to do before i paint the firewall and innerfenders? what kinda primers? how many differnt primers do i need, i heard of the sealers and so forth.
6. After painting will i need to wetsand and buff to get it too look good? i am afraid of after wetsanding of trying to use a buffer and burning through on all the edges( a lot of them)
Any help at all would be great! I am pretty new at this so I am a little lost with all the lingo, there is so much to learn it seems, i have so many more questions!!!

anbody? smile.gif

Cody,
How big are the holes we talking? Yes welding holes shut with copper works great but if its more then 5/16 dia I would weld it shut with a patch instead of filling it.

1. evercoats rage or rage gold...hands down the best stuff.
2. yes small dents can be just filled with body filler
3. You need to get some hand sanders and long boards http://www.chevelles.com/cgi-bin/forum/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=008196
4. Take your time. If you have several dings in the firewall all close together its better to cover the WHOLE area with filler then trying to fill just each hole .
5. Well that depends you what to paint the firewall body color or go standard semigloss black? Once the body filler work is done spray the bare metal areas and filler with an etching primer dupont's variprime. Then you can use a urethane primer surfacer to fill in any tiny imperfections this is what makes it staright.
Spray a coat of black spray bomb on the primer but not covering use it just for a guide coat, which tells you the high and low spots. now you can block sand with 180 grit DRY. Once done with that prime again. Now depending on HOW straight it was you can now wetsand with 500 grit or once again use 180 dry if the panel wasnt very good. Keep sanding with 180 til you are happy with the straightness, then you can apply that last round of primer and wetsand with 500 grit.

Once wetsanded you can paint, no need for a sealer.
6. If you apply the paint correctly and use proper gun setup you WONT need to buff the paint

Cody,
How did you sand your firewall so clean looking?

Used wirewheels, and elbow grease, jasco, sanding discs. THanks for the info, luckily i found this guy that i have known for awhile, i halfway trust this guy, he works at a good bodyshop, and has gone to school before, he has about 5 years experience, he is going to help me, but i will still be checking in to get everyones opininos, thanks a lot!

Save your time and cover it with an aluminum firewall?

Just an option.

graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I have painted 3 firewalls in the past year and all turned out good. Remember, most of this is not clearly visible and the quality of the body work is not required to be as good as the actual body. Also, most people use a semi-gloss paint which hides small imperfections so again it isn't that critical. Don't even think about wet-sanding and buffing after paint, it's a waste of time and shouldn't be necessary with any talented painter.

One thought, use a single-stage urethane paint rather than acrylic enamel.

try the RAGE EXTREME filler, it's alot better than the regular RAGE and Gold version, smoother without pinhole problems