Luv it! It's coming along nicely...Can't wait to see the completed version.

Looks great. Has there been issues with the original lead with certain paint types? I'm not a paint guy so just trying to learn.

Just catching up on this thread. Professional restorer for sure - great work!

Lead
 

55 year old lead can cause problems with modern chemicals. My restorer likes to eliminate any Come Backs created by taking short cuts.
His mission is to do the metal work, eliminate any issues that might originate from underneath.

Never heard of this. The lead was not smooth on my 69, so I took it down to clean bare lead and re-leaded it. I used epoxy primer over it, and have had no issues. If figured the lead was less likely to shrink over time as opposed to any other filler. That's been 15 years ago, and all is still good.

I didn't look back to see; did Mark use a different filler in place of lead? Or did he just use new lead?

Would be interested to know.

I will ask what he plans to use, he has mostly done convertibles for me so leaded roof seams have not been an issue. On my Olds convertibles the QP seam behind the trunk lid was not lead.

Guessing one of the aluminum reinforced fillers.

My experience is that even the regular two part fillers (with a catalyst) shrink some over time.

I haven't tried the aluminum reinforced.

Here is Mark’s response as to why he removes old Lead.

Lead releases gases over the years. Looked at many cars in my 30yrs and lots of pimpling can be seen in these lead areas. So why then risk something like that on the body which can be very costly to fix after its all refinished ? To me its standard procedure I’ve done to every restoration in 30 years.

All I have ever used to replace it is short strand fibre glass reinforced filler over top of epoxy, never seen an issue on any cars I have completed and have seen many of my projects years to decades later. They have stood the test of time.

Work continues,nothing to get excited about. High spot near back of roof reworked.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds

Rocker panels had a few bruises, all metal worked back to straight.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds

Former lead seams now done in Fiberglass.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...720&fit=bounds

Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Nothing to get excited about ??!! Who are you kidding, the metal work alone is perfection. I WISH I had a person to do that, instead of all the filler work most throw on and call good. I have a bodyman working on my Camaro and he filled the lead seam with the same, short strand, fiberglass. Unfortunately, as a production person, he doesn't see the need to do perfect metal finishing and uses too much filler, in my opinion, to get everything blocked out.