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This car came to us after plastic media blasting had
removed all of the paint. The car was in good shape for an old Illinois vehicle;
rusty mainly in the quarter panels. The owner provided NOS quarter panels. The
deck lid had some previously repaired damage and there were a few dents here and
there. My students enthusiastically removed all the bolt-on parts. We treated
the panels with acid as needed and primed all bare metal except the quarter
panels. An exceptionally adept student repaired the deck lid damage, saving the
owner from scrambling to find a new one. The vehicle had non-OEM paint; a major
headache. A search through paint chip books and spraying test panels could not
identify an acceptable match. After several weeks of waiting, we were able to
obtain a color analyzer to read and match the color. We started removing the
right quarter panel in the Spring '06 semester.
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This car was in poor shape. Some one stripped off the paint
and sprayed lacquer primer over the bare metal. The metal was rusty under the
primer. Always treat bare metal with acid etch and conversion coat before
priming with lacquer primer. Then spray a top coat over the lacquer primer
because the lacquer primer does not make a good seal. Self-etching primer under
2K surfacer would be a better way to protect the metal. This car had an "oil
can" dent in the roof. Oil cans are difficult to repair. Instructor Don Thomas
demonstrated the torch shrinking repair method on the roof. He heated the "oil
can" and tapped around it while the metal was hot. After several heatings, the
"oil can" was gone. We glued a reinforcement to the inside of the roof panel
where the "oil can" was. The students repaired the right fender and quarter
panel as part of the Fall 2005 Sheet Metal Repair class.
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The owner needed the car back as soon as possible. The
students turned this job out fast in the last days of the Fall 2005 semester.
They glued a new door skin on and straightened the fender and quarter panel.
Another student repaired the front bumper cover. The door opening had damage so
they painted the door off of the car so they could paint the door opening at the
same time as the bumper cover, quarter panel, door and fender. The job turned
out well, no mistakes to correct.
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This looks ugly. The car was hit hard in the rear and shoved
into another vehicle. We replaced the front bumper cover, radiator and condenser
and straightened the front cross member. In the back the students first removed
the rear window and then pulled out the damage in the rear frame rails. They
also pulled on the quarter panels to remove some of the wrinkling. The owner
provided a used rear clip. The students then had to remove the parts from the
rear clip and weld them onto the damaged car. These students did a good job on a
difficult repair.
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