Being really bored throughout the fall/winter due to one of the main reasons: temperature, I
came to the conclusion that an exterior appearance/body thread is the only thing I can
do while I'm still attending Welding school, and at the same time currency is a bi!t*h!

So here goes ...

Supplies starting out with:
Simple Green
Dolly & Body Work Hammer
Goo Gone
Tack cloth
Sanding Block
Couple of shop rags
Gorilla Tape
Evercoat Rage
Duck Tape
Brush
Sand Paper 80Grit all the way down to 320Grit
(Will update the supply list as I go.)

Due to a high volume of performance interest, and a strong foundation behind that pursuit,
research was taken into account before the exterior appearance project crossed
my mind in the first place.

I am a lot more interested in Performance & Tuning, than polishing an exterior sculpture regarding
visual aspects.

I'll try to go into detail as much as possible. Any questions, or
comments are more than appreciated.

PS: I am by far, NOT even close to a body work expert. Doing this to
satisfy myself.

A bit on the car:

97 EK Hatch DX Body:









Taking a quick shot from the side, my own personal preference when
viewing the high and low sides.













The supplies that I started out with..



I used goo gone and a tack cloth to apply the oil based solvent onto the
stripes that I held a grudge against for a whole time. I hate when
manufacturers do this, especially on Hondas.









The obvious dents were located first with 150 grit.

I switched over to a 220 for the more shallow dents/dings.





Going to redo my engine bay the same color as the car.
As far as a certain color goes, I am still in a debate with this subject.

Had one of my buddies come over, he's a real expert at this body work stuff.
Without him, I'd be stranded. Definitely not taking the full credit and pride
regarding this kind of stuff.

The guy did this with just 80 grit, and switched over to
120 on the outside contours where the side molding were
previously located at to protect the metal/bondo from being
pointy, and forming it into a radius, disposing roughness.

Again, The 120 came in for detailed work.

The man knew exactly what he was doing. Work from the
outside to the inside when using a DA sander, and a real good
benefit to this rhythm is to feather-edge, starting on the outside and going inside.











The dark areas are notified as the shallower areas such as the metal that was treated
with the light coats of primer. The use of this application is inadequate so multiple
coats of primer build up on the metal. It also built into the different scratches
caused by the 80 grit.

Sucks I gotta remind myself to get some wax & grease remover.

Really satisfied so far.

 

Nice man. I liike the hatch.

 

Thanks man!

I'm thinking of Vermillion Metallic Red.

Which is available on the BMW X6.

 

It looks good must of did your homework on the body work

 

I did read up on it, but a huge chunk of a credit should be awarded to my buddy.

The man was a pro at this! Like I said, I'm more into the tuning, and performance aspect.

 

I was bored today so I decided to wrap up all the panels and ****...
preventing the body filler, metal glaze, spot putty particles from floating
around, and coming in contact since it is a garaged territory.

The rug by the way has got to go before painting!

What really sucks is I'm going to spend about 300-400 dollars for
inside protection from overspray, and dust gathering.

 

Nice, much love for the hatch!

 

nice project! i wish i had skills in body work!

 

Just got a little bit more done.

For organization, labeling the plugs that I came across was priority because I had a plan
to re-do the whole entire harness, and alternate it's stock factory outlook. Later on
throughout the build, a blue print will illustrate another path on how the harness will
be routed. Different style connectors will minimize the underneath subtle chaos. Even
though not a lot of individuals will browse underneath my dash, I just want it to be super
clean. Way too ****!? I know.

A little more body work up ahead as well ...

 

Cool color. Can't wait to see the paint layed.