Old Dodge Dakota - The flip side

[Bob Kontak]

140 hours over five months. 2002.

Customer, who has sheet metal forming skills and is strong as a ox helped. New front fenders. Pre-formed rear wheel well sheet metal laid in. He got into the rockers deep.

Complete repaint with some special matte clear the jobber said they mix for motorcycles. Three times as much $$ as the base coat.

Gravitex along bottom foot or so oversprayed with SEM trim black to match all the nose and flare plastic painted with same.

Probably one bucket of that green hairy fiberglass bondo on rockers and another gallon of regular bondo on rear fenders to smooth out wheel well repair. Guessing a quart of each remain on truck.

$87 + shipping hood scoops deliver 30 hp (net).

Not bad looking for an old Ohio redneck truck.

[kach22i]

I favor epoxy with micro-bubbles over the usual polyester filler (Bondo), but what ever gets the job done.

Looks great.

Is that a 4x4?

Does the 4-wheel drive still work?

I used Great Stuff expanding foam to fill my larger holes, covered with epoxy that was so strong that I didn't even need to use fiberglass cloth.



The black and white paint job helps hide all of the imperfections, and there are a lot of them up close.

[Bob Kontak]

Tell me more about the epoxy filler.

This truck has metal backing everywhere but I am old school.

[kach22i]

Any good hardware store will have the West Systems epoxy, mix resin with hardener in clean containers or you could get bubbles showing up uninvited to your work.

They have the micro balloons (tiny glass bubbles) filler additive that is easily sandable, lightweight and strong.

They have the finer filler additive, but I don't trust it as much because when it gets flared out it can crumble like the one stage polyester paint scratch fillers do.

In lieu of using the finest filler I just get my epoxy mix right and it fills any small gaps.

I got lucky with my mix several times came out perfect, one piece of sandpaper on the orbital sander all day long, no gumming up.

Then another time unlucky running shy on resin near the end, too much hardener and the soft gummy stuff was filling up my sandpaper often.

The expanding foam is not as dimensionally stable as I want. It tends to expand over time and swell slightly. I've read on the Internet that there is a marine grade expandable foam that works better. I don't remember if it is a 2-part foam or not.

If you get good results with your current methods and are comfortable with them, stick with it.

If you have a small project to experiment with were extra strength is needed epoxy might be a consideration.

It is more expensive, but no fumes to speak of, and working times are longer, does not flash set with heat like bondo, and does not crack like bondo either.

Did I say it was expensive, it's expensive.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by kach22i

I got lucky with my mix several times came out perfect, one piece of sandpaper on the orbital sander all day long, no gumming up

Thank you.

I used one piece of 80 grit on an air file sized hand sander to do both rear fenders.

It was kind of odd that it lasted so long.

Took from noon to 9:00 PM.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Any good hardware store will have the West Systems epoxy, mix resin with hardener in clean containers or you could get bubbles showing up uninvited to your work.

Found it on youtube. Awesome.

Thanks.

[VincentVega]

West is good stuff but there are many cheaper options. I like raka a lot and have used system 3 with good results too.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Is that a 4x4?

Does the 4-wheel drive still work?

Yes and yes. Sorry for not answering.

One reason the truck is still with us is the owner is one DWI away from Ohio yellow party plates. Several passages of not driving for extended terms.

Kinda makes it a 2006 vs a 2002.

[rattlsnak]

Any 'before' pics?

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by rattlsnak

Any 'before' pics?

Not a one.

That dark garnet was the original color. Rust was peeking out above rear fender flares.

Front fenders were overkill for what the truck is worth. Some bondo-able wrinkles on one side and one healthy rust spot on the other.

American racing wheels from Summit. About a long one in wheels and tires.

The tonneau cover was the largest panel I ever painted in my life. However paint jobber pre-mixed fast reducer so even though I could notice streaks in the clear on cover it was just overspray dust that washed off with water. It was nerve wracking given the $400 we dropped on the clear.

Nice thing about the flat clear is that it hides everything. I have done several rear wheel inserts and with gloss clear my bodywork skills are evident. Good but not that good. Learning that after I think it's perfect I need to coat the whole thing with a skim coat and do it again.

Here is the exact copy of his truck.