I decided to go ahead and repair some rotted spots on my car (NH wheather stinks) and at the same time repaint the entire car with the original OEM color R-81. I am doing all of this work on my own, and have no experience what so ever with body work. I have plenty of time to do all of the work so time is no an issue for me, I just want to make sure the repairs are done correctly. I have spent a lot of time searching on different sites for information and facts for most of the info that I have needed. I do have a few questions which I could not find online.

1. What gauge sheet metal should I use for my wheel wells and for any other panels that I will be replacing? I was thinking 22GA but it just seems too thin?

2. Can I use an epoxy based primer for the front and rear bumpers, and if not what should I use? I was not sure if it was wise to use this on plastic parts.

3. Which site do you guys/girls prefer for purchasing paint and primer. I have searched this question and have found plenty of results, but I can't seem to find the exact paint code R-81. They all seem to have an suffix following the 81, for example R-81C, or R-81D? No where on my car dose it have a suffix following the 81. I could be wrong.

4. Are there any sites that sell replacement panels, a lot of the threads I found for this topic were posted about 2 years ago, not sure if there are any available today?

Thanks in advance for any advice, and I will try to post pictures of my progress if anyone is interested.

 

Bump.