Bodywork, How far do you go?

DO IT RIGHT.... the more you half *** things the more the probability that things will go wrong down the road.

Seriously.

 

BTW: Run open... then you don't have fenders to worry about.

 

Learn to do it right and take pride in it.
I paid someone to do the metalwook on my 54 project and it was a hack job.
Being a selfemployed furniture maker (quality furniture) and looking at the mess I had only one option - Lean to do metal work and fix it right. Yes it will not be a Riddler contender but my floors and inner panels are solid and the doors will not sag latter on.
This week I should be done with all of the panel replacements and start applying filler.
How do I feel about my truck - Great
Will any one evert notice the floorboards and inner panels - probably not - but over time the truck will last because the foundation was done right.

 

I have done both.
I will probably never be **** again about building another car in my life.
Everyone I have seen that has a beautiful paint job spends way too much time cleaning, storing and worrying about the vehicle.
Many times I hear. I want to be sure it lasts a long time in this state.
I bet 90% of the cars we own will last longer than our grandchildren.
I think at this pont in my life, I would rather have quan***y vs quality. I still admire the work and attention to detail in any car.
I admire the men who do this work. Right now... I am just glad its not me spending valuable time sanding or fabricating an area that no one will see. If I was 20 again... I'd probably be making the same old decisions again.
I like the point made by someone here..
No one wants to pay for detail... but everyone appreciates it.

 

"we just hammer it out, bondo it in and move it out"

I'm guessing that's only because a 4 inch deep pile of bondo would take too long to dry

 

My question is where do you stop. I always start out with the intentions of just swapping out the motor and/or freshening one up....then 5 years later it's a full off frame resto with all new everything....

 

I build cars to drive.
If I am doing work where nobody can see it, I will admit that I don't take as much time as I would on an outside fender but, on my current Caddy, I need to do some repair work to the inside fender well. You can be that it will be done right and, as someone else posted, it will then be rhinolined. This is no trailer queen. it will be driven unless broken. Rhinoliner in the fenderwells almosts seems like a no brainer....

 

The big difference here is pride in your work. You have no time lines and no dead lines, so you can spend as much or as little time that you want to do the job to your satisfaction. (Which I would hope would be alot). Your friend works for a shop, he has deadlines, timelines to meet and his employer is obviously more concern about the financial bottomline than the quality of their work. They just want it to be done and out regardless of the quality.

Keep doing it your way. I sure wouldn't want them repairing any of my cars.

 

Thanks all, wasn't expecting so much info,or responses, but I appreciate it. I guess I am the only one that has to be happy, and doing all the work I did, MADE--ME-- HAPPY, I was just wondering if I was going "too" far, but apparently not!! I am not bondoing the underside and making it show quality, it is a DRIVER, what I was getting at was there was a brace in the corner that probably left alone, would not have had ANY ill effect on my car, since I welded the fenders to the body (you wouldn't belive how much firmer they are, welded, versus bolted with rubber between the body and fender) But in my mind leaving it broke was NOT right, I bent and m***aged and formed that bracket back into shape, welded it together, ground it down, smoothed it out, and you would NEVER be able to tell it was ever damaged, then after putting it back onto the car, you CAN-NOT see it, but I know it is RIGHT!, and for the "rhino liner" guys, I did under coat it with some 3-M undercoating that hardens enough to paint, although I am leaving it black and it looks great!! So.. in short,... even though this is so damn long... Thank you for the advice, and moral support, I appreciate it, I am happy with my results, and it fit into what most of you all said...Thanks, Ken
Next question is coming up shortly...

 

You have to answer that question your self - cause your really the only one you have to please.

If I dont like the way something looks or am not happy with the way it works at the end of the day - IT ALWAYS looks worse the next day - and will continue to look worse every time I look at it - till I fix it.

When I look at somthing at the end of the day and I am pleased with the way it looks or works - I am almost always ok with it till the end.

 

i am the bodyman out at bear metal kustoms, and you need to always realize that you arent building a show car. if you spend too much time working on a spot that isnt seen, sometimes you can over work an area and actually screw yourself over when the rear of the fender doesnt match up all the way. but then again you need to also realize that you want to be proud of your work. "bondo" is great stuff. when i do a panel i get the metal as close as i can and then i coat the whole panel with a skim coat of filler. remember these cars never came from factory perfectly straight. with all this said, dont half *** your work and on the other hand, you dont want to spend 4 years on a car making it perect, that you could have done C type work and be driving the car in 1 year. yes you will always know whats on the car and you will always remember how much time you spent on the car. perfection is nice, but then you are over protective of your vehicle and not always willing to take full advantage of the vehicle that you have built.