The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Lost in all the bondo!!!

Here's my '57 chevy Big Bolt

After getting it "delivered", I started to dive into what I'm gonna do with this bad boy... but little do I come to realize it has more bondo than I have ever seen on a vehicle before...

Here are a few pics to try and give some perspective:

Rear driver's side of cab

Above passenger's door

Inside the freakin' CAB!!!

So! I was planning when I first got this thing that I was gonna strip it ALL down to bare metal for the restoration. BUT I love the paint on this truck sooo much that I've decided I'm gonna keep it in it's condition as much as possible while getting rid of all the potential rust spots...

Do you think I'd be in the clear to strip these cracking bondo areas (every panel on the truck has 1-2 spots), and then use a fiberglass bondo to fill then in, sand down flush, clear coat, and then polish??

Any ideas guys?

IMO unless the amount of filler (thickness) is reduced, the cracking will come back regardless. A bit of hammer and dolly work will do wonders to minimize the amount of filler required to get things smooth.

See this is the crazy part, I can't even wrap my mind around how they were able to make this much bondo work with certain parts on the truck, I'm afraid if I strip it all down I'll have trouble even getting these parts to fit right again.

for example: Driver's side headlamp area

I'm afraid of what I'll be left with after taking all this bondo off!!

Nothing wrong with a bit of bondo if it is done right, Make sure your metal is clean,Any pin holes fill with fine fiberglass, apply epoxy primer then filler.
Works for me.
Some go without the epoxy,that will be up to you it is expensive.
Good Luck.

Body plastic is made for thin applications of up to about 1/4" thick at the thickest. Less is more so to speak. Having said that I worked for a used car body shop in the '60s and some of the stories I could tell. One '63 Impala ended up with inches (yes plural) thick plastic in one spot. Of course the idea was to make it look good long enough to sell it. Once it hit the street all was good.

You need to get all of the old plastic off and see what you have underneath. What is living under will tell you how to proceed, whether some straightening will do the trick or if panel replacement is the fix. Good luck.

LOL!!! I can only imagine!

This body on mine got me to thinkin, I guess in ignorance I assumed bondo was a current day thing. After seeing this truck though, I knew I was mistaken ... I think they must have put 5 gallons of bondo on this truck! Literally painted it with bondo!! I guess I have to give points though for all the man hours it must have taken! A lot of the lines (rear bottom cab especially) are amazing, but are made so by mass amounts of bondo!!

I think I'm gonna do my best to fill the spots that are cracking off, so I can keep this rustic paint job as long as possible. Complete resto might be in the future

Pin holes are rust spots that actually go through the panel right? (or something along those lines? I don't see anything of that nature, you think I'd be alright?

All the metal areas where I peeled off some of the cracked bondo looks pretty stout other than some surface rust!

I didn't know one was supposed to prime before laying filler! (thank you for enlightening before I made things worse! )

Pinholes are not always easy to see - media blasting finds them pretty quick. My personal preference is to get it back to metal to see what you have. Of course, money, time and the will to take on the big job usually dictate how you approach the job. Personally - I've accepted that I wont drive my truck for 5+ years... but I take pride in every step along the way - and try to do the job somewhere between affordable, and right!



Careful how loudly you shout that statement! That's an ongoing debate which seems to have just as many pro priming before filler / as there are pro filler before primer. You'll find MANY threads on that topic here.

Personally I would have it blasted just to see what I have. If you like the "paint" job you might not mind the bondo. I might just sell it and find something else before I got too attached.
Whatever you decide, look luck.
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It looks like from the picture of the inside of the cab that the roof may have been replaced at one time. It looks like someone welded the upper & lower inner panels in the seam. I agree sandblasting is the way to start.

They MIGHT have... but from different areas in the cab where the bondo has come off, the seam is still there, they just bondo-ed over it!

BLASPHEMY!!!

It took me like a year and a half to find this hunk o' metal (I was attached the instant I saw it on good ol' craigslist ;-P)

I feel you though, I'll have to keep you guys posted on the paint.

After hearing everything, I've decided I'm gonna bondo it up for now (what could a little more hurt? :D) and after I get enough tool to tackle a good resto, that's when I'll see where my cards truly lie.

Indeed! One thing to always remember is that while body plastic can bond to primer, or any topcoat for that fact, anything between the plastic and the base metal has the potential to fail. The plastic can be bonded like an X wanting her alimony check to the primer but if the primer bond fails the plastic is all coming off with the primer. In case you couldn't tell I'm firmly in the prime AFTER plastic is applied camp. Been there, done that.

Oh so true. Anything can release from the metal, but the metal will never release.

It seems like there is rust under the bondo. All the cracks show rust stains. That means there is serious problems under all that bondo. You could add more, but eventually, you'll have a bigger problem.

But if you plan on only keeping it for messing around in and never plan a restoration, then leave it as is. If you one day you imaging the truck pristine and restored, then blast it now.

I think of rust as a cancer; do nothing and it spreads, then big trouble.