Fender mender

Today was dedicated to the Ghia. We started off today making sure the there we no pinholes where we welded up the lower fender sections. Once we were sure they were ready for filler, we started prepping the left fender. This left fender has been the victim of, I believe 2 accidents. Who ever fixed it before did a pretty good job of hammering and dolling it out to its original shape, but we did take it a bit further and straightened it out a bit more. Fenders for Karmann Ghias are almost non existent. When you do find one, you have to hope the guy that removes it does so in such a fashion that it can be used again. If you dont know what you are doing you can cut up a $1000.00 used fender. Yes, I said one thousand dollars. That makes saving this one a little more cost effective once you figure the hours it takes to remove and replace a welded on fender. While I was wrestling with the left one, Paul was working on the right one. He started by blocking out the slick sand to expose the dents. The ones that were too deep to block out with slick sand were filled. As you can see this side was in much better shape than the left. Just a couple of dents on the right side. Cole was working on the left quarter that was started on last week. He finished blocking out the body work that was there from Friday and also applied the final layer of filler in this are except for a small high spot that we will take care of tomorrow. We also prepped some old welds for epoxy and seam sealer. A few good hours spent on this car these past few days and it really shows. We have a couple of smaller jobs to do tomorrow and Thursday but plan on getting back on this one Friday.

Back in the saddle

Today was dedicated to the Ghia. We had some lose ends first thing this morning to tie up on another job that was picking up today, but after that, we were all in on the Ghia. We started by applying the Metal ready product to our welds to ensure great adhesion and a water tight seal. Its personal preference really, but we dont like putting body filler over areas that have been welded. We use Metal Ready for the initial fill, then body filler if needed to smooth the rest up. Thats what you will be seeing here. We did find an area on each door that needed a small patch. One picture show the bad cut out. Not sure why the car rusted here but they were both the same way. As you can see we did get one side cut out and even welded in but my camera died before I could get that picture, so you will see that on Monday. We also applied some body filler to finish straightening out the high and low spots on both doors and was able to get that blocked out and looking nice.  We did make great progress on these today and it should continue next week.

From one Ghia to another

We have been working a little behind the scenes on the this Ghia for the past few weeks. We have been dressing up some welds, welding up a few more places that we have found and doing some rust preventative things on areas that are already welded. We do have a few more little places to weld but for the most part that is done. Today we removed the doors and started blocking them. We also started blocking out the body where the new panels have been patched in. Tomorrow we will continue the blocking and start repairing the body.

Vandalism victim

The owner of the FJ was out for dinner last week and the way home was the victim of vandalism. Its believed that a handful of rocks were thrown from someone off the side of the highway and hit the vehicle as she was driving. There are several rock chips in the windshield and hood that have to be repaired and a new windshield is on tap for tomorrow. Here you can see we did go ahead with the body repairs as well as getting them painted. Reassembly and new windshield happens tomorrow.

Come together

This is the Ghia that had was nailed by the run away golf cart. As you can see the paint and body work came out really nice. We do have this one all back together now and its ready to head home.

Gotta split

The owner of this Mercedes dropped her car off to get this terrible looking split in the bumper fixed. She just picked this one up a few weeks ago and just couldnt bare to ride around with the split in the bumper. We removed the bumper and ground down all the area around the split. We then used products from SEM corporation to repair the bumper. Technology has come a long long way as far as glues and epoxy’s go for fixing plastic parts. Once the repair area was fixed, a few coats of primer was sprayed on the damaged area. We then sanded and prepped the bumper for paint. Thats where Paul took over and laid down a nice red base followed by a few good coats of PPG clear. The owner also dropped off her new front plate so we installed that for her as well. Its all back together now and ready for the last few weeks of summer.

Another Headlight restoration

Today we did yet another headlight restoration. If your lights look like the first few pictures, then maybe we can help. Our process really repairs these lights and lasts for years, not months. Buffing and polishing them are fine, but if you want a permanent fix, come see us.

When golf carts attack

Yes. The damage you see here is from a golf cart. An unoccupied golf cart. The story goes that someone loading a golf cart up with some farm supplies when one of the bags landed on the gas pedal. Across the yard sat this Karmann Ghia minding its own business when WHAMO! The fully loaded, unoccupied cart slams into it. Now, I guess the good thing here is that no one was injured but the Ghia and the cart both suffered moderate damage. We started by removing the interior trim panels to access the inner quarter panel. We used hammers and pry bars to push the dents back out as far as possible. We then used the stud welder to pull the rest of the more stubborn dents out. Once the metal was in good shape, we used body filler to smooth out the final dents. While that was being done the rear end was disassembled for a quality job. The bumper, tail lights and reflectors were removed. Once the dents were straight a few coats of primer was sprayed. Tomorrow we should be able to get this one sanded early and in the paint booth.

Its a block party

We have been having a block party here at the shop this week. We sent this FJ out to have some extensive metal work. New cab mounts, rockers, rear wheel arches and various other patches here and there. Most of those parts are not made anymore and not available from the aftermarket so they had to be fabricated. We started blocking some of the body work out on the lower parts of the FJ. This was done to show us the high and low spots that we will need to fill. Next Cole spent a bit of time sanding the rest of the panels to show other places that will need attention. Stay tuned this FJ Cruiser will be an awesome project.

The home stretch

 

This Prius was dropped off a couple of weeks ago to get the front end repaired from a fender bender. The damage wasn’t too extensive but it did require some frame repair and a few structure parts replaced up front. We got it back from the frame shop yesterday and got right to work on it. We repaired the damage on the car yesterday and had it ready for paint this morning. Paul painted it first thing and we were putting it back together by late afternoon. All thats really left now is to get it cleaned up and a new pinstripes on the fenders put on. By late morning, this Prius will be back home with its owner who I hear has a very busy weekend and has been missing her car terribly.