Need help with this HACK job

[bradleyheathhays]

96 XJ here and I'm rebuilding what was once a huge hole in one of my rocker panels. I've riveted in 1/8" diamond plate aluminum for the backer support and now I've got 2 good coats of bondo on there. I'll end up going over the 1/4" thickness limit for bondo, oh well.


So my question is...how do I go from where I am now on the left side of the pic to building and smoothing this out so that it's paint ready and in the shape of the rocker panel on the left.


I've got a can of color matched red and high build primer on the way.

[superj]

wow. thats bad


fill it in till its higher than the original and then staple some sand paper to a 2x1 piece of wood about 6 or 8 inches long and start sanding it till its fairly close to original with a rough sandpaper grade. once you are close, get a lighter grade of sandpaper and get it smoother and closer. than go to a smoother grade of paper and get it smooth all the way across so it looks original. if you ahve pin holes or any odd marks, put some of that orange fine putty and you can smooth it with a piece of super fine sandpaper and you are good to go. prime it and paint

[JPNinPA]

Might give it a few days to dry if you put it all on at once. “Shrinkage” But first get it over the original to seal it some. As you get closer in sanding finer grit be sure to change directions or use an orbital/palm sander.

Did you remove all the rust and treat with a rust converter?


Never look down on anyone unless you are helping them up - Jesse Jackson

[mark sr]

I like to use a bondo rasp for the initial shaping. They come in several shapes and sizes. Here is one example - 10 in. Two-Way Combination Rasp Plane