Thursday, September 27, 2007 - 06:31 pm, by: Ryan Rankovic(Ryan1j)
Hey guys.
Theres some damage done previously to the car I was unaware of at the time of purchase, and for a long time I didnt care but now its starting to get on my nerves.
First up is the front end, drivers side. Huge gap between the qtr panel and the bonnet.
In this pic I have adjusted the grommets underneath the bonnet to compensate for the panels not lining up. You can see that the gap between the bonnet and front bar gets smaller as it gets towards the drivers qtr panel.
In this pic you can see it just doesnt match up at all, and this is with the bonnet adjustment grommet as low as itll go.
From what I can see, there doesnt seem to be anything crooked under the bonnet. You can see that one of the headlight supports has snapped, but not sure if it was from when the headlights were taken out, but most likely from being in an accident.
Now for the rear end. Some of you might remember when I spun out and hit a rock face on this side of the car, (passenger) The cosmetic damage had been repaired, including a new bumper. However there is still this.
Now I had taken the car back to the panel beater, as the gap between the rear qtr and the boot was huge. It is better but its still not perfect.
I assume that that damage would be the cause of this too,
Now that particualr RACV approved panel beater has given me the ••••• in the past and I really dont want to go back there, Im not even too sure on what I paid for to be fixed when I went there.
So, the point of this thread is wether or not anyone would know what kind of price Id be looking at to get this kind of stuff fixed, and a GOOD QUALITY panel beater who wont •••• me around.
OR should I sell this car off for cheap and start over again?
Thanks for reading this long ass post (if youve got this far) and would appreciate any helpful responses.
Thursday, September 27, 2007 - 07:01 pm, by: Paul Drane(Paulwd)
Ryan, if you loosen all the bolts on the front guard you can get enough movement for some better adjustment of gaps. Just make sure you check door clearance when you open the door.
After watching the guys that painted my car, and seeing what they did to repair damaged cars that came in, the work in the back of yours is crap. They should of straightened that rail and you would probably get a better fit around the boot lid.
If you paid top dollar for the work you were ripped, if you didnt, you got what you paid for.
Thursday, September 27, 2007 - 09:47 pm, by: Rod Iseppi(Rod)
that front guard check around the front bolt on the guard - there should be a metal washer/spacer about the size of a 20cent piece between the guard and the skirt. if not that would be why your guard sits low. the rear - the rail should have been repaired no matter what - its caused by the accident - it should have been fixed, was the repair done by insurance? from looking at the hit there should have been damage on the beaver panel too - check that was repaired as well. the boot will be sticking out that lil bit because your back end isnt square an they`ve adjusted the boot to counter the out of square back end. im a panel beater i have repaired damage sooo much worse than that - thats an easy fix realy. ok thats my lil rant on what i can see from the piks
Thursday, September 27, 2007 - 10:25 pm, by: Miles Baker(Milesb)
Adjusting guards and hoods is an art form.
I can get decent results, but for perfection, you may need to see a panel beater who is good at it.
Essentially, starting at the doors, you need to figure out which panels are right and which are not. Check your gaps and alignment between the doors and the sills. These are adjusted with the hinges.
If the doors are lined up, look at the gaps and lines between the doors and the fenders. These are adjusted mainly with the bolts that hold the fenders on. I'm not sure about the Soarer, but I know on the cars I work on, there is a set order that you go through. You align and shim one bolt at a time, each affecting a different part of the gap. Look at this article for starters (you have to click on the pics and follow them through to see all of the instructions) http://www.carcraft.com/howto/51979/index.html
If you really can't get the fender and door aligned in the middle, you start moving to bending using things like slide hammers.
Then you move onto the hood. I can't seem to get google to give me anything useful on that right now, but essentially you determine how your hood is riding - crooked? high at the front? high at the back? high in the middle? You adjust it with the hood hinges. Depending how they are mounted to the car, you loosen some of the bolts and tilt the hood on the remaining ones to get a change.
It is a very slow tedious process. Do not just rip out a bunch of bolts. You need to adjust things by fractions of millimetres, and it is easy to make everything a LOT worse, trust me.
Thursday, September 27, 2007 - 10:29 pm, by: Ryan Rankovic(Ryan1j)
Yes Paul, I supplied all the parts for the repair. It was only the bumper, and the little skirt between door and said bumper.
Rod, I just went outside and the washer is still under the guard, unfortunately. Can you come over to Vic for a little while and fix the car for me please??
Thursday, September 27, 2007 - 10:37 pm, by: Miles Baker(Milesb)
OK I edited the post above.
I am by NO MEANS an expert body man. In fact some of the guys on here who do body work will be able to totally correct all the (no doubt) screwed up mess I have made of that. eg Rod - he's a panel beater. Listen to what he says.
I only dabble in body work, but I seem to be able to get alignments that I am at least happy with.
Friday, September 28, 2007 - 12:17 am, by: Rod Iseppi(Rod)
well miles your very correct in how you say to align panels start at the doors and work forward, mm at a time - even then it dosent always work but. can be sooo frustrating hehe and soarer`s or most toyota`s for that matter are a pain to align if they`ve been damaged as they have centralising bolts - a raised shank that stops alot of adjustment. there are ways around it. replacing with non genuine bolts without locating shank.
ryan if the washer is still there then it looks like the whole nose has been pushed up (rad support, bumper, headlight panel) an may just be a matter of pulling it all off an readjusting...
Friday, September 28, 2007 - 03:05 pm, by: Paul Drane(Paulwd)
Ryan Rankovic wrote on Thursday, September 27, 2007 - 10:29 pm:
Yes Paul, I supplied all the parts for the repair. It was only the bumper, and the little skirt between door and said bumper.
I was at my beaters shop this arvo, and asked them about it,like Rod said they should have fixed it. Its not hard to do.
$1500 to paint and fit a rear bar and do a dodgy job. You were ripped off mate. It will cost you more to fix it properly now. Unless you can get them to admit their fault, but I doubt they will do anything for you, you accepted the work and took the car. But you can still try.
Friday, September 28, 2007 - 03:57 pm, by: Ryan Rankovic(Ryan1j)
Thanks for the replies.
Especially Miles and Jeff, however most of that went over my head
I went to a few places today for quotes but no one would give me any, they said they wouldnt know how much to charge up front, and would only do it by the hour. One place showed me damage I hadnt seen, theres a nice kink in the boot floor also.
One place noticed that a new rear qtr had been welded on, (probably after the very first accident when I got hit, insrance job, $~8000) and said that the kink in the rail was probably from that accident, and then the qtr panel welded on and if the rail was to be straightened, the qtr panel would most likely get a bow in it.
I really cant be •••••• with this place Ive had it repaired at, all the other places I went to today laughed when I told them where the work was done and told me they were a •••• place.
So I'm not going to worry about it. I've got a little bit left to pay off on the car, and once thats done I'm going to sell it for cheap and start again.
No gold soarers currently for sale on carsales either Might look at a chaser...
Just dont think its worth it to get this thing fixed up
Monday, October 01, 2007 - 05:49 pm, by: Ryan Rankovic(Ryan1j)
i went back to the panel beater to complain about the anus job they did on the car, and it turns out the manager at the time my car was being fixed did dodgy repair jobs on lots of peoples cars, he left the place, and they cant get in contact with him?? the new manager agreed that it was poor work and ill be meeting with the owner next tues to organise getting the rear end re done
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