[Rebel1]

All very good advice from both Tenrocca and Boxhead but missing one very important step.

As Tenrocca said, wash the whole body...thats inside and underside if you have an inner tub and all the outside surfaces. It is important to completely remove all waxes and parting agents used in the molding process.

Then the missing suggestion.....season the body by covering with black plastic and leave it outside for at least a month if possible. Preferably left on the chassis to maintain shape.

The reason for this is the same as Tenrocca mentioned heating around cutouts. It settles (post cures) the body. in other words you are accellerating any shrinkage and relieving stresses within the body laminate and also encouraging airbubbles (even very fine ones you would not normally identify) to erupt to the surface.

This is very important for cars being painted a dark color. We have all seen cars looking fantastic just after painting but then looking quite average after 6 - 12 months. This is because of the post curing of the glass laminate after the paining process.. By "cooking" under black plastic in the sun you will minimise this happening. It also ensures complete evacuation of any styrene trapped in the laminate from the chemical reaction of the resin.

Then do your filling and fairing using quality fillers as Tenrocca has then again let it sit for as long as possible before priming. Reason being is that the fillers use the same resin as the glass and also need time to shrink, minimise stresses, and evacuate the styrene. In fact you may find after spending hours getting the body perfectly fair that you will have to more filling before priming.

However, make sure after filling that the car is not exposed to rain as all polyester fillers are porous and will absorb moisture. A good idea is to spot prime filled areas because these can be refilled prior to full primer coats