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I want to pull out some dents on my 74 Camaro. I have seen this type of body work done a few times by a "shade tree" mechanic" in the past. I'm sure it takes some skill but it doesn't look all that difficult.

Does anyone know of a good book that can explain simple body repair to a newbie? I am looking for a modern book that will cover material usage such as bondo, fiberglass, etc.

I went to Amazon.com and searched a while but I would really like a reccomendation from someone here who may have had a little experience or has actually read one of these books themselves.

 
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I am not a body man, however I have a 69 VW Bug, fiberglassed the rear fenders to the body, took off the stock taillights mounted flush mounts. all I can tell you is that fiberglass is good but if you'r e trying to fill a pretty big dent just use normal Bondo, you can buy it in huge cans at Wal-Mart, both bondo putty, and fiberglass need to set up or harden, I think you'll be ok in AZ right now, but it should be warm at least 60 out when you do it.

 
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Thanks for the advice! I like both of your rides. I think I will wind up buying both bondo and fiberglass as there are both large and small dents. I never took the temperature into consideration. I am thinking of taking a body working class at community college. Hopefully that will give me enough skill to be confident to attempt this on my own.

 
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lots of times those community college courses let you work on your own cars and stuff. So thats a bonus. You get to use their tools and you get an experienced person looking over your work.

 
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i wouldnt use bondo to just fill in a dent if the body panel is made of metal. go buy yourself some auto repair tools, you can find a basic set of dollys and spoons on ebay. thats what i did. then just hammer out the dent as best you can. trust me, its not that hard. i did my fender myself and if youre careful you wont even damage the paint if its a simple dent. the dude that inspected my car at the end of the lease even told me i did a good job. LOL

anyway, do that first and then use bondo to just smooth it out before paint. dont just bondo a dent because if you want to sell the car later on and someone is careful enough to take a magnet to your car, they will be able to see that you had body work done, and done poorly, and the value of your car will go down a lot.

as far as books, go on eastowoodco.com and click on auto body. they should have books there. and they definitely have the tools you will need, just not as cheap as ebay.

just my $.02

 
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Wal-Mart=Evil