Van

And that's not a standard rear suspension...

David Floyd

Standard for 996 ? wish I had that setup

william_b_noble

you don't want to cut panels out on a monocoque if you can avoid it - and you lose rust protection too - that damage is minor, just hammer it out - I repaired worse on my car with a hammer and dolly and some filler for the final smoothness (I don't like grinding on the sheet metal, it makes it thinner, I'd rather have some filler on top)

God_Bot

That's not terrible, but I wouldn't be surprised with 20 hours of repair time on it. It's hard to see where the bodyline is on that quarter.

Did you ask how many hours/how much it would cost to repair when you took it to the shop? We only replace cosmetically damaged parts if the cost of repair is more than replacement would be. A quick search shows a used quarter on eBay for around $600. Used quarters suck though and AutoAtlanta shows $1,200 for a new quarter.



If it were my car I'd have it replaced. It would probably be cheaper, easier and look better in the end. As for the shop making money that's backwards. Generally the money comes from repair work. All the techs I know make their time/money with repairs. Replacing doesn't pay nearly as much as repair most of the time.



As for the filler comments, unless you take a car to a very high end metal finish style shop then you're gonna have filler in any repair. It's usually just a skim coat to fill sanding scratches if a good tech is doing the repairs with a glaze over the top.

docwyte

Totally fixable without having to replace that panel or use a lot of body filler.

Tiger03447

@ Dash: that's definitely an old school technique. You heat the panel until it's almost cherry red with an oxy/acetylene torch..small tip...you should also use a shrinking hammer and a dolly, then quench with wet rag...then move on to another close by spot and repeat process...gradually the panel will look a lot better and better as you repeat and repeat...also. you can drill some 1/8" (OK 3.5 mm) holes for sheet metal screws..spin in screw..and use head to pull out metal with a slide hammer..then go to the shrinking process..you also might want to braze in filler if you want to go totally "old school"...grinds easier than steel then use bondo to fill in screw holes and DA scratches...just sayin...Thanks...

acorad

Forgot all about this thread.

I ended up having the entire car prepped and painted. It's dirty right now, I'll post up some pics when the upcoming rains are done and I get the car washed.

They effed up my sunroof taking it out. Had I known they would do that I'd have taken it out for them.

Andy

car_slave

I used one of these to repair damage similar to yours.

http://www.harborfreight.com/stud-we...kit-98357.html

Forty-six and 2

More picture of what you have going on there David Floyd! Or a build thread...

acorad

Just realized I never posted any "after" pics:

Dino V

looks good! now stay away from guard rails!

HICKS

If it aint white, it aint right. Looks good!

acorad

Thanks guys, the paint shop did a great job! And I now drive very carefully on that stretch of road (the 178 between Bakersfield and Lake Isabella)...

mazdaverx7

Looks great! Glad you found a body shop that was was willing to repair it right.