I am redoing the engine compartment on my 70ss and I was wondering if anybody has any tricks to filling in all the little holes in the firewall. I was told not to use bondo because it would just crack,this is a race car only no strteet use. The car pulls the tires up pretty good. So please one of you body guys HELP ME so I can get this poject done. Thanks for the help Mark

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69 chevelle ss 1bad454

As long as the surface is prep'd correctly, you won't have any problems with plastic filler cracking. Here's the steps to do this correctly. It's important to get good adhesion to avoid problems down the road.
IN OREDER:

totally degrease entire engine compartment

Wipe surafces with lacquer thinner or acetone

Use a pre-paint surface cleaner that removes silcone and grease (trace amounts) This is available at auto-body supply stores. Prep-Sol is one brand name.

DA sand or grind entire surface with 80 grit.
remove as much of the factory seam filler as possible. This is the stuff that flexes and won't adhere properly to plastic fillers.

If you're going to fill holes and weld them closed, now is the time. grind welds smooth.

Use a quality filler (Evercoat) to fill the deep low spots. Block sand with a 16" board sander 36-then 80 grit. (Available at auto-body supply store. ~$18.00)

Spread another coat of filler over the entire area and sand smooth again. MartinSr just posted great advice and methods for these steps. READ HIS POST!

Once the surface has been smoothed sand with 180 to remove the larger sand scratches.

Use a self-etching primer on the bare metal areas or use a etching solution and prime. Either one is OK.

Apply a quality urethane primer surafcer. 3 good coats.

Block sand with 220, then final sand with 400. Repeat with Re-prime/sanding if necssary.

Paint.

Thanks Jimmy P

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69 chevelle ss 1bad454

Thanks for posting some great information on this subject. It'll help me out in the near future.

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Proud owner of a 66 chevelle thats in the middle of restification Nick a.k.a POPS
Member #387

One thing I did for the round holes that were not being used on my firewall was to obtain black plastic push in button caps, you can buy these at lowes in the auto specialty fasteners section. After painting my firewall black I simply pushed them into the holes from the engine compartment side, looks great and the hole is still there if I ever need it. If the hole is a little larger than the shaft on the push cap (one of mine was) put a little seam sealer on the cap and push it into place until the sealer is in good contact with the firewall. This is faster, looks great, the caps are cheap, 50 75 cents each, and you don't have to worry about bondo ever falling out of the hole.



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70 and 72 Chevelle
ACES # 4051 MCC # 448
TC # 1549 81/70 Cruisers