Body Work: Fix your dents!

Here is a great body work video from Hot Rod TV. They take an old Mustang and throughout the 10 minute video you learn the exact process to pull out a dent, make it smooth and have it ready for paint.

The video highlights:

1) Sanding down the paint to the bare metal to begin pulling the dent
2) Using the dent puller to attach pins and pull out the dent
3) cutting and grinding off the dent puller pins
4) Mixing body filler using the hardener to properly set the body filler
5) Applying the body filler over the dented spot that was pulled
6) Sanding the excess body filler smooth
7) Hand cross-sanding of the body filler
8) Applying primer to the body work area to give an idea how it will be ready for painting later on



Enjoy and hope it can help you pull your own dents and make a car body work repair!

Regards, MK
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Custom Painted Taillights

Custom body work on a car will make your car stand out from another car. Today's project shows a method to do some custom work to get custom painted taillights.

I bought an extra set of 94-97 Integra taillights (with the orange turn signal) for $25, in order to try and make something unique. Here is what it looks like:

First step I wanted to do in making it custom was removing the orange turn signal and making it look more like the 98+ integra taillights. Here is what the 98+ taillights look like:

The process to red out your taillights can be done either using paint or vinyl. My first attempt was using the Krylon Stained Glass red paint. I masked off everything so only the orange was exposed. I don't have a picture of this but the idea is to put masking tape and newspaper surrounding the orange so you only paint over the orange.

This was the final product of the tail light red out process:




Now, from this part I was going to proceed to painting a green trim on the taillights, but decided to try using vinyl on the taillight to see what difference that would make in the look of the red out taillight. I used acetone paint stripper to remove the krylon paint from my taillights to reexpose the orange blinker. I then got a transparent red vinyl sheet and cut out the vinyl to match the shape of the orange blinker. I have no pictures of this process, but u basically wet the taillight slightly where you will apply the vinyl to give you some leeway in putting it down and then put the vinyl on and squeegee the excess water out making sure you get it all out completely. I also used a hair dryer to make the vinyl stick better and form around the corner of the taillight.

At this point I was satisfied with the way the vinyl red out looked on the taillights and proceeded to set up to paint my taillights with a green trim.

I masked all the parts that were to light up with newspaper and masking tape. Once the taillight was masked, I sprayed three thin coats of green paint onto the taillight, leaving about 5 mins between coats. After my last coat, I left it to dry for about 20 minutes and then proceeded with the clear coat on the taillights. Here are some pictures with the taillight masked and the green painted on top of it:





In this picture I highlight the parts I masked:



Once I was done spraying the lights, I let them dry and then removed the masked newspaper and tape to reveal my newly complete Green Custom Painted Taillights. I then installed them onto the car and here are the results:








I was quite happy with the paint match and how it gave a unique look to the car. Hope my adventure into creating my custom painted taillights will make you think about how you can customize your ride and its taillights!

Regards, MK
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Painted Rims Installed on Car

A follow up to my DIY Paint your car Rims article, I promised pics of the rims on my Integra to see how it will look.

Well I had installed them last week as winter has come and some snow has already been seen. Nothing to use my winter tires for yet, but that will come.

I was pretty impressed with how the gunmetal rim with polished style lip looked on my green Integra. I always was going back and forth if I should paint my rims gunmetal, but now I am quite happy with the end result.

Take a look:







Hope my DIY paint your rims article helped, and I hope this will help others picture what the stock SE rims will look like gunmetal with a polished lip and on a green integra like mine.

Regards, MK
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Classic Car Restoration: 1969 Ford Mustang

Looking for some car body work videos and restoration projects I came across this video on YouTube.

a 1969 Ford Mustang was taken from a pretty beat up shape to a fantastic blue painted Mustang that is ready to rule the roads! Take a look at that automatic launch at the end of the video. The amazing part I found was the wiring by the steering wheel and how the interior looked before and after. You can see during the video how the body of the Mustang has been sanded and prepped for painting. The light colored grey primer was put on the outside of the car, and then the final top coat of blue makes it shine. Take a look at this beauty:

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Paint Your Car Rims

Paint your own Rims? Who would of thought something previously done by professionals could be done in your own home.

While, the concept of painting your own rims has been around a few years now, many questions pop up of how to do it and I thought I would share my own experiences with painting my Integra stock rims. I have read up many examples of how to do this, but my first time trying was this year when I chose to refinish my winter rims. I was quite please with the outcome.

First, what the hell do you need to paint your rims? Paint of course :) This is where Duplicolor comes in with their wheel paint. They offer paint colors to match your style coming in white, gunmetal, classic silver and bronze as well. I chose to do mine in gunmetal leaving my lip the stock polished style look. So here are your options:



So you chose your colour, bought your paint and are semi-ready. First, you need to sand down your rims. Why? This gives the surface a rough texture so the paint has something to adhere to. Reference the article to polish your rims on how sanding of the rims works. The only difference with this is how far you want to go. In my case, being winter rims painted I chose not to go through the process of stripping the paint on the rims completely. I simply sanded down the surface with 300 grit sandpaper ensuring to make everything sanded equally. This gives the rough surface required for the paint to adhere, and as long as your rims had no damage it should be good enough.

Your rims are sanded, you have your paint and now are ready. First, make sure you clean all sanding dust off the rims and ensure a totally clean surface so the paint will stick and not flake off after your first drive out with your newly painted rims!!! Here are my rims washed and ready to completely dry before painting:



Here is an upclose shot of my Sanded Rim ready to have a fresh coat of Gunmetal paint applied to it:



You will notice my rims are masked off with newspaper and masking tape. Of course you want to do this so you dont turn your tires into the color you are painting. I don't want gunmetal painted tires. Also if you look close enough, you will know that the lip has been masked off as well. So I carefully applied the masking tape on the lip to protect it from being painted as well. Also, you know the lil thing you pump your air into, mask that off as well unless you want that to have a color change as well :)

The rims are dry, you have masked off what you dont want painted and now you are ready. Put some newspaper on the ground and place the rim on top of the newspaper. You don't want to paint the concrete underneath the rim so keep it clean with the newspaper.

Now apply your first coat of paint (gunmetal on my rims). Here is my first coat on two of the rims (the two on the right have been painted):



Here are pics of the rims painted and masked:







A couple of good shot of the Rim Painted with the Clear Coat shining while drying:




Now put away your rims somewhere and let them dry so the paint has time to cure. I left mine for a couple days and then took off the masked newspaper and tape. And the results are in.

Three Rims lined up and painted:


Up Close view of Dried Clear Coat, Nice and shiny :)


Here is single shots of the rims without the center caps installed yet:




Here is single shots of the rims with center caps installed yet:




Hope you enjoyed my venture into painting my own rims and hope this may tempt you trying the same with your old rims that you were maybe thinking of throwing away, but now can refinish into a nice set of rims.

Regards, MK
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