Wednesday, July 11, 2012 - 02:53 pm, by: Dylan Schwartz(Soarer95)
Hey everyone,
So a few weeks ago, a cement truck hit my brothers Soarer while it was parked on the street in front of my house. Take a look at the damage...
But anyways, the cement company that hit it does cash settlements, so we got the full value of the car in cash. Now, my brother has said that I can keep the car for free, and have a go at fixing it if I wish to do so.
The car is perfectly drive-able, and nothing that affects the drive-ability of the car is damaged.
I just want peoples opinion on what the best route to go would be? No, I don't have the thousands ($6700, in fact) of dollars it would take to take it to a body shop to get fixed.. I'm a teenage student, after all. I'd like to do a lot of the work myself...
Basically, I just want to get the car to a point where it looks half-decent, I'm not expecting miracles at all.
The way I see it, it makes the Soarer even more of a sleeper, haha.
Please, please, refrain from snarky comments that offer no helpful advice.
Thanks guys, I'm sure you will all have great suggestions. Cheers!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012 - 05:56 pm, by: Walter Gillmore(Cl33pa)
as stated. reshell.... qtr cut. if your handy with a TIG welder or low amp MIG welder.
if your really keen. drilling small holes to pull the big dents out, then hammer out what you can bog and smooth. see how you go with the creases tho as they will be prone to tearing.
Thursday, July 12, 2012 - 02:14 am, by: Dylan Schwartz(Soarer95)
I bought a slide hammer to try and pull the dents out a little, but it's no working so well.. which is why I've turned to you guys for help.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far. When you guys say re-shell, or quarter cut, could someone please elaborate a little on how exactly this process would be done? Thanks a bunch!
I was thinking, do you think it would be an OK idea to not cut the panel out, but still weld on sheet metal (over top of the dented panels) in the shape of the original panel? Basically, the sheet metal I weld on would act as sort of a filler, then I could touch it up with Bondo body filler?
Thursday, July 12, 2012 - 08:34 am, by: Scott Vim(1uz1jz)
On second inspection of the pics I think you're going to need a really good detail follow by a cut and polish. Lol. Honestly I would try find another soarer with a straight body that needs a new engine or something and take the motor from your car. They are way too cheap to make this worth it. Unless there is something pretty special about this car. Good shell would be cheaper then the repairs on this.
Thursday, July 12, 2012 - 04:54 pm, by: Dylan Schwartz(Soarer95)
Thanks for the input, however, that is not an option unfortunately.
What do you think about using many layers of fiberglass cloth/mat to build up the depressed areas of the dent, then finishing with some Bondo (body filler)?
Thursday, July 12, 2012 - 05:11 pm, by: Walter Gillmore(Cl33pa)
you could cut the rear panel out, and just whack a widebody kit on. but the is a lot of work involved in straightening the tail light recess, the rear bumper and bumper mounts will need to be replaced and rectified.
got pics of the inside of the boot where the hit has occurred?
Thursday, July 12, 2012 - 05:13 pm, by: Walter Gillmore(Cl33pa)
source a rear clip if you can. research how much a widebody kit FRP panel would cover the damaged area. cut the damage out and repair/ straighten where necessary. pretty sure a widebody kit rear panel comes up close to the bootlid.
Thursday, July 12, 2012 - 08:08 pm, by: Rory Braatvedt(Fallward)
Mate get another shell, Soarers are cheap enough as it is, i'm sure one with a busted engine would go for nothing these days. It will end up cheaper and easier than trying to fix that. I don't see how re-shelling isn't an option unless you have zero money, in which case you will NOT be able to fix this properly.
Also, if there is any chassis damage (bent rails) it's a complete write-off.
Friday, July 13, 2012 - 07:17 am, by: Dylan Schwartz(Soarer95)
In regards to 'simply' re-shelling it, I'm not sure what the Soarer situation is in Australia, but Soarer's aren't particularly easy to find here in Alberta, Canada. (Let alone one's that also happen to have a bad engine..)
I'll be honest here, I think some of you are kind of missing the point of what I'm trying to do..
Basically, I just want the car to not be complete cop-bait. ie. Don't want the car to look like it was just a huge accident, and getting harassed by the cops. I just want to get the tail light back in, and patch the dents up a bit so that the car doesn't look like a complete pile of crap. No, I'm not expecting my 'half-ass' repairs to look like a million bucks, but I'm sure as hell going to try my best.
Anyways, I will post a pic of the interior of the boot in a short while.
Today I removed the rear bumper and used a heat gun to heat it and work out the dents. Looks like new.
I'm thinking of going the fiberglass route.. does anyone have any helpful advice/opinions regarding that?
Friday, July 13, 2012 - 10:29 am, by: Walter Gillmore(Cl33pa)
i understand where your coming from mate. its a learning process that you are keen to have a go at as well as being a great chance to have a decent car for little outlay.
bottle jack in the boot is a great idea. the main concern is the tail light recess. if you can get that looking half decent and have the tail light sit in there still nicely, without letting water get in. your laughing, as the panel damage is just a visual thing. the fibreglass idea would be good, you just need to build up the low spots with fine mesh or something so that your fibreglass can be laid on in sheets, but honestly. a widebody panel would cover that up nicely if you manage to get the tail light recess straightened. just buy the rear panels for now and add fronts and bumpers to the kit later.
if you have good skills with fibreglass.. you can make a mould of the panel from another car. use that mould to create your own panel to replace the damage.
Friday, July 13, 2012 - 01:42 pm, by: Scott Vim(1uz1jz)
Yeah surely in America they would have heaps of cheap soarers. In Australia what you're saying doesn't make sense. You can pick up a working soarer in better condition then your car for $1500.
Friday, July 13, 2012 - 01:50 pm, by: Dylan Schwartz(Soarer95)
Thank you Walter Gilmore and others for the helpful and encouraging words. I appreciate it. I agree that the most difficult part is going to be the recess for the tail light.. not 100% what I'm going to do to solve that issue.
And yes, Scott Vim, I wish I could buy a working soarer in better condition for $1500 here too! Haha.
Friday, July 13, 2012 - 02:16 pm, by: Walter Gillmore(Cl33pa)
tail light recess is a panel as a whole.. i think. the rear end, i think the panel is spot welded on? i have not looked myself, but i assume its like the radiator support panel. drill out spot welds, replace panel from rear clip and weld in the drill spots/ spot weld locations. CBF pulling my bumper off to have a look lol
Mike Beck Goo Roo New Zealand BMW E36 Coupe 1UZFE V8 340i
Saturday, July 14, 2012 - 07:33 am, by: Mike Beck(Gold_40gt)
Looking at that there would be no chassis damage. Just a shoved in few panels?
I would say getting the rear 1/4 panel and a few other bits of a wrecked soarer would be the way to go, and have them rewelded to your car. A big job, but most decent panel shops would do that.
That is how my E36 was repaired from a similar accident.
Saturday, July 14, 2012 - 07:40 pm, by: Allan Langford(Allan)
pull the dent as best you can then get in the boot with a "porta power" and get it close, then fill with many tins of bog and wait for it to get hit again then buy a strait one!
Monday, July 16, 2012 - 01:23 pm, by: Lachie Bryce(Caboose)
i'd source a new rear bumper and replace that, find a panel beater who will do a cash no invoice job to knock the quarter panel out again and 2pack primer over it, (should only cost a couple hundred) gives you a chance to do a paint job yourself. and then check the tail light recess and knock that into place.
I cant tell if you need a new boot lid or not but again they're cheap and easy to replace but the damage as a whole doesn't look too bad so have fun with it
Wednesday, July 18, 2012 - 01:56 pm, by: Matthew Sharpe(Madmatt)
I think SC300's are pretty thin on the ground in the US after Obama's mad "cash for clunkers" scheme.
I did exactly the same thing with my first car. Rear quarter was smashed in pretty bad and it had a shove up the rear as well - jacked it out reasonably straight, got a cheap set of panel hammers and vice grips and managed to bash/pull it into some kind of shape, wire brushed all the rust off, bogged, sanded, primed and painted with as close a match as I could. It did look like •••• as I had no idea what I was doing - and this was before Internet forums so couldn't easily get advice, but it was a hundred times better than when I started - and I never once got pulled over in that car.
Thursday, July 26, 2012 - 11:07 am, by: Dylan Schwartz(Soarer95)
So here's my work so far guys.
List of things I've done:
-Used heat gun to get all dents out of plastic bumper, worked great! (You'll notice in the pics that the bumper is still off, and so is the left tail light) - Filled major dent closest to the drivers side door with sheet metal as best as I could (epoxied the sheet metal) - Using a metal cutter/grinder, cut off part of the tail light recess, as it was pushed in and didn't allow the tail light to sit even remotely flush. - Rebuilt the entire tail light recess using sheet metal and steel reinforced epoxy putty. - Applied several layers of Bondo 'Long Hair' long strand fiberglass body filler - Applied more layers of regular Bondo filler, and sanded using random orbit sander.
Next up:
- Obviously need to do a little work tidying up the Bondo around the tail light recesss - Apply final coat of Bondo, and smooth to paint-able finish. (Have somebody I know who has professional painting equipment that I can use) - Perfect the crease in the body line (That should be tricky, haha) - Prime, Paint, and Clear coat! - Oh, and I'll probably do a bit more sheet metal/Bondo work where the trunk lid meets the body, as it's a bit off still.
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