DanJz

Hey everyone

Well, fairly recently, my lovely little sister decided that she didn't need to use her side-view mirrors while backing down the driveway. Little did she know that my precious 92 Formula was partially in her path, and since she didn't use her mirrors, she pulled off a nice side-swipe of the Formy on her way down the driveway.

It was washed right after this pic was taken, don't worry lol

The black streak on the trim piece is for the most part gone since I spent a while scrubbing it when I washed the car to get it off.

As you can see, it's not terrible, but it's certainly not pretty. It's hard to see the damage from the pics other than the obvious scuffing of the paint, but there is a dent on the quarter panel from the end of the door to above the rear wheel, and the door is dented in a bit too.

I got estimates from various body shops ranging from $400 to $850 (and $1500 for the entire car and all of its paint woes ). These include labor costs and whatnot as well as supplies I'm assuming. I am currently awaiting an estimate from a guy who does bodywork as a hobby (charges for supplies, not for labor, since he does it on his own time for fun).

My question is, to all of you DIYers out there, how much do you think it would cost in just supplies to do this at home in a garage or something? I know this could be a potentially stupid and un-answerable question, but I figured that I'd ask it anyway. I can get better pics if needed since I know these pics aren't the best for showing the damage. I can probably get them tomorrow night. I would think that something like this would be a cake walk for anyone who's decent at bodywork, but I have no idea since I've always been more of a mechanical guy myself. I know it'll need paint and possibly some new metal, although I was hoping that it could just be popped out. Again, I'm not a body guy though lol.

Thanks!!

DanJz

ACCLR8N

iTrader: (8)

I spent $813 fixing this mess. That included $247 to get that whole side of the car painted professionally.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...weeks-2-a.html

Doesn't look like you need a new door, hinge rebuild kit, front fender, front trim pieces. I could probably fix that and prep for paint for under $100. Then have the door and rear quarter blended up on the pillar painted professionally (base/clear). Guess: $275

Carlos773

iTrader: (3)

Slide hammer can do wonders, I dont really remember if the panel can be access through the interior but I don't think I recall it being so. The quarter lip would be the easiest and so will the door. Doors are cheap though and that depends if you want to spend the hours fixing or paying $80-$110 to replace and be done with it.

This would be an easy project for me but I have some experience, I suggest purchasing a slide hammer and getting it back as straight as possible and then fill it and your off.

92RS_Ttop

iTrader: (3)

The door doesn't look that bad. I don't think you would even need to bother with trying to straighten that out. Just prep, bondo, and paint. The quarter panel is harder to tell in the pic how bad it is. Carlos773 was right in that you can't reach that part of the quarter panel from the interior to pound that out. Slide hammer might help some, but they make a heck of a mess of the metal in the process. Probably the best way to go with it though. Total cost will depend on the cost of the paint and how you plan on applying it. Color-matched rattlecans from the chain parts stores will probably be cheaper, but may not turn out as nice or hold up as long as "real" paint. But if you don't already have a spray gun and compressor then using "real" paint is going to get expensive quick. By the time you pay for a decent gun and a compressor that can run it along with the other supplies, you will be at least to the lowest estimate you've gotten so far. The upside is then you have some new tools to use in the future

Assuming you've got the compressor and gun, I would say $150-200 is a reasonable estimate on cost. Most of that will be in the paint supplies.

Using rattlecans from the chain stores and you could get it to $100 or less.

DanJz

Thanks for the responses so far!!! Keep 'em coming everybody!!!

Bull

iTrader: (5)

I am surprised that more people have not commented on this, given the sheer size of TGO.

Carlos773

iTrader: (3)

The base here is more of single posters or just forum browsers, its rare when a thread gets alot of replys.

Bull

iTrader: (5)

That's too bad. I mean, there really isn't another thirdgen forum to play in, so I don't see why people don't step up and get active.

GTA50

How much is "lovely little sister" willing to "buck up" in this project?

juanillox8

iTrader: (7)

whats gonna cost u well time and effort carlos suggested slide hammer and then 92rs said its messy, well that depend of what kind of slide hammer they're talking about if ur gonna use the oldschool one with the screw than 4get it. u can buy a stud welder at harborfreight that will help u a whole lot and u wont have to tear the interior apart to reach the inside of the qt panel

DanJz

That's a good question lol. She picked a bad time to do it as she has a job that literally pays like $50 a week , so it would take a while for her to save up for it. I'm figuring something out though for her to pay me back.

Yeah I figured that it would be a fairly time-consuming project even if it doesn't actually need much work, just because the amount of work it needs will just take a while to do, although someone with a lot of experience with body work can probably get it done a lot faster than I could lol

Big Cleatus

Like 92RS_T top said prep, bondo, paint. I would just use the paint to match rattlecans, and you can even get clear coat in a rattle can. It might not look professional like a spray gun, but it's cheap and gets the job done. At the very least it will prevent rusting while you save money for the real fix.

Bull

iTrader: (5)

Dan knows best, but I don't think he's looking for a Bondo-slap and can-spray temporary job on this. More like he is looking for an idea on what it would cost a hobbyist to do a proper, lasting, good looking repair.

92RS_Ttop

iTrader: (3)

Done properly, a "Bondo-slap and can-spray" job as you put it can look professional and be completely unnoticeable next to the original paint. Just like a "real" paint job, the difference is in the prep work and the finishing work blending the patch in to the original paint. It takes some practice and experience, but it can be done.

The "right" way to do it would be to disassemble the door and hammer & dolly the crease out. Bondo what little you can't hammer out then sand, primer, and paint the whole door. On the quarter you would need to use a stud gun as mentioned by juan to pull it out as much as possible. Then bondo the repair and sand the whole quarter. Then primer and paint. That's why good body shops charge so much, its very labor-intensive because they do the whole panel, not just the damaged areas.

I've found that using the rattlecans matches up just fine if you can get the right color at the parts store. Just make sure you clear it, and it helps to gently wetsand the final coat of clear with 1500 to get it to blend into the rest of the panel. A quick mist coat and its invisible.

The car looks like a basic red with no flake so finding a matching can at the parts store should be easy. Having no flake means it will be much easier to match up and have the repair "disappear" when its done. Being red, this also means that buying a quart of paint from a body shop or auto body supply store will be expensive. Red is one of the most expensive "basic" colors, at least in my area.

Use good-quality auto paint and it should hold up just fine for a long time.

Carlos773

iTrader: (3)

It all depends if he wants a half-assed job or spend the time to do it the right way. I would rather leave it be for now and save until I can do it the right way.

Bull

iTrader: (5)

Very helpful response!


I would say "not half-assed," no.

Carlos773

iTrader: (3)

Yep, thank you for correcting me. Anyone can go to their local Autozone and buy bondo and slap it on and sand it even. I would of been done with my project a while ago if that was the case. In the end, the method you choose to get any dents back out is up to you, slide hammer, dolly and hammer, etc. Just get it enough out that the filler amount needed is good or safe. Then as for patching it to match, I would personally follow the previous posters advice and try out spray touch up if you are in a very tight budget, or pickup a mini touch up spray gun and find the matching color code and do it that way. All depends on $ to be honest.

Bull

iTrader: (5)

I don't mean to start dominating the thread, but I know a little bit about this car.

One challenge that I see will be in the blending. The paint job is a cheaper repaint, maybe five years old or a bit less. I don't think it's even got a clear coat, since if you polish the paint your cloth will turn red. Whoever painted the car did not do an excellent job in the first place, so whoever does this work will be trying to blend new paint, properly applied, with older, mediocre paint that might have been a rush job.

Any tips as far as that goes?

92RS_Ttop

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like the clear is gone if it was ever even there. If that is the case, I suppose that's a good excuse to half-*** it till he can afford to get the whole car painted.

Also, who knows if a body shop would even touch it then? If it was brought into my shop like that, I wouldn't even fix it unless the owner let me do a full repaint. While I don't own or work for a body shop, I have taken on body work to make some cash on the side and I can tell you I'd never fix something to get it up to half-assed status.

If you can't afford a full repaint now, I'd just buy some 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper and some rattlecan primer and paint. Sand down any loose/flaking paint and feather it a little into the surrounding paint so the new stuff sticks. Then just primer and paint. Once it dries, it should be good till you can afford to get it done right.

You can do the body work to straighten it out, but that's up to you. It has to get done at some point obviously, but waiting won't hurt it as long as its protected from rusting.

If you want to do it right, just make sure you sand down any paint that is loose, flaking, or rubs off on your hands. Use 400 or 600 wet/dry sandpaper and make sure you go beyond the repair area so the new paint and bondo stick properly. To blend it in, take some 1500 wet/dry sandpaper and scuff up the clearcoat till its shine(or lack thereof) matches the surrounding paint.

DanJz

Thanks for the responses everyone!

This is giving me a pretty good general idea of what would need to be done. I don't really want to go the bondo route even though it'd be cheaper, since I'd rather just "do it right the first time" and get it done up nicely once and not have to fix it temporarily, even if it means saving up some more money.

The rest of the paint on the car certainly isn't the greatest, so I certainly hope that the paint job wouldn't discourage body shops from being willing to work on it. I got one estimate from a body shop, and they gave me an estimate of $1500 for the entire car, including the body work, and fixing the paint overspray areas and stuff, even though I only asked them to give me an estimate on just the body damage. I hope that doesn't mean they'll only do it if they can fix everything and match it perfectly or something

Anyway, keep it coming, and thanks!

GTA50

Maybe you can get her to help you - kind of to work off the debt and to develop a little awareness, if you catch my drift LOL.

Anyway, everyone has given you some good pointers. You may be able to rent a stud gun or a body shop may be able to do that for you for a few bucks. The key thing, over and over and over and ....... is the prep. Also, when sanding, there is a lot of work and definitely you need to work through the grades of paper from 80 to 400 before painting (something for the "lovely little sister" to help with). Also, if needed, you may sand between primer coats, etc.

Rattle cans do work nicely, just keep in mind that the paint thickness is a lot less then with a gun, so you may need a few more coats. You can also go to your local paint shop and with your rpo code for paint, have them make the color up for you (say a quart). The Preval sprayers work wonders for touch-ups (you put the paint and thinner in the glass jar, attach the propellant and away you go). Heck, there are many options, I've even painted the interior of my '75 Blazer with a scuba tank and paint gun!!!!

Anyways, treat it as a great learning experience. I enjoy the body work side as much as the mechanical side. When you can stand back and say, "yeah, I did it myself!!", it's a great feeling.

DanJz

Thanks for the response GTA50. I'm definitely trying to get her to help me out a little bit with it lol. If I decide to do the body work myself, then I'll definitely get her to help be sand as well.

I've always wanted to try my hand at body work, especially painting, since I've always thought that it would be a fun thing to try. If I'm really feeling obligated, maybe I can get a buddy of mine to help me and we could try tackling the work ourselves. It would be a fun little project if I could find the time for it (I'm leaving for school in a week and a half )

Anyway, this thread is definitely giving me some useful information to think about. Thanks to everyone who's been commenting!!

kevmann

Well you can get to the panel from the other side but it would be nearly impossible to get something in there at the right angle to try and push it out. I know there are some that dont like to use body filler in their cars but most if not all cars have it. Ours have it where the roof is welded on at the seams. As long as you are not filling large dents or rust body filler would work fine. Its hard to tell from the pic but I bet a magnet would even stick to it after the job was done. You could try to pull it with a dent puller but ,in my opinion, depending on how deep the dent is, filling with body filler would probably be your best bet. With most dent pullers you have to drill holes which could lead to rust. I would take off the inner plastic and sail panel after the job is done and spray some rust oleum or some kind of rust preventative just in case the paint inside there was chipped off. I am not a professional body guy but I have done a few jobs. I always let someone else do the painting though. I dont have faith in my skills. I do like to use a rattle can as a guide coat though because it is shiny and lets you see all the imperfections. Then when you sand it off you will still see paint in the low spots.