FJ

The FJ Cruiser was revamped in 2007 to compete against the Wranglers from Jeep. In my opinion, they hit a home run. Full frame, copied from the Land Cruiser, great ground clearance, electronic rear axle lockers and the ability to cross water 27.5″ deep right from the factory. The list goes on and on. This one is here to get the fender and door fixed up. As you can see the dents in the fender are pretty deep. We used the stud gun on there to pull that metal back into shape before using body filler to straighten out the finer ripples. We also fixed a small crease in the front door that was part of the same accident. We did get it primed today and plan on blocking this primer out tomorrow and shooting  some blue paint back on there. If all goes well the owner will be getting her FJ back by the weekend.

Crash, bang, boom!

This Elantra was rear ended a couple of weeks ago. The owner dropped it off to get basically the rear end replaced. After sending it over to the frame shop to make sure the frame wasnt damaged and to get the rear body panel pulled out we have it back at JMC to finish up the repairs. We started with priming the area where the seams are with PPG’s epoxy primer. We then reapplied the seam sealer in the locations the factory had placed it. The seam sealer needs to set up for a while so in the morning we plan on painting this rear body panel back to the factory body color. Once that is dry we can then start prepping the rest of the rear end for paint. Hopefully that happens on Thursday.

Camry’s done

This is the Camry that came in to get that left rear door fixed up. After a few days in the shop its ready to roll again.

Clearly, its better

This FJ belongs to the C in JMC. We purchased it last weekend and as you can see its in pretty good shape. But,  and yes thats a big BUT, the roofs on these FJ’s are not clear coated. Well, being that paint is my thing, I thought I would buff it up nice and shiny and put a good coat of polish on there for her to keep that top nice. Thats when tragedy struck. As soon as the buffer hit the paint, it took all of the white off on the ridges of the roof. Sigh. I wasn’t really ready to paint the roof on here but I couldn’t just leave it like that either. Plus, the rack was faded a little and could use some sprucing up. Off to the shop it went. We removed the rack then sanded the roof. Next we masked off the rest of the vehicle and then into the booth. After a few coats of white base coat, I followed that with 2 coats of PPG high solids clear. The next day it was time to paint the rack. Here we used an eggshell black to bring it back to life. The paint on the rest of the vehicle was in nice shape so I had the local car wash guys clay bar it for me then I followed that with a few buffing compounds and a couple coats of hand polish. A whole lot of sweat, not blood and no tears later here is the finished product. The paint really looks deep and has a great gloss now. The roof now will need nothing but a coat of polish twice a year for the rest of its life. I know the wife missed it while it was gone, but its looking great now.

Hit and run

This Frontier was the victim of a hit and run. The owner was out doing some shopping and came out to a huge dent in his bed. Luckily we know how to fix this. We spent some time with a hammer and dolly working the damaged are out to minimize the amount of filler needed. We then used filler to smooth out the hammer and dolly marks and to fill any low spots still there. We then primed the area with PPG primer. Once that had dried, Cole got to work blocking out the primer and sanding the rest of the panel. Tomorrow this one will get painted early and maybe over to clean up. If all goes well, it should go home on Thursday.

Parking lot derby

This new style Camry is in for a new door skin from a parking lot bump up. The damage on the door was a little too bad to repair so a skin has been installed to ensure a quality repair. Its not too often you get to see what the inside of your door looks like so above is a great shot of the typical door on a newer car. The two round bars are called intrusion beams. The are high strength steal and are the main structure of the door. The outer panel is what was replaced. Tomorrow we will trim out the back side of this door and get it reinstalled on the car and prep the other door and quarter for blending to ensure a good color match.

Shiny Shelby

After a few days of stripe removal and buffing up where they once were, we finally got around to painting the front end on this GT500. The front wasnt really damaged, but there were a few little rock chips and battle scars on there from its time on the road. We have now repaired all of them and its standing tall now. Over the next few days we will start the reassembly process and buff out a few places once the paint is dry enough. Im sure the owner is ready to get back in the hot seat of this ‘Stang but its going to be a few more days.

Shelby gets a face lift

This Shelby GT 500 is ready to get its front end freshened up. It has a few miles on it and it has seen a few laps around the track. Its noting really major, just a few chips We must remove the stripes to refinish the hood and bumper, but while we were at it, the owner opted to redo all of stripes on the car just be sure that they all match and look the same. The track days are over for this Pony. Cruising and car shows are all that the future holds for  her. We intend to make sure she looks her best.