My Yelli Celi Bodywork Project Options

[Coomer]

Day Four

Today was a very productive day, at least by my standards. I started by sanding down the areas where I was going to apply body filler, and then filled those areas. I filled the front bumper license plate holes, sidemarker holes, a chip on the hood, a ding on each door (only two dings on the entire car in 3.5 years...parking way away helps a lot,) scratches on the passenger rear quarter panel, the antenna hole, dings and holes on the trunk lid, a chip in a sideskirt, and the shaved license plate holder key hole.







I used USC Halftime, which works very well as both a body filler and icing. Once the filler was dry, I sanded down the areas with 120 and then 220.









Finally, once all that was done, I cleaned the areas up and shot them with Duplicolor rattle-can sandable primer and primer sealer.

[Supersprynt]

Are you relocating the key hole, with the Curren wing on it it wont pop.

Jeez this entire thing would be my nightmare, good work.

[Coomer]

Are you relocating the key hole, with the Curren wing on it it wont pop.

Jeez this entire thing would be my nightmare, good work.

Nope, my key hole was absolutely destroyed when my car got vandalized. My old trunk wouldn't pop either, so I just prop up the handle on the inside and then open the trunk. I very rarely use my trunk anyway, since it's got a battery, amp, and sub back there.

[dustin15brown]

I have been recomended to weld shut the sidemarkers and trunk hole.... Is there any reason that you chose not to?

[Coomer]

I have been recomended to weld shut the sidemarkers and trunk hole.... Is there any reason that you chose not to?

Budget.

Like I said in the first post, I cut some corners to save money, since it is just my project car. I read that the fiberglass should hold up, and it has for a long time on my bro's car, so hopefully it holds up.

[brianforster]

damn coomer, nice job, this really inspires me to do my own car.. as soon as i fix my headlight issues im gonna be all over this thread for tips and tricks

[Coomer]

damn coomer, nice job, this really inspires me to do my own car.. as soon as i fix my headlight issues im gonna be all over this thread for tips and tricks

Cool man.

Here's some tips I haven't posted yet that I've learned so far:

• Buy good sandpaper and change your piece out for a new one once it gets dull...sanding with dull sandpaper takes forever...it's worth the extra cost of a bit more sandpaper to get it done much faster.
• Use good body filler...USC Rage Gold is excellent. I've used USC Half-Time on the Yelli Celi for this project and it's worked very well too.
• Wear a respirator when wetsanding fiberglass...don't think that the water will contain all the fiberglass...small particles still get into the air and are very bad for you. If you can smell fiberglass when wetsanding, that's a sign that you should be wearing a respirator.
• Quit when you're tired, and if you start to lose inspiration take a break and go look at some sexy cars online or something...that's always motivating for me.

That's all I can really think of now.

[brianforster]

my big problem with my body work right now is my freaking front bumper and headlights, they are so out of wack that im just depressed every time i look at my car.. once i fix the front end the rest of the car will be a piece of cake

[Digndoug]

The fender looks good.. Thats exactly what i wanted to do, but wasnt sure if it would hold.. and Dont want to have to re-do it some other time.. Im thinking i might try it aswell, but im going to drill some holes around the outside as well, so when the glass lays and drys will have a better hold.

[amysmojo]

Can't wait to see your finished project @ the meet Coomer!

with out the front bumper or heat lights the front end looks kinda like the new mustang hah not the exact same or anything...just kind of reminded me

[dustinkemp]

close amy ^^^

nice finding lol

[dustin15brown]

I have been recomended to weld shut the sidemarkers and trunk hole.... Is there any reason that you chose not to?

Budget.

Like I said in the first post, I cut some corners to save money, since it is just my project car. I read that the fiberglass should hold up, and it has for a long time on my bro's car, so hopefully it holds up.

wasn't trying to rip on ya.. just offering some advice or looking for some helpful hints the way you were doing it.... good job coom

[97lestyousay]

[*]Wear a respirator when wetsanding fiberglass...don't think that the water will contain all the fiberglass...small particles still get into the air and are very bad for you. If you can smell fiberglass when wetsanding, that's a sign that you should be wearing a respirator.
[*]Quit when you're tired, and if you start to lose inspiration take a break and go look at some sexy cars online or something...that's always motivating for me.
[/list]
That's all I can really think of now.

[*]I used to machine fiberglass bow limbs, it would make a cloud of dust.
wear at the least a particle mask. Nasty crap.

[*]Send some of that motivation my way. Props for the work.
Looking good.

[snapshotgt]

Plans to keep the car after all eh? ...not selling it any more?

Good work. Keep the updates coming!

~snap

[KAOS]

Coomer what year bumper do you have? And are you selling it? Also I noticed you got rid of your sidemarkers... hahah, I'll take those too.

Shoot me a PM.

[playr158]

I have been recomended to weld shut the sidemarkers and trunk hole.... Is there any reason that you chose not to?

Budget.

Like I said in the first post, I cut some corners to save money, since it is just my project car. I read that the fiberglass should hold up, and it has for a long time on my bro's car, so hopefully it holds up.

wasn't trying to rip on ya.. just offering some advice or looking for some helpful hints the way you were doing it.... good job coom

welding would be the way to go...but also takes time and can be a pain (if you don't tig) cause fenders are fairly thin...fiberglass probably the quickest, cost efficient and easiest...cause don't forget you have to form the metal a little bit to the contour of the fender curve before you weld it in..

[Coomer]

This weekend I'm going to have lots of free time, so I'm considering filling in the license plate panel and putting the plate below the rear bumper, possibly attached to a linear actuator so that it can retract into the bumper for pictures and stuff.

What do you guys think of this idea? I did a rough Photoshop rendering:





And if I choose to go this route, what would be the best way to go about doing something like this? Someone mentioned filling the panel with Great Stuff expanding foam, then shaving it down, then fiberglassing over the foam, and then applying body filler and sanding to finish it off. But I'm not sure if that's the best way to go.

[Supersprynt]

Honestly, I really dislike that. I'm not fond of shaving the plate location, but the hanging plate just looks "dirty." If you know what im saying. If your going buckwild I'd cut out a new place in the rear bumper and keep the plate from hanging below the bumper.

But thats just my opinion. I am sure I dont have to say how much that doenst make a difference when its your car.

This post has been edited by Supersprynt: Jun 2, 2006 - 3:22 PM

[brianforster]

i dont really like the shaved liscence plate AT ALL, sorry coom

[playr158]

i like the shave plate...well cause i did it...expanding foam, glass and filler are the way i did it and turned out pretty good...for the license plate hinge you'd want to use something like a small cabinet door hinge and probably gorilla glue it to the inside of the bumper (to prevent screws or wat not)...but good luck project seams to come along nicely