Looking for advice on dealing with tricky bodywork

Looking for advice on dealing with tricky bodywork

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lssmith99

Original Poster:

2 posts

66 months

Tuesday 18th September 2018
quotequote all
Hello all,

I am new to this forum but I am hoping to settle in and contribute where I can! Apologies if I have posted this in the wrong section.

To the matter at hand, for the last year I have been restoring a Triumph Spitfire 1500, the first car I've attempted to restore so far. I am pretty new to restoring vehicles but I have been enjoying it mostly. I have been using body filler as the car metal itself is rust free but dented quite badly in places.

The issue I have bumped into is located on the bonnet of the car, there is a weld line which connects wings to the main bonnet section. The issue I have with that, is that where the welding joint is, it's heavily dented on both panels. I've built up the section with body filler but I am struggling to get a decent line that looks half sensible like the original design of the car. I have attached an image of my current progress on the line and also added one of my father's car that he had restored (panel replacement though) which is what I am trying to roughly achieve, although I perfectly understand that I'll never get the same finish without panel replacement as he did but I would like to get a sensible finish with filler if possible.

My current progress:


My father's car:


Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm not sure whether or not it's possible with body filler but I am new to doing bodywork on cars so I am not too sure.

Many thanks in advance,
Luke

paintman

7,669 posts

189 months

Tuesday 18th September 2018
quotequote all
It's a case of doing the best you can & getting it as good as you can.
The more filler you use the more risk there is of something showing through in the finished job.

Bit late, but as the metal is good you would have been better getting a good panel beater to dress the metal back to as near perfect as possible & then just using a small skim of filler - or even just high build primer. It's highly skilled & there are a number of special tools that make the job easier but I've seen some truly amazing results.

lssmith99

Original Poster:

2 posts

66 months

Wednesday 19th September 2018
quotequote all
Thank you for the reply.

I expect I will have to give it over to a professional bodywork person as I don't really have the right tools to be able to do something so precise, as you can see from my attempt! It's really great to know though that it's possible and that I'm not chasing an unrealistic idea to get a neat line.

Many thanks again for the advice and reply!