Typing 2 Ink - by Jim Bryant
Chapter Five: Body Massage Basics

At the end of the last installment I was left with the totally gutted body of a '67 Microbus Deluxe Sunroof and a jagged weld around the entire roof at the drip channel.  The rest of the body was sound, but it was far from the cherry restoration I was seeking.  I wanted it to look like it had just left the Hanover plant if I could.  I wanted to do it myself if I could.  I had touched up a scratch or two, popped a dent now and then and even painted a door with aerosol cans.  Armed with a good solid lack of bodywork knowledge, I enrolled in the community college course titled "Auto Body I" and hoped for the best.  Five semesters later I had learned enough to do a decent job on the bus, and enough to know I didn't want to earn a living at bodywork.

Whether your project is a full restoration that will take months or years to complete, or simply fixing the dings along the side of your bus from parking next to idiots with 2-door Cadillacs, there are some basic lessons of body work that will keep it on the road a little longer.  Some of them I learned the hard way, some of them are common sense that seems to be forgotten in the frenzy to make it look good.

Lesson 1: This stuff is dangerous!  Every tool, solvent or device in the auto body field can bite.  Metal cutters cut skin and bone, grinders will usually stop at skin and muscle.  Solvents ignite and then it's over quickly, but inhaling too much can make you see stars at the very least.  Sand blasting is not a day at the beach.  Side effects run from nasty abrasions to silicosis.  Body fillers have fiberglass (right up there with asbestos), aluminum (linked with Alzeimers) or plastic (everybody's favorite) in them.  When you sand and breathe them, you may be ensuring that your bus outlives you.  So wear gloves, masks, hoods, whatever it takes.  The major catalyst is fatigue, so take a break from time to time.

Lesson 2: Pick a system and stick with it.  Every auto parts and paint shop has suppliers of different brands.  Ask for literature on their products and find out what type of primers, sealers, cleaners, solvents and topcoats are offered and work well together.  The college offered one brand name (low bid, no doubt), but the local store was selling DuPont.  I bought my own supplies, took them to class, and stayed with the DuPont system from primer to color coat.  The guy behind the counter will only give you that "here comes a sucker" look the first time you walk in and ask for a gallon of 3812S.  After that you'll say it with confidence and he won't doubt you.

Lesson 3: There’s an order to all of this.  The finished color is the first thing you want to see, but the last coat to apply (unless you're adding a clear coat).  The system I used on bare metal was, in order of application:

1.  5717S Metal Conditioner
2.  3812S Reducer (wipe down)
3.  615S/616S Variprime Self-Etching Primer/Converter
4.  3812S Reducer (wipe down)
5.  131S Fill 'N' Sand Primer
 6.  3812S Reducer (wipe down)
7.  1984S Velvaseal Sealer
8.  3812S Reducer (wipe down)
9.  Centauri Color Coat with 8022S Reducer

None of that addresses the wet sanding or tack cloth work between coats or metal and filler work, but each step has a purpose.  If corners are cut for a quick and dirty job, a quick and dirty job is what you'll get.  One of the major house paint companies has a slogan:  "Prepare the surface, insure the result."  I lived by that.

 Lesson 4: Rust never sleeps (with a nod to Neil Young).  Grinding, stripping, blasting, sanding and cutting all work well to remove rust.  Once you see bare metal, don't close up shop for the night without covering it.  It is always easier to remove primer or paint than to remove rust.  Don't expect primer to protect very long.  Primer is not meant to seal, it is meant primarily for adhesion of subsequent coats.  If you live in the rust belt then you've seen those weekend projects drive by, one door in primer, with rusty red streaks running down the side.  For them too many weekends and too many rainstorms have gone by for primer alone to do the job.  A garaged project may be OK for months in primer, but if the weather will get to it, then paint it, even if you have to sand the paint all off again the next week.

Lesson 5: Less is more, filler that is.  In architecture this concept brought us some rather stark 1960s buildings.  In bodywork it means that when body filler is required, the thinner the better.  That means that the metal should be as close as possible to the desired shape so the filler can be as thin as possible.  Methodologies vary, but it all boils down to massaging the metal with heat, hydraulic expanders (or the stand-by VW stock jack), pullers, hammer and dolly, or whatever manner you devise.

Lesson 6: Busses are metal, not plastic.  There is a convenience aspect of picking up a can of Bondo at the hardware store.  You can be tempted, but walk away.  If convenience were your reason for driving, would you have a split window bus?  All of the common hardware store variety body fillers have a plastic base.  I admit I tried them too, however I've seen plastic fillers pop off, shrink, and curl around the corners.  I'm not a purist, lead-only body filler advocate either.  In between plastic and lead is an aluminum-based body filler that mixes and applies like Bondo.  I have used it for 10 years with no shrinkage or separation.  Two brands I know of are All Metal and Silver Metal.  Avoid Silver Metal if you can.  The stuff just won't harden.  Rough sanding it.  It just gums up the sandpaper.  All Metal always gave me good results and I'd recommend it to anyone.

Lesson 7: Sand flat, not smooth.  All the metal straightening, body filling and priming in the world won't do justice to the flat sides of a bus.  The wavy lines and dings that stand out in the sunlight when you get down and look the length of the side of a bus are due to improper sanding.  Use the largest flat block you can hold comfortably.  Sanding smooth will feel good when you run your hand over a small area, but close your eyes and run your hand along the surface for a couple of feet.  If it's not flat, you'll feel it.  Spray a coat of primer on it and look at it from an angle while the primer is still shiny wet.  If you don't see waves, you got it right.  If not, get your block and sand some more.  If metal appears, it's a high spot that needs to be hammered (lightly please) back down and a thin coat of filler applied.  One tactic I've found helpful is to buy primer in two colors (light and dark) and alternate colors as you sand.  If you can't sand through the color you last applied, that's a low spot that needs to be filled.