First time doing body prep. Take it easy on me

[oldguy668]

I wasn't real happy with the last MK4 I had painted. The shop didn't prep the wheel wells and door openings the way I've seen others done. This car is going on the road before paint so I want to do some basic prep myself.

Here's what I have to do:

Door openings: Do I just clean up the edges and cut down the flange area behind the hinges? Or, should I make the whole flange narrower?
Trunk opening: I had an extra flange that has been removed. I'm leaving the remainder at about 3/4"
Hood opening: The area above the drivers footbox needs to be narrower to eliminate an interference. Shall I make the whole flange that width?
Fenderwell lips: I guess I remove that 1/2" wide return area and just leave a rounded edge?
Mold seams: Preliminary for rattle can gel coat. Is there still a need to dig gel coat out of the seams? This is a new FIA body from FFR.
Miscellaneous openings: Hood scoop, upper and lower nose openings. Looks like they need basic cleanup?

Here's what I have for tools:

Electric belt sander
Electric 4.5" angle grinder
Pneumatic 2" angle grinder with 1" and 2" discs
Pneumatic 6" DA sander
Electric 3/8" band file (narrow belt sander)
Pneumatic body saw
VISA card

I just need a little guidance to get started. I'm particularly concerned about getting the flanges in the hood, trunk and door areas straight with a uniform thickness to fit the rubber seals.

[skullandbones]

Hi oldguy,

I love the FIA roadster. I'm jealous.

Here's what not to do. Don't use power tools close to any potential finished edge. The pros can get away with it. I used masking tape on long straight edges everywhere. I also used the tape to mark off the area I wanted to grind around the seams on the body and used a small dremmel hand grinder with variable speed. I was especially careful on the doors and took most of the edges off by hand. I think I will still have to add back some edges after looking at the spaces with the body. I found the wheel wells to be the most troublesome so I turned the body over and worked at waist level for that. made me be much more patient and kept my arms, head, and hands in a more normal position. I didn't add material to roll the edges. I felt the MKIII had enough for my purposes. The same with the areas around the cockpit. Mine are smooth to the touch when you run your fingers around the edges. If you are going for show points then maybe rolling is desirable.

Do use long flexible boards. They are my most used tools for taking out waves like in the hood and scoop (MKIII). I also use multiple rubber pads with sand paper. They will help you avoid finger sanding which will show up in your final work. Sounds like you have honed in on many of the trouble spots. I reshaped my doors inside and am still thinking I will go back to work on them later. I did a lot of work on the underside of the hood. Haven't tackled the underside of trunk yet. You will be surprised how much time is spent on areas that are not seen that much. I bet you don't look at the door jams of your DD that much!

Good luck. There are a lot of great guys on here to get you as detailed about this as you want.

WEK.

[Gumball]

I'd never done any bodywork, but was able to do it all on my Mk3 with the help of this forum and a friend who ones a shop. We then painted it at his shop, where I was able to do some of the spraying and finish work.

Here's my bodywork thread - lots of good tips and tricks that I learned along the way are documented:

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?7645-Chris-Bodywork-Thread-Mk3-1

[oldguy668]

....Don't use power tools close to any potential finished edge.

WEK.

Holy Cow! I haven't used manual tools since I got my first Yankee Screwdriver. You young guys can Google that.