Weighing a car before restoration
Discussion
Never heard anyone suggest this before, but having seen the amount of filler that goes into even supposedly concours or multi hundred thousand pound restorations, this would seem a good idea? Gives the car owner a baseline expectation for the returned vehicle?
Also, it gives the restorer at post-strip down phase the opportunity to point out existing filler and the pile of dust that will need replacing with new metal. Everyone is on the same page.
Three examples that form my view:
1) A well known restorer/painter that was having an argument with his metalworker who wanted less filler in the businesses work. Answer came back. There is nothing that can’t be solved with 100lb of body filler.
2) Many times I have heard from metal workers that the painter is their best friend. Read filler to cover the work.
3) Head of a well known classic car insurer in the USA told me he was disappointed that when a storm raged through a Cobra meeting, a lot of the claims for perfect cars were in fact cars ladled with bondo to a crazy extent.
So thoughts please?
Also, it gives the restorer at post-strip down phase the opportunity to point out existing filler and the pile of dust that will need replacing with new metal. Everyone is on the same page.
Three examples that form my view:
1) A well known restorer/painter that was having an argument with his metalworker who wanted less filler in the businesses work. Answer came back. There is nothing that can’t be solved with 100lb of body filler.
2) Many times I have heard from metal workers that the painter is their best friend. Read filler to cover the work.
3) Head of a well known classic car insurer in the USA told me he was disappointed that when a storm raged through a Cobra meeting, a lot of the claims for perfect cars were in fact cars ladled with bondo to a crazy extent.
So thoughts please?
Edited by MysteryCar on Saturday 21st February 12:47
Not sure about weighing the car, but agree on the use of filler.
There used to be a tv show about making custom cars in the US. Every car had a load of filler put on and sanded down before paint. I was always surprised.
Very, very few cars had filler from the factory (although lead loading was a thing in many cars) and they shouldnt have any now,
There used to be a tv show about making custom cars in the US. Every car had a load of filler put on and sanded down before paint. I was always surprised.
Very, very few cars had filler from the factory (although lead loading was a thing in many cars) and they shouldnt have any now,
Sebring440 said:
I think the premise of this thread is utter nonsense.
Is lead-loading lighter that a skim of modern lightweight polyester filler?
I have no problem with filler. What I am describing is very common practice, and is often almost carving the car out of filler as opposed to getting the underlying bodywork correct as a starting point. Is lead-loading lighter that a skim of modern lightweight polyester filler?
williamp said:
Not sure about weighing the car, but agree on the use of filler.
There used to be a tv show about making custom cars in the US. Every car had a load of filler put on and sanded down before paint. I was always surprised.
Very, very few cars had filler from the factory (although lead loading was a thing in many cars) and they shouldnt have any now,
American Hotrod.There used to be a tv show about making custom cars in the US. Every car had a load of filler put on and sanded down before paint. I was always surprised.
Very, very few cars had filler from the factory (although lead loading was a thing in many cars) and they shouldnt have any now,
Basically the whole car had a skim of filler…
MysteryCar said:
I have no problem with filler.
When I was stripping down my Land Rover for restoration, I drilled out some rivets to remove some chequer plate from behind the rear wheel, a slab of filler dropped off, said slab is around 30cm x 20cm and 12mm thick and that's just the bit that fell off.The good news is that the (aluminium, so no rust) body underneath is still solid, just a little rippled.
I did wonder how come the body work was (in places) far better in appearance than you would expect on a 60 year old, well-used off-roader.
For this to make sense youd have to compare like with like. Although im not sure how accurate measuring a car thays over 40 years is. Its already had a life and probably already has its share of repairs.
With a reapir it is possible to achieve a perfect repair 'in the metal', but it follows the law of deminiahing returns. I repaired a 355 Challenge Ferrari 3 times last year. By the 3rd time I was told just to do enough. There was a chance I'd be seeing it again after all!
A panel car be repared to 90% in about the same time the panel takes to go from 90%to 100%. Or, the painter can sort it in 30 mins. Yes the complete panel may be skimmed but only the smallest amount of product is left on.
Its the same with a polished aluminium body, A LOT more care and time is taken to achieve this result, not everyone sees value in this.
With a reapir it is possible to achieve a perfect repair 'in the metal', but it follows the law of deminiahing returns. I repaired a 355 Challenge Ferrari 3 times last year. By the 3rd time I was told just to do enough. There was a chance I'd be seeing it again after all!
A panel car be repared to 90% in about the same time the panel takes to go from 90%to 100%. Or, the painter can sort it in 30 mins. Yes the complete panel may be skimmed but only the smallest amount of product is left on.
Its the same with a polished aluminium body, A LOT more care and time is taken to achieve this result, not everyone sees value in this.
Just watch Retropower Uncut to see the amount of work that goes into bodywork to…. Reduce the amount of filler or lead that’s used in a spray.
Never going to eliminate it totally but as said above there a difference between prepping for flawless paint a carving a shape out of filler.
PS I’d highly recommend Retropower Uncut on the YouTube if you’re interested in what goes on a produce high end resto mods/restorations.
Never going to eliminate it totally but as said above there a difference between prepping for flawless paint a carving a shape out of filler.
PS I’d highly recommend Retropower Uncut on the YouTube if you’re interested in what goes on a produce high end resto mods/restorations.
On the Lotus forums, an Esprit restorer is weighing his car as he goes along.
I’ve been weighing some parts myself as I remove them (for example there was around 12Kg of acoustic matting in the rear bulkhead whereas a modern equivalent is around a single kilogram. Won’t be as good but will save a bit of weight).
Biggest surprise was around a kilogram of extra wire in the decades long botched wiring loom versus a brand new one.
With newer lightweight carpets, alloy fuel tanks and better seat trimming, plus the removal of an aftermarket sunroof and some metal work around the battery box that was a bad repair, the car will be a good 50kgs lighter once completed. As it only has around 180bhp, that might be a useful figure, I can also recreate how it might feel by adding a small passenger then kicking them out and repeating the same route
I’ve been weighing some parts myself as I remove them (for example there was around 12Kg of acoustic matting in the rear bulkhead whereas a modern equivalent is around a single kilogram. Won’t be as good but will save a bit of weight).
Biggest surprise was around a kilogram of extra wire in the decades long botched wiring loom versus a brand new one.
With newer lightweight carpets, alloy fuel tanks and better seat trimming, plus the removal of an aftermarket sunroof and some metal work around the battery box that was a bad repair, the car will be a good 50kgs lighter once completed. As it only has around 180bhp, that might be a useful figure, I can also recreate how it might feel by adding a small passenger then kicking them out and repeating the same route
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