jlg2002

Yeah, i agree. my car is one of these that had 1/2 think of bondo on the lft qt and it turned out the frame was tweaked in the ww opening. If you go to my rear sheet metal album @ http://photobucket.com/JLG2002a, You can see the extent of my damage and what I have to do to fix it

chuckmcd

I have the car back! I the month it's been gone I'd forgotten how much fun it is driving this thing...

Ok, as promised here are some pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...3&l=802d03e2b6

Hopefully you can see these... It was the quickest way I could get them online.

If you look at the shot looking down the driver side you can see where the line of the car is pulled in towards where the roof connects to the quarter panel.

I'm meeting with the guy who fixed the engine Monday to get an idea how many hours labor this would take. I think sheet metal could be done for less than $500 unless I'm missing something (which is likely).

Tom V

Drivers door. What condition are the hinges in? Does the door seem to drop any when opening it? Is the bottom of the door pulled out or the rocker near the door pushed in? It is hard to tell with the photo.
Deck lid. Look closely at the hinges and latch assembly. For example, any possibility that the hinges for the deck lid bent or askew? I am going with the assumption that it it seems to open and close fine.
Quarter panel. It is my "opinion" that sheet metal will give you the effect that you are looking for. My concern would be any underlying problem. You may fix that area but the problem is still there.
I would concider getting it looked at by an auto body shop. It should cost nothing but gas and time.

chuckmcd

Well today was my first real day driving the car again. I brought it home on Friday, short cruise on Saturday and my usual Sunday stuff... Other than some awful exhaust noise the car has been fine to drive. I was meeting with the shop owner today to discuss the noise, but he wanted to get the car back to me for the weekend.
This morning when I came out there was a 6 inch oil puddle underneath the car (way back, near where the engine and the transmission meet.

After meeting with the owner, I no longer have the car today. It's back in the shop to figure out what's wrong with the oil leak... he has some ideas, but it'll be a few day when all is said and done. Hopefully all will be done.

Now, onto the body issues. The hinges are good, but the springs in both hinges are bad. the door operate fine though. I met with one body shop today who told me to get the whole thing done right would be about 50 grand. After I had a good cry and drove to the shop that's fixing the engine I had a chance to talk with him as he gave me a ride back to work.

the short of it is that for about 4 grand I could get the back end in primer. I would want to do some work to the front end myself and then get it painted. I just don't see the point in putting much else into the car if I can't make the body right. 4 grand is a big swing from 50... so I'm pretty confused at this point... and frankly a pretty disappointed.

According to the shop owner, who I've come to trust a good deal... I have a solid week (at least) of body work to replace the frame rail, quarter panel... inner and out wheel well and, the trunk floor on that side and the tail end pieces. It seems about right to me. What do you guys think?

jlg2002

Ow - that's not good. pull the left and right rear tires and look at the frames for obvious signs of bending. Believe it or not you could weld a whole new rear on that car for less than $2 K if you did the work yourself.

Tom V

A frame can be off kilter, askew, whatever word you would like to use. Is the frame solid? If yes then drive it. As long as the car isn't posing any danger to you or someone else, then don't worry about it. Enjoy it the way it is. Although you may go through tires more often than anticipated. It is still a lot cheaper than 50 grand.
You could apply that 4 grand to a different body and use the one you have now for the engine and salvageable parts.
Personally, "my opinion" would be invest as little as possible and drive it, enjoy it. You already have indicated how much you enjoy driving it.
I've looked at the pictures that you have shared with us. It's a nice car!
One last thought. Please make sure that none of the exhaust fumes are getting into the passenger compartment. Wich I am sure you already know.
Sorry things didn't turn out better for you.

jaw1962

The body shop that wanted to charge you 50 grand either didn't want the work or wanted to give you a concourse-quality car. I had a similar experience with my 64 comet, though not quite as severe. I definitely had frame issues....there wasn't one. Rusted out. Car sagged. Had one body shop quote me 35 grand and two others tell me to dump it. Almost did but took it to a local garage and asked them to fix it in their spare time. Three months later I had a solid frame with new floor pans for $2000. Had another guy cut out rust and paint for $1200. Had a car nice enough to win me several trophies at local car shows. Plus lots of fun just driving it around.

chuckmcd

Well, today is a new day and other than the fact that I am carless once again I'm feeling better.

I had a long talk with the guy who owns the shop. This one is a small independent shop and he does a lot of restoration. The 50K guy was just in another world than me. He needs a web site and I need a car. I'm a youth pastor but I used to do graphic design and web design for a living. I'm hoping we can work out a deal to make the body right. Until then, the car drives, and my sons and I enjoy it so... there ya go.

I bought the car because I wanted to work on it with my boys (14 and 9)... so it's still a good project car. I should have some cash left over after the car comes back still. I'm considering installing the dual exhaust headers on my 200 ci 6 cylinder. I think that's a project my boys and I could tackle. Any thoughts or pointers would be great!

When you buy this stuff, does it come with a decent set of installation instructions?

thanks everyone.

jlg2002

You know if it's just a project to keep you and kids busy, don't sweat the body damage just do what you can and have some fun. Unfortunately, most modifications don't come with instructions but that's based on me doing them 20 + years ago. So times may have changed.

Tom V

^ I agree with jlg 100%