Hi Nick,
we finished our bonnet. It's in primer and, along with the other panels,
waiting to be painted this spring as soon as the body work on the tub is
completed. The bonnet on the GT6, like everything else on the car, was in poor
shape and needed a lot of repairs. The area around the wheel arches was
totally rusted away, the nose section needed work, we also had some minor
dents and rusted holes to deal with. We disassembled the inside wheel arches
and repaired them separately. In our case, compared to the floor, sills and
firewall repairs, the bonnet was not *that* big of a deal. It was very time
consuming, but manageable. So, if you've done sills etc. you're probably going
to be able to do this job.
I've never seen bonnet repair, or any body repair for that matter, done
without the use of bondo. You've got to use some of it to smooth out
imperfections, but the key is, the repair has to be done fairly accurate in
order not to slap too much bondo onto the panel, causing eventual cracking in
the repaired areas. Some people see the use of bondo as an easy solution to
just cover problem areas, fast and easy, but this doesn't work in the long
run. You've got to the cut and weld. For this kind of repair, we're always
using a gas welder and do butt welds. This makes a clean seam with no
overlapping metal.
If you're able to get a decent bonnet fairly cheap, go for it. However, I've
not seen such a lucky find in Canada. No sense in buying something that may
just be slightly better than the one you already have, as the repairs are
probably the same.
I've got lots of pictures. Let me know if you want me to send them to you.
Cheers
Liv
----- Original Message -----
From: Nick Moseley
To: Team.net Spit list ; Spit-Enthusiast list ; Nass
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 1:53 AM
Subject: >>NASS Repair/rebuild bonnet sites?
I'd appreciate the collective wisdom and experience in how you've dealt
with
a rusty bonnet.
Any pictures would be great !
I spent much of Fri nite waiting 2 hours for a guy to show up (he didn't)
who was selling a "project" that had a great body and rust free bonnet.
Upon
visiting again the next day, it didn't, well sort of. Inner fenders at the
wheel arch had rotted through to the outers, but the metal of the fenders
themselves including arches seemed okay. Previous bondo-ed repair at the
leading edge of one arch.
I've already got a bonnet with rusted inners, and rust through under the
side maker lamp. In my ignorance, I'm thinking that in order to fix the
inners and make them look right, I'll have to take the bonnets apart, and
that if I have to do that, I might as well replace the side panels (front
fenders) as well. If that has to be done on both bonnets then I might just
as well work on the one I've already got.
So what to do?
Replace: cost wise a local vendor wants $750. for a good bonnet (I don't
know if that means needs "some" work, or no work).
Repair: parts from Spitbits price out at $550. Can, but plus shipping,
duties etc. (Fenders, inner and outer wells, headlamp mounting panels).
Skill wise, I've successfully fabricated a lower A post replacement, and
installed it along with a new rocker (sill) panel. (Sounds good, but what
may have taken someone else a couple of days took me _months_).
My next step is to check out the "good" bonnet from the local vendor.
I'm asking for input as, before looking further, I'd like to know if people
have had success with patch panels, or whether replacing the whole pieces
with new and rebuilding the bonnet is the only way to make it look "right".
Many thanks for all contributions
Nick Moseley
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