Another turd for... polishing?

[restoman]

This arrived in my driveway back in mid-September.
My neighbour - who used to work for us - and his brother raced this car in the late 90s and early 2000s. A 460-something powered big block, with a nice four link, 4.something gears and living on a weight-restricted diet, it had been hit at the top end of the 1/4 by an out-of-control Mustang. Figures...
A mid-10s car,according to Jamie.
Their Uncle - who 'used to do bodywork" - beat the living snot out of the damage, filled it full of bondo, and gave it back to them. It didn't look right, so Jamie ground all the filler out, and found this...

Uncle had cut out the inner structure behind the striker bolt to gain access to the outer skin. He didn't bother to put that inner support back in, but at least he did a beautiful job on the outer!
To get the door to fit, well, ... he didn't. He just hammered down the wrinkles, bronzed a few tears in the steel and loaded it up with Bondo's finest.

 

[restoman]

There were no repair panels or even full quarter skins available in Canada.
No suitable used panels.
No doors that I could find. None for under $500, that is. Who knew that 2nd gen GM A body parts commanded that kind of money?
Jamie came up with a small donor piece. Normally, I would have laughed at a pos like that, but beggars can't be choosers...
At least it came with the need inner structure, and a usable striker bolt.
I did find a door latch mechanism that hadn't been hammered.
To "fix" the door meant cutting out the crushed and cobbled rear section, straightening most of it on the bench and putting it back in. A section had to fab'd from scratch. The previously new door skin could now be put into its proper place and tacked as needed. It had had large goobers of brass holding it into the too-flat-along-the-body-line position.
Oh yes... I re-attached the door crash beam, as well. It had been broken at the rear-most welds by the wayward 'Stang, and never re-welded. Every time the door was slammed - and it had to be slammed to get it to latch - it bounced around like thoughts in Joe Bidens head.
New pins and bushings, and some re-alignment helped immeasurably.
Now, the door closes with only light pressure, as it should.

I didn't take near as many pics of this one as I usually do... it's not really a job that I wanted to do, but he is a good friend, so I took it on. I had to get him to remove anything that could be stolen: wheelie bars, slicks, drag fronts, gauges, etc... I wrapped his front Wildwoods in plastic and taped them up to keep them from prying eyes.
Lately, around here, things have a habit of wandering away... and with the number of people short-cutting it through the park beside my driveway, I wanted no part in anything going missing on my watch.


Weather put the kibosh to anything ore than a coat of epoxy primer for this year.
Not sure if I'm going to be the lucky guy to finish it, or if Jamie is willing to tackle the rest on his own.

The door will need some final adjustment during the filler process: the quarter is inward a tick too much at the upper edge of the door, and at the very lower section immediately above the sill.

 

[69.5CUDA]

well that looks like it went ALOT smoother than i expected it to

 

[restoman]

well that looks like it went ALOT smoother than i expected it to

It did, actually.
Everything looks good in primer, of course, but the door and forward section of the quarter aren't going to need a lot of filler work to make 'em good.

 

[dodgechargerfan]

Yer a wizard!

 

[69.5CUDA]

totaly off topic but i need to ask
our freezeing rain descided to rip a huge chunk of clearcoat off the yaris, was wondering if i can protect and kep more from coming off by clearing the whole hood or if thats just a waste of materials

 

[Dr.Jass]

They have an uncle in his teens? That's the kind of stuff we did on my buddy's Chevelle back before I got my learner's permit. I'm kind of surprised to not see rivets.

Not gonna lie, I still get a little nostalgic for 2nd-generation F-bodies. Make mine '70-'73, preferably poultry-flavored. Thankfully, they're too expensive now for me to make that mistake again.

 

[restoman]

totaly off topic but i need to ask
our freezeing rain descided to rip a huge chunk of clearcoat off the yaris, was wondering if i can protect and kep more from coming off by clearing the whole hood or if thats just a waste of materials

You can, but it will only be as good as the paint and clear underneath the new coat. A good chance the bare spot will come out as a different colour, and there will be an edge around the broken clear, but it will offer a measure of protection till you can do it right.
I take it it's not the OEM paint?

 

[restoman]

They have an uncle in his teens? That's the kind of stuff we did on my buddy's Chevelle back before I got my learner's permit. I'm kind of surprised to not see rivets.

Not gonna lie, I still get a little nostalgic for 2nd-generation F-bodies. Make mine '70-'73, preferably poultry-flavored. Thankfully, they're too expensive now for me to make that mistake again.

No kidding, eh? I guess the uncle is well into his 70s now...
This car is 100% rust free, except for the deck lid and the trough below the back window. A common place for rust on these things.
Charlie, the brother, has owned it since '85, and daily drove it up till it became a 1/4 mile warrior. I thought he said it originally came with a 267. The big block must have led to some serious laundry efforts...

 

[69.5CUDA]

You can, but it will only be as good as the paint and clear underneath the new coat. A good chance the bare spot will come out as a different colour, and there will be an edge around the broken clear, but it will offer a measure of protection till you can do it right.
I take it it's not the OEM paint?

its an 07 and yeah OEM paint on it..wifes been its only owner, the roof isnt bad, its peppered on one side but all minor..figured out it was from her surf boards drippin salt water on the car...the hood just gave up a big ole face sized patch of clear out of the blue with our freeze we had its got 2 pinky sized spots on the other side of the hood....all said the paint on the car is great...and cleans and polishes like it should...guess when the weather warms up ill just expect to paint the hood and may as well do the roof too