'93 Cavalier RS in need of work

[n99nyrwg]

I just acquired a 1993 Cavalier RS 4dr Sedan with 128k miles on it. But it has some damages to it that must be prepared for it to be usable/leagal. I do not know much about cars or car repair, so any tips you are willing to give me would be most useful.

the rear left side of it was smashed by a drunk driver who left the scene, it must have been a pickup because the bumper is untouched. the trunk and the rear quarter-panel are smashed/twisted. That hit also broke the rear window.

here are some pics (they were all taken with a webcam, so they quality isn't great):
Rear
Rear Left 1
Rear Left 2
Rear Left Side
Left Taillight
Left Taillight 2
RightTaillight
Trunk Left side
Trunk Right Side
Left Side

as you can see there is also a considerable amount of rust on the rocker panel and the doors. For now i'm planning on using some steel wool to get all of the rust away, then spraying some rustoleum on it to prevent further rusting. Anybody have more tips on this?

All of the lights work, I just obviously need a new fixture to put them in. I'm going to check with some local junk yards, although i don't know of any, so i'm just going to use the phonebook. Maybe I can pick up a rear window from there too.

The body is where it gets tough, it's badly crunched, so I don't think i will be able to pound it out. But I've never done that before, so I'm going to do that for fun, maybe learn something. I read that I should take short swings and use a block of wood on the other side of the car to pound into.

I also found a place online www.rockauto.com that seems to have a nice supploy of parts and some nice pricing. They also recieved very good reviews on www.resellerratings.com any of you ever order from them?

Lastly, something I have no idea about at all. After I picked this car up I had to drive home, approximately a 1.5hr drive. I was on the express way going a constant speed most of the time. But then there was a huge accident so i had to come to a dead stop. This is when the car started to stall. I tried to save it by switching into neutral, reving the engine a little, then switching back into drive. But I guess I wasn't fast enough, and it stalled 4 times. But then after I got it going again, it was fine. It can drive around the city and do stop and starts fine. But it seems that if it is going a consistent speed of above 50 for awhile and then it has to come to a stop, it stalls. After I got passed the traffic jam i was driving at a constant speed of above 50 again, and then when I got off the expressway and had to stop at a stoplight it tried stalling again. This time I was expecting it and saved it using the method mentioned above. Anybody know what the culprit of this could be or how to possibly repair it? I would love to fix that because other than that this thing seems to drive fine.

Also I'm looking for any tips on what maintanence to do to this thing since I just got it. So far things I have done are fill up the tires, use some fuel injector, change the oil/oil filter. What other things would be good to do?

So basically any advice you want to give would be much appreciated, I'm new to this and I don't have much money to spend on it. I'm trying to learn as much as possible by reading articles online.

Thanks in advance

[n99nyrwg]

after reading some more of the forums it appears i should fulsh the engine coolant and put some new stuff in. however it seems the line is drawn between the green stuff and dexcool. everybody has their own opinon it looks like

[public]

The stalling sounds like a TCC Solenoid problem. On this car you can unplug it and drive it fine without it. As for the body work. get a trunk lid and tail light at the junk yard. You can Use them as reference points. When they fit you are getting close. The damage is to the unibody so you will have to "pound out" the dents unless you can cut and weld. A slide hammer will come in very handy. You can get one pretty cheap at any parts store. Once you are done with it you will need to bondo the small holes it makes. It is actually pretty easy. Have fun, and good luck.

[n99nyrwg]

thank you so much for the tips, sounds like i have a lot of learning and a lot of work ahead of me. i hope it turns out well

[aviator18]

speaking from expirence, it takes 3 times as long and 4 times as much as u originaly thought, so take your time and dont expect it ready soon, that trunk is pretty messed, and the windows gunna run u a fair bit, so keep at it and eventualy it will look like mine

[n99nyrwg]

i hope it looks decent one day, i can't wait. thank you everybody for the tips and the encouragement.