Restoration Part 3!, All fixed. For now... Options

[enderswift]

Halloween 2009 some douche got beyond drunk and bashed into my parked celi before speeding off . I found the damage a few hours later and aside from an internal cuss-fest I kept my cool and was really relieved to see that there was no mechanical damage. Pictures say a thousand words so observe:


this picture is from when it first happened and doesn't really convey the magnitude of the damage, I seriously thought the rear suspension was boned. I'll post fresh pictures soon, they'll show my sad looking (but effective) attempt at rust proofing.


After saving every penny from my summer job while scouring the world for parts, paint, good advice, and someone to trust my celi to, I finally have everything in order


(thats $300 in paint supplies right there, the majority of which was the insanely expensive toyota 3l2. That taillight was damn near impossible to find for a reasonable price)

I just cant be happier right now. Ill finally be able to wax my celi without wondering if I'm an idiot for waxing a ruined exterior (I figured a dent isn't an excuse to neglect the whole paint job!) also, I'll finally be able to pull up somewhere or go on a date w/o cringing every time my drivers side is displayed

So now the next order of business is to take a few things apart before delivery to my body guy. The rear bumper has to be removed together with the taillight, mirror, power antenna, front head light, sideskirt, and window trim. I'm paranoid about having someone else work on my car so I insisted on being as involved as possible. In fact, If I had the time I would learn body work and fix this on my own. Too bad university has to be so time intensive while body work is a skill that comes with lots and lots of experience..Either way until I graduate I'd rather have someone fix this thing rather than count on my rustproofing to hold up.

I'll post pics of the tear down soon

This post has been edited by enderswift: Jun 2, 2011 - 8:34 PM

[enderswift]

So there I was lying in bed fighting off a freak summer cold when I get the text message of text messages: "car is ready". Several second later I'm out the door on my way to pick my baby up. Here is what I found:



I cant believe I ever had doubts about my body guy. The body work is simply amazing in that there is absolutely no hint of a collision. The rear fender still even says Toyota on it and all of the gaps are perfectly aligned . What really amazed me was how he managed to maintain the crease that encompasses the wheel well and have it blend away to nothing just like on the other side. The work is nothing short of perfect. All that pulled out and sanded for $150 is a steal! Paint was extra of-course (in case someone asks)



Another shot of the body work. Keep in mind that this was the area where the metal was literally folded over itself. I hope to one day possess the skills to do something like this.



Here is a shallow angle shot of my new finish. Blending and color matching is spot on and I cannot say enough good things about dupont 3l2 paints



As far as overall paint goes, It ended up costing $100 to rent out a booth at the local shop then $50 per panel to get things painted. As a bonus they guy offered to use the left over paint on the other mirror so both sides would be super shiny. Apparently Toyota originally applied a single stage coating which tends to fade pretty easily. Either way I'm gonna have some nice mirrors



All of my previous disassembly payed off with a great finish on the individual pieces with no over-spray anywhere. And my paint guru was happy he didn't have to take anything apart haha.



This is what the interior of the body looks like. You can see where he welded the prongs used to pull the dents and such. He warned me that although the finish on the outside will do a good job of preventing rust, the inside will oxidize pretty quickly and that I should apply some rust preventative paint and bed liner.



So thats what I did



This is the end result. Its not a very good picture but you get the idea. First I masked the space off and sprayed on some duplicolor rust-converting primer and waited for it to dry. Then I applied two coats of duplicolor bedliner to seal the whole area and hopefully protect it from ever rusting on me. I can imagine that fighting rust in that spot would be a nightmare...



There is quite a bit to put together... have to remember to ask if there is any other place where I should apply some rust prevention as well.



This photo is a mid-assembly shot where I was installing the headlight and all of the splash guards and such. I wasn't able to line the bumper up too well so I just ended up taking it off and starting from scratch. I feel like I can strip the front end of a celi in half an hour now haha.



I managed to put alot of the car together today but the weather and my cold have been bogging me down. So far the drivers side door is assembled and so is the whole front end. Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the rear, the side skirt, and all of the plastics in the hatch. After that, im gonna go buy some new Falken zeix 512/912's before applying a four inch thick layer of wax onto the paint and calling it a day

My celica looks good again! wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

This post has been edited by enderswift: Jul 12, 2010 - 11:45 PM