ericwilloughby
04-15-2007, 10:03 PM
Just thought I'd offer some advice for guys going to do this.
There is a steep learning curve.
What to do. If your cutting a lot off like I did. Use a jig saw and have 3-4 good blades. I learned the hard way, DO NOT let the jig saw touch the car. Not only does this keep the saw from beating the shit out the paint, it lets you use the good teeth on the whole blade. This is important because part of what you are cutting through is 3 sheets of metal.
What not to do. Press the jig against the car to keep it form bouncing. It will bounce, it will scratch the paint. Even with duct tape on it. Do not try to take off material with a grinder, it will burn the paint and in my case the paint actually came unstuck from the metal. Do not use air to cool the metal off, it just blows that unstuck paint loose.
Also do not try to roll the lip with a mallet or piece of wood and a hammer. It rolled a little but it cracked my paint and chipped off pieces on the lip. No hammer. The jig saw really did do the best job.
Draw a line with a grease pencil where you want to cut and try to avoid stopping. It actually cuts very smoothly, use the grinder only to hit the high spots when you done sawing.
After this I took a die grinder to the top of the lip and removed the sharp edge the other grinder left. Painted with touchup paint. I first sprayed the inner quarter and cut lip with black. The touchup paint is sticky like gum and stays put much better than spray. 3-4 coats.
If you can avoid the grinder all together it will be a much faster job. It takes much longer to paint the seam than to cut it.
Warning: You will scratch or otherwise mess up the paint a little. The saw with slip out of the cut or something. If you want perfection don't do this. On the other hand the mistakes don't show up because it's on the inside lip.
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/attachment.php?attach mentid=56483&stc=1&d=1176699779
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/attachment.php?attach mentid=56484&stc=1&d=1176699779
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/attachment.php?attach mentid=56485&stc=1&d=1176699779
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/attachment.php?attach mentid=56486&stc=1&d=1176699779
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/attachment.php?attach mentid=56487&stc=1&d=1176699779
There is a steep learning curve.
What to do. If your cutting a lot off like I did. Use a jig saw and have 3-4 good blades. I learned the hard way, DO NOT let the jig saw touch the car. Not only does this keep the saw from beating the shit out the paint, it lets you use the good teeth on the whole blade. This is important because part of what you are cutting through is 3 sheets of metal.
What not to do. Press the jig against the car to keep it form bouncing. It will bounce, it will scratch the paint. Even with duct tape on it. Do not try to take off material with a grinder, it will burn the paint and in my case the paint actually came unstuck from the metal. Do not use air to cool the metal off, it just blows that unstuck paint loose.
Also do not try to roll the lip with a mallet or piece of wood and a hammer. It rolled a little but it cracked my paint and chipped off pieces on the lip. No hammer. The jig saw really did do the best job.
Draw a line with a grease pencil where you want to cut and try to avoid stopping. It actually cuts very smoothly, use the grinder only to hit the high spots when you done sawing.
After this I took a die grinder to the top of the lip and removed the sharp edge the other grinder left. Painted with touchup paint. I first sprayed the inner quarter and cut lip with black. The touchup paint is sticky like gum and stays put much better than spray. 3-4 coats.
If you can avoid the grinder all together it will be a much faster job. It takes much longer to paint the seam than to cut it.
Warning: You will scratch or otherwise mess up the paint a little. The saw with slip out of the cut or something. If you want perfection don't do this. On the other hand the mistakes don't show up because it's on the inside lip.
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/attachment.php?attach mentid=56483&stc=1&d=1176699779
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/attachment.php?attach mentid=56484&stc=1&d=1176699779
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/attachment.php?attach mentid=56485&stc=1&d=1176699779
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/attachment.php?attach mentid=56486&stc=1&d=1176699779
http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/attachment.php?attach mentid=56487&stc=1&d=1176699779