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i don't know anything bout this so i am gonna thro what mite be a dumb question out there.......would fibreglass filler be better then redoing the bog?

as i said i have know idea what am talking bout so if i am way off track please excuse my ignorance

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thanks for that yeah i havnt fot the millions of dollars but alot of time,theres no rush just taking it as it comes and trying to do it right
cheers whoridas_girl

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haha (not laughing at you mate) just i have seen this exact thing 1000s of times and had to fix it many times also !! so heres what you gota do if you want it right,

bare metal the lot,and by that i dont just mean remove the cracks i mean strip the paint and every thing underneath back to bare metal ,then grind that rust!!! really truly grind it out as much as you can ,
there are products that are spose to stop it coming back but in reality if its bad it will come back ,maybe not for years but eventuly ,so grind grind grind that rust!!! then clean the metal very well with thinners,this removes any residue from the air and your hands or any contaiments on the metal then do your bog work,
make sure that the metal is in a 40# to 80# with a max of 120# state before using filler or it wont hold there to well,
yes ive seen that happen to the bog just fallen off panels becasue it wasnt preped properly in the first place,
then use a good quality etch primer to seal the metal a few coats are enuf ,dont spray over the bog areas mind you just the metal ,then continue with a good 2 pak primer this will seal all the work nicely and give you something to work with later on when your preping or paint ,hope that helps you out there mate

it looks awesome.
its basically exactly the same as what ive done to my 1200 ute.
ive got one of scott aho's hard lids as well.
Only got it back from the painter last week.
Only bad thing i had to say about the had lid was the support in the middle.
Mine sat for a couple of years and it eventually started to sag in the middle.
I ran more braces than what was standard.
I hope to post some of my pics soon

Its amazing how similar our utes are
Cant wait to see your's finished.
Mines a while away

Dino75 good to see that your ute is comming along nicely, im sorry to hear that you had an issue with your lid, i have recently changed the re-enforcing in side of them. I'm now using the same stuff that Holden use on all of there factory ute hard tops. I'm still a bit supprised that it did sag, as i have had one on my ute for years with no problems. The new ones you can stand on with no flex.
It would be good to see some photos when you can. Did you shave your rear end like evilbetty has?
Scott

hey scott
yeah shaved my ass as well
ute lid is sweet
probably because it sat for a couple of years.
Have you been selling many of them?
Its definately the best ute lid ive ever seen on a datto?
Ill have to PM you personally.
got a crazy story about my lid

now back to my resto!

next thing im starting is funny enuf the hard cover,ie sssutes cover,now here i have removed the lid and put it on stands,basicly this is the getting it in to primer stage,
there were a few ways to do this how ever i choose the hard way, not becasue im stupid but becasue the end result will befar better youll see what i mean....

so heres the hard cover set up ready for attention.........













now i could have just painted over the surface as it was as it was pretty good to start with how ever i want it better than that so heres how we do that ,
i use 80# sand paper which is quite corse ,in a block and block the entire cover,sounds easy??well it sort of is except it takes a long time !!! any one who has worked with fibre glass will know that some times it can be very ruff,
but this will show that scotts covers are made to a great standard......

blocking out ripples........







after the blocking it was here....







so pretty good for fibre glass,nearly dead straight!!! but a few small ripples here and there so a bit of fine fill and a block back to take care of them ,
now this will show what sort of quality work im doing also what sort of quality these covers are..............




so heres that fine fill put into fix a few tiny bits,







so thats it ,stuff all filling really but look how much is left after i block it all back!!!...............










and there you have it,great work scott these are very well made and im glad to have bought one from you cheers mate!!




that was my king mamoth flame thrower of a heater its great for heating up the work shop area..........

then 4 coats of 2 pak primer and here we are..........










so there you go one hard cover fully blocked back and primed,finished???no
double putty on this sucker ,few little pin holes to fix here and there and a bit more straightening and she should be looking great

just a few words quickly
i have reached over 50 000 views with my thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i think thats pretty dam good ,theres clearly alot of people talking an interest inthe hole restoration process of this ute,
i hope yous are geting something out of it,maybe learning a few new tricks and different ways to do things,if not then i hope your just enjoying the read and watching me break my balls !!! so im woundering if one of these viewers is a potental buyer?hmmmm

hey evil

love your work.....thumbs up on every little thing u have done on the ute..

cheers rotahead ,so i take it you got a rota in that ute there then???? sick ,im a big fan of the rotors ,was wanting one for this ute but ,didnt quite turn out that way so yeah cheers for the remarks