What to do? Your advice

[JDHolmes]

A couple of pictures of my 55 as it sits.

Is the damage repairable with filler or should I go for new skins or new doors?

http://www.holmesautorestorations.com/55damage.jpg

And, here's a pic of the hood and top. Mucho surface rust. Should I just wet sand it down and primer it then move on to paint or what?

http://holmesautorestorations.com/55frontview.jpg

As always, thanks for the advice.

JD

[MO-Cummins]

I would STRIP!!! that ol girl to bare metal. Those doors could be fixed, but i might suggest just getting some new skins. Then you could also clean everything up real nice before reskining.

What is this car gonna be, a show car, daily driver???

[CDJr]

It depends on how much access you have to the inside of it, JD. It looks easy to hammer & dolly out, if theres room. Personally, Id try to keep the original metal there, if at all possible. Thats gonna be one bad ride to take to the car shows ;) Thats a 55 Safari Wagon?

[Phil V]

That damage to the door and the qtr pnl are a piece of cake to repair. That kind of work is my favorite part of doing bodywork. If I knew I was going to repair those panels I'd get up in the morning looking forward to getting going on those repairs. (no joke!).

You are definately going to need a stud welder dent puller.

[Roch_Greg]

I don't think wetsanding is appropriate here as that's more for finishing.

Your going to run the gammit there. Metal work, then some body work, finally re-finishing.

You'll need to get to metal and there are a different methods (each with pro's and con's)

Abrasive blasting, 60-80 grit sanding disks on a rotary polisher, wire wheel on a rotary polisher or grinder.

As CdJr says, doors are hard to work the metal on as there is almost always limited access to the otherside of the skin.

I would get the trim stipped off and the panels down to metal, take care of the rust and see what metal work needs to be done.

[stealth1]

I agree the doors are an easy fix with a puller and some massaging and a little skim of filler all is good again. The body just needs to be stripped with a DA and some 80 grit down to metal and see what you got then go from there......:)

[Len]

Using a stud welder (http://autobodystore.net/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=2SW) and a hammer I could make those doors almost level then I'd apply a thin layer of filler to finish the job.

[JDHolmes]

Thanks guys. I knew I could count on sound advice to affirm what I felt was true.

It's a Pontiac, 55 870 wagon. Unfortunately, not a Safari (2 dr).

Not being a great body guy, I was worried about fixing the creases on the doors. I have a 70 Riviera that has a couple of huge dents on passenger side door and rear quarter. Seems like the stud gun is gonna be in my immediate future.

I played around some this weekend and the paint is thin, very thin. I could get to the bare metal with 400 wet sanding. I did so in a couple of places on the top to use some picklex and rust free on a bad spot or two.

I'm changing out the gas lines this afternoon and then rebuilding the fuel pump and she'll be on the road by this weekend.

I haven't made definitive plans yet. She runs (off can now) so depending upon how well motor runs when I get the lines cleaned out, I may keep it totally original.

Original paint was two tone gray (YUK) so I'm thinking either red/white or yellow black combos. Interior is bright red and white so it's probably going to be the red/white combo. Add some rims and tires and cruise away.

[JDHolmes]

Sorry, one issue which may not have been apparent from the pics. The rear door does have rust through. It is about 1" wide by 3-4" long, top to bottom. I weld, but have not welded up sheet metal on cars before. Is it going to be possible to weld a section in a door skin and then make it look purty?

[Phil V]

Welding patches = no problems.

Its not a good idea to sand that thin paint and rust with 400 grit paper. Its too fine of a grit. You need to strip the whole car down to bare metal with 8 inch 80 grit on either a mud hog or an 8 inch rotary sander like an electronic variable speed buffer set at an rpm of 1,000 or less.

[Phil V]

I remember when my parents bought a brand new 1953 Pontiac Chieftan. Am I dating myself ? hehehe.

[Jon E]

That damage to the door and the qtr pnl are a piece of cake to repair. That kind of work is my favorite part of doing bodywork. If I knew I was going to repair those panels I'd get up in the morning looking forward to getting going on those repairs. (no joke!).

You are definately going to need a stud welder dent puller.

I totally agree, those are the most fun to fix.

[JDHolmes]

Welding patches = no problems.

Its not a good idea to sand that thin paint and rust with 400 grit paper. Its too fine of a grit. You need to strip the whole car down to bare metal with 8 inch 80 grit on either a mud hog or an 8 inch rotary sander like an electronic variable speed buffer set at an rpm of 1,000 or less.

Why Phil? Because the scratches give the primer somethiung to bite onto?

If I've been following the many conversations here, that is the sense I make of you comment. Please let me know if I'm wrong. My sanding this weekend was more to see what it would take to knock off that surface rust on the hood.

[JDHolmes]

I remember when my parents bought a brand new 1953 Pontiac Chieftan. Am I dating myself ? hehehe.

I have one of those too, in the garage :) Herman's his name and was my first love/purchase in this new craziness of mine.

[Phil V]

JD, I'm from the old school where NO rust is acceptible (in reference to surface rust). If you just sanded with 400 grit the horizontal surfaces that show a lot of surface rust you would never actually remove the rust, most would remain on/in the panels. 80 grit is aggressive enough to get to the base of that surface rust and remove 99% of it. And yes it would also put sand scratches into the metal that would provide "tooth" for the epoxy primer to mechanically adhere to. Back to that " I'm from the old school where NO rust is acceptible" - If I were doing that car then the only way I would do it would be if the car was media blasted first to remove ALL rust.

[Jon E]

If I were doing that car then the only way I would do it would be if the car was media blasted first to remove ALL rust.

You have to be careful with that.

I had a project "media blasted" for $1,200 and they only removed the paint, not the rust. It was an older laquuer job and the rust had spread everywhere underneath the factory primer covering about 90% of the outer surface. They then told me it would be another $1,200 if I wanted to have the rust removed.

I was not happy.

[Henry]

A couple of pictures of my 55 as it sits.

Is the damage repairable with filler or should I go for new skins or new doors?

http://www.holmesautorestorations.com/55damage.jpg

And, here's a pic of the hood and top. Mucho surface rust. Should I just wet sand it down and primer it then move on to paint or what?

http://holmesautorestorations.com/55frontview.jpg

As always, thanks for the advice.

JD
Boy, judging from your free spirited tongue on the politic board I thought you knew what you were doing. Guess you mainly post on the talk/politic board.
Anyway, I would bet even with a little surface rust the metal in those doors is much better than any replacement skin you could get so like Phil said, go for it. Hell, even newer cars today could withstand fixing of that kind of damage. I would suggest you get all the rust off and treat the metal properly. Be careful on which rust treatment you use because not all can take filler over it. PAY ATTENTION here or your efforts will go down the drain.
You might even want to remove the doors and work them on horses so you can refinish both sides.
As for the car, it will look good when done but to me it is one ugly hunk of iron. I much prefer a 2dr hardtop in the same car; red and white at that. Good luck. Henry

[Roch_Greg]

JD;

Listen to that old timer as there is wisdom in those words. Each grit or group of grits of sandpaper are designed to do so much. 400 grit paper is fine for final sanding primer (wet) or body filler (dry) but isn't going to do a damn thing for either removing paint or rust.

Sure you can but some bite into the old finish with it but Epoxy Primer is not going to get rid of rust so applying it over 400 grit scratch on a finish that shows the metal is rusting is wasting time and material.

[JDHolmes]

Ah Henry, had to toss in a jab even off the politics board , eh. Talking and knowing politics is one subject that has absolutely nothing to do with paint and body. I can do anything mechanically to the car and will do all the paint and body to this one also.

Looking for advice from experts who share a common passion only makes good sense.

And, while this is not my favorite body style, I'll fix her and use her and sell her. In truth, I didn't even really want this car, but ended up with it anyway. now that I have it, I'll do her up right. But, aren't you glad we don't all have the same tastes in cars or we'd all be driving and repairing the same bland sedan.

[Ron H]

JD, I like your car. If you don't want to fix those doors, I'll bet replacements can be found at a swap meet or old boneyard pretty cheap. Four door car doors are usually to be had alot cheaper than for a two door. There is a place in Belton and another in the Dallas area (CTW auto ranch). I bought a vent window for my four door 57, and the guy gave me the door it was in. He said there was little or no market for the four doors.
I stripped my car per Len's instuctions and it has turned out better than I thought I would be able to do. Remember the picklex also, it is a great product.
Seems as though people should be able to separate the break room boards from flaming someone on the auto body boards. Might make someone reluctant to ask a question. I notice even Mooch and Robert are able to separate the two boards, and be civil to one another here. Good luck with your project. Ron

[JDHolmes]

Thanks Ron. I've been by the place in Belton a hundred times and have never stopped. I was either on the way to a job at Ft. Hood or on the way home. I did stop at the two "classic" car places there on 35...wow...they are proud of those cars.

I'm going to follow the good advice here and try and repair the doors first. If it doesn't work, I'll try and find replacements. I've not had much luck in the replacement arena but perhaps 55 Chebby doors would fit.

My main problem is I've got four solid projects and can never decide which one to work on. This one is getting attention because it's in the driveway and my wife wants it in storage...but that's the black hole of car restoration in my opinion.

[Henry]

Ah Henry, had to toss in a jab even off the politics board , eh. Talking and knowing politics is one subject that has absolutely nothing to do with paint and body. I can do anything mechanically to the car and will do all the paint and body to this one also.

Looking for advice from experts who share a common passion only makes good sense.

And, while this is not my favorite body style, I'll fix her and use her and sell her. In truth, I didn't even really want this car, but ended up with it anyway. now that I have it, I'll do her up right. But, aren't you glad we don't all have the same tastes in cars or we'd all be driving and repairing the same bland sedan.
after all, it's still a Pontiac!!!!!!! It will look good done and you can do it. I made a decision a long time ago. Buy them; pull wrenches and bodywork or choose. I stuck with the bodywork. Although, you end up doing mechanical anyway but not building or changing drivelines. Can't do it all ya know. Henry