I think I can say I will leave the engine alone for a while now, It runs strong and fires everyday! So time for the body I have been ignoring. Ive done some in the past with ok results, but now I want it to be as perfect as can be. Ive got a front fender driver side ding and some little bullet looking knots looks like someone used a puller of somekind in the past to pull out damaged rear fenders, on both sides, nothing major at all. But Once the area is sanded or primed, it's so hard to tell if its straight. I've been reading past posts as usual but any tips would be great

Originally posted by pnutkemist:
But Once the area is sanded or primed, it's so hard to tell if its straight. Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but I find it easier to find if something is straight by sanding or priming. When you sand, it will show all of the high, or low spots. It can be hard to tell if something that is bare metal is straight or not. When I shot primer on my 71 the first time, I thought it was straight (but knew it wouldn't be as soon as I shot it), I could see what little spots that I missed.

I had good luck using a can of gloss black paint and letting it dry. It makes it shiny so you can see the problem area. It is a little more difficult to sand off and it sands slower than primer so be careful.
Hope this helps.
LJ

Use specified "guide-coat" to find the high and low spots when blocking the primer/surfacer, I even use it at the filler stages at times. Avoid using any rattle-cans of "hardware" type paint to guide with, you can run into compatibility issues with your top coat.