This is why I don't do bodywork...

rlith · #1 10-15-2005, 09:44 AM

So.. When I bought my truck way back when, one of the issues with it cosmetically (sic?) was that the idiot kid didn't realize the lock inside the door was broken and kicked the door shut several times. This caused a nice flat spot on the door and actually tore the steel and the latch on the B-Piller. When I got the truck I used a hammer to try and reset the latch itself and welded it. It was an inelegant solution. The door sat in too far by a 1/4 inch, I had to slam the hell out of the door to get it to fully close, and the paint on the door along the winshield started chipping off badly. Another issue with this kid is that he bought the wrong door pin and bushing set for the driver's door. What does he do instead of getting the proper set? He tries to drill the farking hinges!!!! So with all that's wrong with the door, it sagged. I managed to cure this for a little while by welding the bushing in place to the hinge...Again, another inelegant solution...So I bit the bullet and and had all this crap fixed... Not a cheap solution, but my body guy is very elegant.

He didn't want to replace the hinges (the bottom hole of the top hinge was not only over drilled, it developed the nasty egg shape). So since the hinge itself was fine (not bent) He simply welded the holes shut, ground the weld down flat, then redrilled the hole to the proper spec... Won't have to worry about that again! YAY! (No pics sorry)

Forgive a lot of the pics, they were taken by my phone cam..

He started by pulling the driver and rear driver door. The with the handy chop saw, cut out the latch section of the B-Piller (this saved him from having to redo the hinges and balance the door)

Here's the section they cut out... Here you can see my crappy weld job, but hey, it worked for almost 2 years!

Here you can see the inside. I drew a line where the steel actually tore..

Here is a pic of the door, I've outlined the flat spot. On the right line I made thicker, it was actually creased against the seam, not to good..(Makes me want to be the kid that owned this prior to me)

And hear is one of the guys working on the door to repair that damage..

Here we see the initial install/weld/paste of the b-piller section

A final pic of the same section prior to painting...

Another issue is the dog leg section of our trucks (lower corner by the rear quarter) that tends to chip. It was getting a bit of rust down there, fortunaly it was just surface, but I've let it go on too long... Figured I'd get that fixed...Here's a pic so you can see what I'm talking about...

So that's everything that needed repaired...Now here are the final pics..

Note: The brown spots are leaf reflections..

The final look of the bpiller and latch (The white stuff is lithium grease)

Final of the door after blending...

and the dog leg...

So all in all I'm pretty happy, and as the subject says, this is why I don't do bodywork, it's as much as skill as it is an art, and there ain't no way I have the talent!

blazee · #2 10-15-2005, 10:07 AM

Damn, they did a nice job.

I've seen a lady mess up the door on her Jeep Grand Cherokee. Same scenario, the latch was closed and she kept slamming the door until it tore apart the metal that holds the latch. My solution was even less elegant than yours. I rolled her window down a little and ran a bungee cord through and looped it back to the luggage rack so that she could get home without holding her door all the way.

rlith · #3 10-15-2005, 10:23 AM

LOL, nice! Wonder if she just kept the bungee cord! LOL

BlazerLT · #4 10-15-2005, 10:43 AM

How much does a repair like that cost?

rlith · #5 10-15-2005, 10:47 AM

$1300-1700 depending where you go

BlazerLT · #6 10-15-2005, 10:50 AM

Good lord!

mike1224 · #7 10-15-2005, 12:42 PM

thats a small price to pay, to keep from falling out while making a turn though

BlazerLT · #8 10-15-2005, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike1224

thats a small price to pay, to keep from falling out while making a turn though

Keeps the right hand turns interesting though. Build some serious skill there.

Sen Sen · #9 10-15-2005, 02:30 PM

Holy crap that's expensive.... but then again what isn't.... how long did it take the shop to do the repair?

rlith · #10 10-16-2005, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike1224

thats a small price to pay, to keep from falling out while making a turn though

Oh, I had no probs locking the door, just sat in to far..(1/4")

rlith · #11 10-16-2005, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sen Sen

Holy crap that's expensive.... but then again what isn't.... how long did it take the shop to do the repair?

Dropped it off monday at 10:00, they started work at 10:45... Drove my daughters 92 olds cutlas with the pretty steering wheel cover with flourecent hearts on it for the rest of the week, picked it up Friday at 1:00

blazee · #12 10-16-2005, 08:24 AM

Come on.... admit it..... the steering wheel cover belongs on the Blazer, you took it off and put it on the car, because you couldn't live without it for a week.

You like the steering wheel cover because it matches your flourecent heart seat covers, that you have to pull off everytime you post a pic of your interior.

rlith · #13 10-16-2005, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blazee

Come on.... admit it..... the steering wheel cover belongs on the Blazer, you took it off and put it on the car, because you couldn't live without it for a week.

You like the steering wheel cover because it matches your flourecent heart seat covers, that you have to pull off everytime you post a pic of your interior.

Bite my shiny metal ass!

blazee · #14 10-16-2005, 09:16 AM

Did you think that I forgot about this:

rlith · #15 10-16-2005, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blazee

Did you think that I forgot about this:

Nice, LOL

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