"It'll look good!"

[nightfire]

I finally got fed up with driving a relatively fast, yet terribly beat up, scratched up, banged up car. I was planning to get a body shop to do all the work, but where's the fun in that?

So I went out and bought an HVLP sprayer, paint and primer, body filler, and lots of sandpaper. I went through two cans of filler and 3 tubes of glazing putty, filling about 20 dents, including a few very large ones on the driver's side (which is what that giant patch covers). I also ground out all the rust, including the entire passenger side A-pillar. Wherever there was metal damage, I used "plastic metal" to make a nice solid surface and hopefully stave off rust reformation for a while.

It's coming along nicely, despite what it looks like in the pictures.

It feels like I'm driving my friend's Carrera around. Everyone looks at me.





Tonight I finished sanding and put on the first coat of primer. It looks great; contours are perfect (so far as I can tell) and I should only need another coat or two to fill in the remaining pinholes and scratches.

Of course after this I'll have to change the hood and bumper.

[MX-3zoom]

lookin good bro! just take your time thou cause the paint is wat makes the car stand out! i like your rims, what size if you dont mind(asking cause they look just right not to big but not to small on the mx)

[nightfire]

lookin good bro! just take your time thou cause the paint is wat makes the car stand out! i like your rims, what size if you dont mind(asking cause they look just right not to big but not to small on the mx)

Thanks! I'm definitely taking my time... I've been working at it for a few hours a night all week, filling, sanding, filling, sanding, etc. Last night I applied a primer coat to check the contours, and they look perfect. There are a few pits and cracks that are shallow enough for another few coats of primer to fill, so tonight I'll pick up another 2 cans, and finish that up. Should be good to mask and spray tomorrow.

My wheels are SSR Comp-C's at 16x7. I love em. I actually chose them because they are super lightweight (11.5lbs each iirc). They weren't cheap, but they weren't stupid expensive. Think I paid $300USD each.

[_-Night-Shade-_]

Your car looks like something out of Death Race or something can't wait to see the results man.

[Mooneggs]

Your car looks like something out of Death Race or something can't wait to see the results man.

x2 lol I didn't realize how beat up your car was!

[nightfire]

Your car looks like something out of Death Race or something can't wait to see the results man.

x2 lol I didn't realize how beat up your car was!

Oh it was in bad shape. At least 10 dents (ranging from 5mm to 3cm) on the passenger side, and a whole ton of large dents on the driver's side (one was 1/2" deep). It came that way; I don't know how the previous owner abused this car so badly. The engine/transmission were finished when I got er (170k km). Body was dented.. but no rust.

Some rust formed over the last 2 years (wheel wells, a-pillar, doors), and I took care of that. In fact the whole rear of the passenger side door was rusted out, so I used JB weld along the remaining edges, then filled it in with high quality body filler. Contoured it, sprayed it with rubberized asphalt, then black paint. It looks great now, and sure ain't gonna rust again.

[MX-3zoom]

im not going to lie, i like the car! heck, keep it like that. and do motor swap and slap a turbo in there, and fool them all! in my town there's an mx3 like that, no body can hang wit him but a wrx-sti-and this 1200hp supra can only pass him up......but yeah have fun taping

[shadowmx3]

lol look almost like my mx3. mine have like tan fender and rear bumper on it.
gl on ur work man.

[mx-3_4evr]

dud that's is how I bought my car too! Just that mine had a BIG dent on the passenger side 1/4 panel. Nice job though!

[SuperK]

Looking... Looking.. Erm... Looking BAD!


Your WORK is good, but the car looks like it's been though some asian jungle and came out with some bad vehicular disease at this point.

It's going to look good with paint, though! Good jeorb! And... you might wanna break down and buy another hood

[Daninski]

Keep up the 'fair work'. Hey don't forget to use 2 part primer if it's going to stay on or your paint might crinkle. Are you going to primer mist the car then block sand to identify and take care of any ripples? Once your done send me your HLVP gun as I plan on doing my car. I'm surprised driving in Montreal the car is in that good of shape. (in Quebec traffic signs are just suggestions ). Keep us up on the progress. If I get mine done and we see each other at a meet we'll compare. Bon Chance

[nightfire]

Well, I'm almost done. I sprayed black acrylic enamel on last night, and took a look tonight.

HVLP guns are harder to use than I thought. Not as simple as a spray can. I didn't realize you had to mix the paint, set the fan width, set the pressure, set the flow rate, etc... took me a while to figure it all out.

On the driver's side the paint has a few drips (too much paint) and ripples (not enough reducer), but it'll be fine after some 2000 grit sanding and rubbing compound. On the passenger side, a minor disaster.. there were a bunch of paper towel dust bunnies hiding in the crack between the side of the car and the trunk, and when I sprayed outwards (to paint the outer lip of the trunk) it kicked them all up out on to the paint!

I went down tonight, picked all the bits out, sanded with 400 grit, and applied another coat to the area. We'll see how it turns out.

[_-Night-Shade-_]

How's the progress coming?

[nightfire]

Oh, I'm done. I did the two rear fender, roof, and doors. The roof and doors came out really well, but the body filler I used on the driver's side dents cracked. Learning experience. I'll have to redo that.

I'll take some pics after I wetsand and polish it.

[Daninski]

You said you had a few runs. Did you do a light tack coat first to give the paint a base to adhere to?