New Panels for BT5

356 Porsche-related discussions and questions.
Message
Author
User avatar
Adam Wright
Classifieds Monitor
Posts: 10304
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:00 am
Tag: KTF

Re: New Panels for BT5

#16 Post by Adam Wright »

Martin Benade wrote: Thu Jun 20, 2019 11:53 am At my shop sometimes the best course is to spend some hours beginning the straightening. It will become obvious if it will work out well or not. As to filler, purists don't approve, but the thirty-year old filler I ground off my car was still holding up perfectly, mostly because it wasn't covering up any rust.
Plastic filler used correctly will last a long long time. My car was restored in the 80s and was recently taken down to bare metal, the bondo was holding fine.
Attachments
IMG_9175.JPG
IMG_9175.JPG (382.11 KiB) Viewed 2279 times
IMG_9088.JPG
IMG_9088.JPG (241.46 KiB) Viewed 2279 times
IMG_9087.JPG
IMG_9087.JPG (122.26 KiB) Viewed 2279 times
18.JPG
18.JPG (299.04 KiB) Viewed 2279 times
17.JPG
17.JPG (374.32 KiB) Viewed 2279 times
www.unobtanium-inc.com
Check out my Barn Find column in the Registry magazine, always looking for good stories.

Geoff Fleming
356 Fan
Posts: 1972
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2010 6:50 pm
Location: Union, New Jersey

Re: New Panels for BT5

#17 Post by Geoff Fleming »

I prefer the metal infused fillers. They tend to be less porous and set up harder. Used correctly, plastic based fillers do a good job.

User avatar
Adam Wright
Classifieds Monitor
Posts: 10304
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:00 am
Tag: KTF

Re: New Panels for BT5

#18 Post by Adam Wright »

Geoff Fleming wrote: Thu Jun 20, 2019 1:06 pm I prefer the metal infused fillers. They tend to be less porous and set up harder. Used correctly, plastic based fillers do a good job.
I think the problem with plastic fillers that give it a bad name is there is little barrier to entry, as it were, skill wise. Anyone can mix bondo, so it gets applied badly by many. But used correctly it is a good product. Unlike lead or lead-less solder that takes some learned skill to apply so you see it usually used correctly by someone who knows what they are doing.
www.unobtanium-inc.com
Check out my Barn Find column in the Registry magazine, always looking for good stories.

User avatar
Adam Wright
Classifieds Monitor
Posts: 10304
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:00 am
Tag: KTF

Re: New Panels for BT5

#19 Post by Adam Wright »

Adam Wright wrote: Thu Jun 20, 2019 1:10 pm
Geoff Fleming wrote: Thu Jun 20, 2019 1:06 pm I prefer the metal infused fillers. They tend to be less porous and set up harder. Used correctly, plastic based fillers do a good job.
I think the problem with plastic fillers that give it a bad name is there is little barrier to entry, as it were, skill wise. Anyone can mix bondo, so it gets applied badly by many. But used correctly it is a good product. Unlike lead or lead-less solder that takes some learned skill to apply so you see it usually used correctly by someone who knows what they are doing.

But there has been bad bondo, anyone remember UV bondo in the 90s? I used that on a GTI, it was a nightmare. The sun was the hardner...
Attachments
adamgti.jpg
adamgti.jpg (184.68 KiB) Viewed 2273 times
www.unobtanium-inc.com
Check out my Barn Find column in the Registry magazine, always looking for good stories.

User avatar
Harlan Halsey
356 Fan
Posts: 2340
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 2:05 pm
Location: No Cal SF Peninsula

Re: New Panels for BT5

#20 Post by Harlan Halsey »

Bondo is the trade name of a polyester resin which came to wide use after WWII. Although these are excellent products, light weight, hard enough, easy to apply, and long lasting, they got a poor reputation, because, as Adam has noted, they are so easy to apply improperly.

To apply polyester resin properly, the surface is prepared just as it would be for lead or paint. That is to say, smoothed to your standards and completely rust free. (I know an excellent body and paint man who makes a practice of removing the lead from the front fender to rocker panel seam and replacing it with resin on every restoration, because the residual acid from the leading process can cause paint problems later on.)

However, lead is stronger and Porsche made the joints between panels of lead for that reason. (That is how they got the 3mm gap and that is why even when you got a new door or other movable panel from Porsche it didn't fit.)

But, epoxy resin to the rescue. Epoxy resin is much harder than polyester resin, hard enough to substitute for lead at the panel edges. Consequently, epoxy resin is a lot harder to shape. So it is only used where necessary. (I have used a product intended for boats, Marine Tex.)

Two of my race cars, the Lotus Elite, and the Ginetta, are mostly made of polyester resin in the form of fiberglass. Each was restored from a basket case more than 30 years ago. The Carrera pictured to the right was restored from a basket case in 1978-79 without any new lead. I would encourage anyone planning a repair or restoration up to Pebble Beach level, to skip the lead, but not to slight the preparation.

User avatar
Eric McKinley
356 Fan
Posts: 1348
Joined: Sat Dec 21, 2013 12:09 pm
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland

Re: New Panels for BT5

#21 Post by Eric McKinley »

PRS is a great bunch of guys who work out of an old workshop in Essex, they are experts at their trade.

User avatar
John Clarke
356 Fan
Posts: 2115
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 6:38 am
Location: East Sussex, England
Contact:

Re: New Panels for BT5

#22 Post by John Clarke »

Hi Eric
Yes, I know Paul & Mike well, and their team do great 356 work. I'm not sure though if all their body work goes out to Bruce at Sportswagen in Southend.
I would definitely use Bruce, but he's a little too far away for me, so I am trying a recommended local Body Shop. I will try and post some pics before ,during and after and report back. We are going to try to pull most of the damage out. Thanks for the heads up.
Regards Jay
 

User avatar
George Hussey
356 Fan
Posts: 746
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:22 pm
Location: atlanta georgia
Contact:

Re: New Panels for BT5

#23 Post by George Hussey »

Mikes panels are very well fitting but he as well as we also sell the Dansk panels. We for the most part have not had a problem with them, (I think Mike will vouch for this) and we are happy that at least someone is taking the time and money to do it. The factory certainly is not
John Clarke wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2019 2:00 pm I was thinking just the same thing Jon. It doesn't instil much confidence, with the ongoing exhaust fit problems!
Has anyone used Mike DeJonge's 356 Panels? I believe Mike has a 911 Design European base. We need a FNS Wing, & NS Door Skin or complete door for the smashed 61 BT5 Coupe
Cheers Jay
George Hussey

User avatar
George Hussey
356 Fan
Posts: 746
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:22 pm
Location: atlanta georgia
Contact:

Re: New Panels for BT5

#24 Post by George Hussey »

funny, several years ago the chairman of the board of Bondo Corp brought us his 914-6 for a bit of sweetening and storage. Of course I had to make the statement: "Julio, I hope that your car is full of bondo!"
George Hussey

User avatar
John Clarke
356 Fan
Posts: 2115
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 6:38 am
Location: East Sussex, England
Contact:

Re: New Panels for BT5

#25 Post by John Clarke »

OK Here is the damage.
It's at the repair shop being ripped apart
20190628_081759_Burst01.jpg
20190628_081759_Burst01.jpg (162.25 KiB) Viewed 1984 times
20190628_081659_Burst01.jpg
20190628_081659_Burst01.jpg (115.71 KiB) Viewed 1984 times
20190628_081645_Burst01 (1).jpg
20190628_081645_Burst01 (1).jpg (143.14 KiB) Viewed 1984 times
20190628_081606_Burst01.jpg
20190628_081606_Burst01.jpg (135.45 KiB) Viewed 1984 times
 

Roy Smalley
356 Fan
Posts: 598
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:43 am
Location: North East Texas

Re: New Panels for BT5

#26 Post by Roy Smalley »

Cowl is a tad distorted, repairable, but overall, it appears strip and repair is by far the best way to go; much less invasive and a whole lot less work and $$. Door, rocker and fender. You might be surprised when the fender is stripped adjacent to the door opening.....

RoySmalley
Eurowerks, Inc.
 Roy Smalley
Texas

User avatar
John Clarke
356 Fan
Posts: 2115
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 6:38 am
Location: East Sussex, England
Contact:

Re: New Panels for BT5

#27 Post by John Clarke »

Hi Roy
On top of all this damage, I asked my body guy to investigate a 'few' other issues on the body while it has to be re sprayed . The more paint that he removed has exposed a lot of other older badly done repairs. on the rear quarters behind the rear side windows there is really thick filler over metal that looks and feels like it has been hammered, leaded and filled. Perhaps this is normal.
The complete body is going for soda blasting as he found that the wrong base primer had been used with the metal beneath starting to rust. The more we expose, the more we find. Its getting scary!
Regards Jay
 

User avatar
Adam Wright
Classifieds Monitor
Posts: 10304
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:00 am
Tag: KTF

Re: New Panels for BT5

#28 Post by Adam Wright »

John Clarke wrote: Wed Jul 10, 2019 3:38 pm Hi Roy
On top of all this damage, I asked my body guy to investigate a 'few' other issues on the body while it has to be re sprayed . The more paint that he removed has exposed a lot of other older badly done repairs. on the rear quarters behind the rear side windows there is really thick filler over metal that looks and feels like it has been hammered, leaded and filled. Perhaps this is normal.
The complete body is going for soda blasting as he found that the wrong base primer had been used with the metal beneath starting to rust. The more we expose, the more we find. Its getting scary!
Regards Jay
Yeah, it's scary when you look behind the curtain sometimes.
www.unobtanium-inc.com
Check out my Barn Find column in the Registry magazine, always looking for good stories.

Post Reply