I was hit a couple of weeks ago at my work, and I got $693 for the damages. What I can't decide is if I should look for another nice body, and swap my engine....or fix it. My plans were to eventually fix up my body but with the 700 dollars...I dunno what to do with it....

My 87 camaro has some rust. Mainly on left rear wheel-well. Paint is old, cracked and my front bumper is peeling bad. Scratch in door, etc. Normal stuff for a 20 year old car.

Would you put money into car, or maybe think of trying to save an extra 300 to find a new body for $1000 or so?

 

I would put the money into what you have, figure the dents will still be in a new body (pretty much any car that has been driven has dents, and if the engine is bad it was not well cared for normally) the rust is also a good possibility, so you end up money ahead to use what you have

 

if you need a new repaint, just replace the fender with a junkyard one, and that bumper cover doesn't look too bad, just needs a little sanding and filling. definitely fix it. my Dad's Camaro's fenders are 10 times worse.

 

Know any sites that sell fenders?

 

I have the same kind of dent on my car except its on the passenger side fender. It looks the same but on mine theres no scratches on the bumper.

It looks like a Simple yet complex job. I wanna take off the fender an hammer it out gently but i dont know if its going to work or not. Im going to do more research ill let you know how it goes.


Ebay has some fenders, and hawks. http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/

 

your local junk yard may have one in better condition then yours.

 

Does 700 sound right for he estimate I received? My girlfriends brother works at a paint shop and says he thinks for that damage I could get a hell of a lot more done for 700.

 

I thought 700 sounded high, but I didn't wanna say anything because I wasn't sure.

 

you can buy aftermarket fenders for like 70 a piece..... for that kinda of money you could come close to painting the whole car

 

Thats what I figured. I assumed that if I try to do all the prep work( lights, etc) I could get the price a lot cheaper. Is it greatly worth it to do body work such as body filler for the rust? Anything else that can lower the price when the car is painted?

 

dont put bondo over rust, it will comeback to haunt you after you spend your money on paint, if you can get the rust fixed cheap, you can prep the car or strip it yourself and get a cheap maaco spray job, they do come out nice sometimes

 

So your saying have someone do the rust work, me do prepping for paint right?

 

if you bondo over rust, then it will flake the bondo off eventually. just take a grinder to the rust then fill the dent thats left. if the rust needs to be cut out you may want to leave it to a body shop unless you have a die grinder/plasma cutter and a welder.

 

StevenB,
That hit looks very minor & it is not in your quarters. It is a simple fix & $700 could not only fix it but add some improvements also. Since you already did work to the motor, I would fix it. I know sometimes when a car gets hit you may not feel the same about it, if that is the case you could always fix it then sell it & get a new Camaro that you may want. Good luck in your decision, I think it is definitely worth fixing, does not mean you have to keep it but shes worth fixing. Shenna

 

Yeah thats what I meant, sorry must have worded it wrong.

I think in the end I will prolly stick with the car. I have all winter to look but I will not stop development on my car such as engine work. If I find a nice lookin one then I'll check it out but I wont let it sit till I find one.

Do you think I can get the dent out or try and buy a new fender?

 

Get a new fender. I recently got lucky and got one that was in perfect shape(except for the tab on the bottom that everyone likes to put jacks under) for $40 from a local junk yard. If you have all winter, i'd go to the yards and see if you can find one.

 

those fenders are so thin.....even the oem ones are....imagine what a aftermarket one would be like