Seal installation

Now that all of the sanding, buffing and polishing is complete, lets start putting this beauty back together. We like to start with the seals. Its much easier to install these while the parts are off and you can get around them. They also aid when lining up the panels. If you align the panels without the gaskets, you may have to adjust them again when you do install them. No since in doing it twice. We ordered our parts from Danchuk. These rubbers are very nice. They fit very well and come in bags labeled for where it goes. As you can see they look great as well. Goals for this week are to start hanging parts and getting them operational. That means the latches and mechanisms that make these parts functional will all be cleaned inspected and lubed up for installation. Stay tuned.

Tubs are painted

Last week the work continued with the C-10. Paul sprayed the engine compartment sides of the wheel houses and did a spray in bedliner on the wheel house side of them They really look nice. Paul also was able to get the epoxy high build primer on the doors and fenders last week. Jordan got to work blocking them today. He did have a couple of places appear on the right fender so he went ahead and fixed that while he was at it. These will continue to be blocked out tomorrow and hopefully these parts will soon be in their final urethane primer in a couple of days

Clear as glass

We’ve been here. I know its been a while since my last post, we have been busy. Paul, my painter has been out with shoulder surgery and its just been Cole and I for the past 7 weeks or so. Its been crazy. Things are settling down some and we have been working on the Ghia recently so here is an update on it. The door glass, rubber, quarter glass and all rubber parts pertaining to them are in. All of these parts are original to the car, we just polished them up and detailed them so they would look as good as possible. The door sound so tight now when you close them. Its really nice. We also have running and driving car now. Although its not road worthy just yet. Its close. Plans for this week are to have the bumpers on, windshield in and get a couple of nick knack stuff painted. Its really coming together now.

FJ on the mend

We had sent this FJ out to get some mechanical issues addressed while our work load here at the shop was up. We did get it back last week and today we were able to devote some time to it getting this project started back up. What Cole is working on here is repairing where the lower rocker panels were welded in. We removed the rear doors and used a grinder to smooth up the welds. We then applied a coat of metal filler to smooth up the welds. Once that product was dry, it was sanded smooth. He then went over those areas as well as a couple of other places in the jambs to make sure they  all look smooth. Once these areas a taken care of we will do the same to the seams where the front doors are before priming the new rockers.

Have a seat

Here you can see the front seats have been installed. They have been recovered with the factory type covers and all new padding. We still have to install the front door panels and front and back glass and the new back up lights that should arrive tomorrow. Pretty cool little bug, I know the owner will enjoy it.

Driveway mishap

This Hyundai was involved in a bump up while sitting in the drive way and unfortunately it was also parked close to a pole. So not only was the back damaged the front was as well. First thing we did was remove the rear bumper and interior panels to further inspect the damage on the rear. Once that was all apart we moved to the front of the vehicle and removed the head lamps and front bumper. We also went ahead and repaired the bumper and fender today. Tomorrow this one has to go to the frame shop to get that rear body panel pulled back into shape. Once thats done, we will install a new hatch and get it all painted back. So far things have moved very smoothly on this repair. Hopefully the rest of the job will as well.

Lot damage

This Accord was backed into in a parking lot. We will be repairing the quarter and the rear bumper on this one. We started by removing the bumper and the interior from the trunk. This allows us to straighten the biggest part of the damaged area to reduce the amount of filler needed to straighten the metal out. As you can see there was a little more damage hidden behind the bumper. We fixed that as well while we were at it. Once the body was good and straight, Paul did his part and laid down a nice paint job. Tomorrow we will put this one all back together and it should be heading home by early afternoon.

Fender bender

What you see is the result of a little parking lot mishap. Someone hit this Tiguan in the fender/bumper area and did a fair amount of damage. After disassembly, we found that we will be replacing the fender, bumper, right head lamp as well as the fender well molding and a bumper bracket. We hope to get the parts ordered tomorrow so we can get this one repaired next week.

Bumped up bumper

This BMW was in tussle with a post in a parking lot. It did a very small amount of damage to the bumper but unfortunately the guys wife wouldn’t let him live it down. So, he stopped by to have it repaired for her. We first removed the bumper to allow access to the back side of the bumper. We heated the bad spots and molded them back to as close to where they were supposed to be as possible. We then filled the low areas and blocked it out to smooth up the area as best as possible. Primer was then put on the repair to fill in the final spots and provide a nice base for the paint. The entire fender was then sanded to ensure a good adhesion for the sealer and paint layers that followed. 2 coats of clear rounded off the repair. Tomorrow we will reinstall this bumper and get the car back to its owner.