My Yelli Celi Bodywork Project Options

[Coomer]

This thread is going to be updated as I do some bodywork and paint my car. I always love these progression threads myself, so I figured I'd make my own this time.

Please post your comments as I go along. Since this is my project car and has a salvage title due to vandalism, I'm not doing things that I would if this were going to be a super nice paintjob, like having the rear side windows removed (Average quoted price was $200 around here) and using urethane base coat/clear coat paint (Expensive! And two different types of coats means twice the chances of me messing up.) I'm going to use an enamel of some sort, and going to stick with yellow probably.

Anyway, on with the project:

Day One

Day one started with washing the car with lots of harsh dishsoap and drying it, to remove dirt and some wax. Don't mind the amateur graffiti or the ugly front wheels...Les Schwab screwed up my alignment and it ate my nice Yokohomas up front. But do note those sexy sideskirts in the foreground...DCW JDM dealer option replicas, which fit perfectly and are beautiful! Props to Romas for excellent work on those skirts!



I then removed the bumpers, headlights, tail-lights, trunk lid, license plate bezel, and some other things. My front bumper is being replaced with a non-modified '95 bumper, and I'm getting rid of the fog lights. My license plate bezel and trunk lid are being replaced with parts from a '94 coupe as well, since they were both damaged in the horrible vandalism incident last June.



The next step was to start sanding, so I applied grease and wax remover to the hood and front fenders and wetsanded those with 400 grit sandpaper. I called it a day after wetsanding the front end.

[brianforster]

damn coomer, nice job, this really inspires me to do my own car.. as soon as i fix my headlight issues im gonna be all over this thread for tips and tricks

[Coomer]

damn coomer, nice job, this really inspires me to do my own car.. as soon as i fix my headlight issues im gonna be all over this thread for tips and tricks

Cool man.

Here's some tips I haven't posted yet that I've learned so far:

• Buy good sandpaper and change your piece out for a new one once it gets dull...sanding with dull sandpaper takes forever...it's worth the extra cost of a bit more sandpaper to get it done much faster.
• Use good body filler...USC Rage Gold is excellent. I've used USC Half-Time on the Yelli Celi for this project and it's worked very well too.
• Wear a respirator when wetsanding fiberglass...don't think that the water will contain all the fiberglass...small particles still get into the air and are very bad for you. If you can smell fiberglass when wetsanding, that's a sign that you should be wearing a respirator.
• Quit when you're tired, and if you start to lose inspiration take a break and go look at some sexy cars online or something...that's always motivating for me.

That's all I can really think of now.

[97lestyousay]

[*]Wear a respirator when wetsanding fiberglass...don't think that the water will contain all the fiberglass...small particles still get into the air and are very bad for you. If you can smell fiberglass when wetsanding, that's a sign that you should be wearing a respirator.
[*]Quit when you're tired, and if you start to lose inspiration take a break and go look at some sexy cars online or something...that's always motivating for me.
[/list]
That's all I can really think of now.

[*]I used to machine fiberglass bow limbs, it would make a cloud of dust.
wear at the least a particle mask. Nasty crap.

[*]Send some of that motivation my way. Props for the work.
Looking good.