A few bodywork questions

[emu]

As some of you will know, im busy trying to put a new front end on my escort. Having never done anything quite this involved on a car body im having to learn a bit as I go along

.

 

So on that note I have a few little questions

 

1) My new wings and front panels have stickers on them saying 'Cataphoretic'. Ive done a search of google and found (on a smart-car forum ) that I think it is some sort of corrosion-proofing? So is the black coating supposed to be sanded off before painting or should I just key in slighty with wet/dry paper before (etch?) primering??

 

2) A few parts of the structure wont readily accessible once its all welded together. Such as inside the radiator crossmember. What would be the best way to protect them, and also under the wings (which is going to be black)? Etch primer, seam sealer, stonechip or schultz?? Im going to waxoyl the car once im done but obviously dont want to rely entirely on that.

 

3) Finally (for the moment at least ), The escort has a support that is welded from the radiator crossmember to the slam panel, to the rear of the front panel. Do I need this? Only, i'm thinking it leaves me more room for a cooling fan if I dont fit it.

 

 

Sorry for the long winded questions, but I dont much fancy having to do it all again too soon

 

Thank you

[over_head_cam]

1. Flat down black stuff (it will show up inperfections too) Then prime

 

2. If you need to grind them and weld them, then a bit of weld-through zinc primer. If you paint/stonechip etc, it will just burn off. Waxoil will sort it afterwards

 

3. You don't need it, in fact you don't need a lot of the front end panelling, depends on how hard you slam the bonnet

 

It's a stiffener and you'll be fine without it (the panel will flex a bit )

[emu]

So just primer and waxoyl in the cavities??

 

Do I need to use Etch-primer once ive rubbed the black coating down? or just the normal primer?

 

How about under the wings? once ive etch primer and seam -sealed do i just need to schultz it all or do I need to paint it with anything else first??

 

 

Sorry for my constant questioning

[over_head_cam]

Originally the inside of the sill etc would just have a sealer or primer, then waxoil so it should be fine

 

 

I normally use 1k filler primer to go over the bare metal bits to take out any imperfections (you can etch under it if you like, but the black finish is pretty stable anyway)

 

Under the wings? Depends on the look you want. You can paint over (proper) stonechip in body colour

 

Or just Shultz over primer

[emu]

Now you've said, I remember thinking it looked a quite bare inside the sills.

 

Im going to have the underside in black, because I wont keep it clean if its body coloured and it'll end up looking mangy. Nearly time to dig out the schultz gun then.

 

I dont need to take the black off totally then, just key it up a bit so that the primer sticks?

[over_head_cam]

Where you can't see, you can just key it up with a red scotch. But on the visible area you'll probably need to block it down with a bit of wet and dry to make sure it's smooth and flat. New doesn't always mean straight

[emu]

Cool, back to the garage tomorrow night then

 

Thank you very much

[over_head_cam]

Anytime my good man