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 >> To unsubscribe send an empty email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> NASS Home Site Full Member nasshq resources http://www.nasshq.org >> Full Membership details: http://www.nasshq.org/docs/memberapp.html Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Yahoo! Groups Links a.. To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nass/ b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. *** http://www.team.net/the-local *** Your messages not reaching the list? Check out http://www.team.net/posting.html *** unsubscribe/change address requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or try *** http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool *** http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo *** Archives at http://www.team.net/archive *** Edit your replies!
