D. How does CarBuilder produce a long lasting repair?

D. 1-Practices

Welds are total, not spot welds. Hammer welding is used for repairs to panels. This is a skilled hand process to do metalworking to shrink and forge as welds are done.

Repair the original parts. Metal work skills and fabrication reshape damaged surfaces back to like new. Solid original sheet metal parts are almost always better to repair than replace. (Most reproduction parts do not fit correctly and take significant rework to make them right.)

Fabrication capability is essential to make improvements. Stainless steel brake, fuel and vacuum lines are handmade. Sheetmetal working tools include shears, brakes, stretcher/shrinkers, rolls, Pullmax machine and hand tools, Lathes, Mills, drill presses, plasma cutting CNC table, MIG, stick, and Acetylene welders, and powerful 3D CAD Engineering Computer Systems is part of the versatile Fabrication capability.

Block sanded panels by hand are straight and edges are the correct radii, or sharpness. Machine sanders are rarely used as body filler is not required to cover large areas. Cured epoxy is block sanded by hand to perfection without spray able (2k urethane) body fillers. Appropriate top finishes may be acrylic enamel, catalyzed acrylic enamel, acrylic or nitrocellulose Lacquer, urethane, acrylic urethane, polyurethane, alkyd enamel or epoxy. Applications for durability or specific appearance of a part or vehicle cause the selection of paint material from about ten different chemistries of paint. HVLP and older technology equipment is maintained to apply the wide range of materials in a custom built paint facility. Half of these paint materials are rarely if ever used by commercial insurance repair body shops.

Outstanding work is made possible because cleverly designed tools are built to hold the body or chassis or large item in a good position to do the required task. Paint booth, cranes, dollys, and rotisserie were designed by the owner, an inventive engineer that has degrees in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.

Organization of the project is planned to identify the work that will be done. A proven sequence of work is followed that ensures that quality results are repeated. A project is steam cleaned and pressure washed when it comes in. An organized disassembly identifies and evaluates which parts are repairable or must be replaced. Batches of similar process jobs are organized for sandblasting and refinishing, repairs, or other activities such as replating or reupholstering.

D. 2-Materials

Only epoxy primers and trace amount, if any, of glass reinforced fiberglass mold construction filler is used. The epoxy paints are applied only to sandblasted prepared parts, not ever over old finishes or rust. The usual body shop quality is urethane primers slathered with easy sanding body filler and more spray able fillers which are sanded to the correct shape. Easy to sand is easy to chip or scrape, and whatever the finish is, it will chip with it. In time the body filler shrinks and looses its surface shape to become an appearance defect such as a slight oval depression. That defect cannot happen for epoxy that is fully cured before it is sanded. Finish paint can retain outstanding appearance for many years without shrinkage defects when done by carbuilder restoration methods.

Rust is gone before tough epoxy finish is applied to seal out moisture. The reason epoxy is superior for rust is because it is applied and it cures without large amounts of evaporating solvents like any other possible choice does. The epoxy will "wet" to the bottom of the tiniest pit in the metal and seal over with the pit full of epoxy. Any other primer may look the same when applied but it changes in time when the solvents evaporate. The other primers leave an air bubble in the pit or they crack as they shrink and the tiny pit gets a tiny crack opening. Air in the pit or through that tiny crack is the trouble. That tiny air pocket later starts the microscopic rust spot that shows up in the future. The bubble is not able to produce enough pressure when heated to break out, but the moisture in all air is enough to start rust. Body filler also absorbs moisture and will foster rust if any rust is underneath or any cracks allow moisture in. Epoxy does not absorb moisture and does not get brittle and crack.

The rust in this picture forms under the paint from a paint failure- factory applied finish- and it is called spider rust for its shape. If this is sanded and then painted over, it will come back again. You see cars all the time that re-rust months after they get new paint from defects like this. Cleaning out all traces of the rust with phosphoric acid and then sealing the metal with epoxy primer is the only cure I have found that works for the long term. Few other shops use acid wash because of the skill required.

E. CarBuilder Restoration

A total CarBuilder Restoration is high quality and results in a car of excellent performance and pristine appearance. What we do to create a restored car is a specialty art, because we have engineered the equipment and have invented the skills for how to complete a lasting, professionally restored car.

Pictured here in TN while driven by owner on 2000 mile tour from Michigan in 2005

Copyright 2008

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