Long story short, I've had my Prelude since about 1999 and it's put up with a lot through the years. All my high school ricer abuse, all my drunken shenanigans, and all my beginner body work practice and experiments.

So over the past 2-3 years I've been sourcing parts, and last year I was finally able to really buckle down and fix the bodywork properly. I'm in school still, so of course there's not a big budget (doesn't mean I'm doing cheap work though ).

I guess this thread is like a How-To for DIY bodywork as well as a timeline/build of the car.

I also need to thank Koji (HT user 'saikou') for all his help!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I first bought the car it had been previously repaired and repainted. Back in 1999...you can see the replaced radiator support already rusting, but I didn't even notice back then.

 

Over the years it got rattle can primed and painted.

It stayed blue and gray and black for a long time

 

Eventually things just got bad enough that it to time for a big resto job...the car was leaking rusty water from the back window, body panels wouldn't line up, there were rattles coming from everywhere, couldn't wash the crap rattle-can paint, etc....

All-in-all, the car needed:

-front bumper cover
-front bumper support + foam
-both fenders
-hood (couldn't paint the wavy cracked misaligned VIS CF hood and be happy)
-radiator support
-front windshield
-something to take the place of the CF sunroof panel that also couldn't be painted properly
-rear bumper cover
-rear bumper support + foam
-trunk (again, wavy misaligned VIS CF stuff)
-driver side door
-millions of little clips and brackets....

The first thing was finding a new Certifit bumper cover for $35 from a friend with a hookup

 

Next I did some junkyard diving and found a decent OEM rear bumper support and cover.

Then the next trip to the junkyard I found a better OEm rear bumper cover plus some trim items.

 

Then I found out the rear passenger side quarter had been replaced and had numerous leak and rust issues from that. This meant I was going to have to get at the quarter from the inside and outside and treat the rust and seal everything again. While I was at it, the whole interior got pulled and the panels cleaned and bed-lined.

 

I used POR-15 on all the bare metal after the OEM seam sealer was removed with a wire wheel.

 

I have always loved this body style of preludes

 

Then resealed with with Lord Fusor sealer and another coat of POR on top of that covering the entire interior:

 

Then Monstaliner bedliner:

 

So now the interior was good, and I could focus on the exterior again.

Pulled the CF sunroof panel I had in there with plans to fill the gap with an OEM metal panel to follow the contour of the roof. The flat CF panel would have been terrible looking if it got painted...

I was able to make some brackets to mount the panel in place, and I used a Kevlar filler to fill the gap. Has not cracked or shown any signs of misbehavior in 2 years .

 

I rolled on some catalyzed automotive paint once the filler was done. I know it looks like crap, but it will be fixed later.

 

Then a friend traded my his OEM trunk and hood for my VIS stuff and I was able to grab a new door from the junkyard (mine had holes general crappiness).

 

Finally! All the major parts were sourced and we could start doing some work!

This was the first day of tear down and prep work...all you are seeing here is just lots of DA sanding with 80 grit to remove the layers of paint and expose all the areas that contain filler....and of course the green stuff is fresh filler.

We used Evercoat Rage Gold for filler.

 

Day 2 of sanding and filling. More trim and such removed also...

The passenger side rear quarter had a nasty dent right at the wheel arch which was pretty tough to get right.

 

Next day we pulled the back window and found a nasty rust hole that must have been where the rusty water was leaking in. This was due to poor sealing when the rear quarter was replaced back in 97-98.

You can also see lots more sanding and filling, as well as the exposed weld seam at about mid c-pillar on the passenger side.

In these pics the car is almost completely down to the OEM black paint and clear.

 

Next we pulled the quarter windows and wire-wheeled all the window adhesive out of there. Also cleaned out the rust hole.

 

Next up....more POR15.

 

Used the Kevlar filler in the hole and sanded smooth

 

Now some progress!! Masked the car and used Duplicolor Etch Primer (possibly the only good product they make, haha) on all the bare metal and filler in preparation for surfacer.

 

Used PPG OMNI MP182 catalyzed surfacer and did about 3 good coats.

http://us.ppgrefinish.com/PPG-Refini...-Refinish/Omni

The light brown is a guide coat we sprayed on while the masking was still there. The whole car is going to be block sanded.

 

Some blocking on the rear quarters and I wire-wheeled out some OEM seam sealer

 

Found rust behind the door hinges...nothing a little sanding and POR won't fix.

 

A little more block sanding on the roof and the car is just about ready for the jambs to get shot

 

So the color I finally chose is Cavalry Blue from the Toyota FJ Cruiser.

The paint is just PPG OMNI single stage, but I am going to sand and apply a good quality clear over it.

 

Also shot fenders, bottom of the hood, and cowl area at the same time.