October 5th, 2024:
October 6th, 2024:
Episode one here.
Episode two here.
Episode three here.
Episode four here.
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10/17/24 While waiting for my patch panels to arrive (see next episode for this) I did some work on the major body damage. This is necessary for the driver quarter in particular, because the damage needs to be straightened before the patch panel can be welded in:
Not only is it pushed in, there's a horizontal crease below it. I worked from inside the trunk with a 2x4 lever and a pry bar to work out the pushed-in area. At the same time I relieved the stress in the panel by tapping around the outside of the dent. Here's the result:
You can see the lower body line still has some damage, but the patch panel will replace this area.
I also spent some time on the driver door, because I needed to know if I could fix it or if I had to buy a replacement:
This was a harder repair because of the lack of access from the inside. I put the 2x4 to work again. Plus the pry bar, which is a fairly flat piece of steel, makes a good panel slapper.
Again, some pretty good success:
That rag is so I won't bang the Camaro with the door.
I also spent some time on the taillight panel:
You can see that the area is pushed up as well as in. First I got the bumper off (never an easy job). That revealed the damage was more extensive than I thought. The pinch weld was folded over and the hit was on the strongest part of the panel, where the factory folded, rounded, and connected it to the trunk pan. Plus the damage carried upward into the main part of the panel.
I started from inside the trunk, working the ridge down and out with a piece of 3/16" plate and a big mallet. I spent 20 minutes trying to move it. I had some success, and it moved, but not enough:
Some prior "bodyman" thought he could pull out this area with a slide hammer. Har.
This is certainly a lot better than it was, but the pinch weld is still pushed in about a quarter inch. I might try to improvise a pulling rig and see what happens. Follow-up to come.
Lastly, I worked on the core support. Busy day. The core support that was on the car was rusted completely through on the driver's side:
But the car came with another one:
I thought that all this one needed was to pound out the dent in the close-out panel (lower right), but it turned out that it was twisted and bent, and some of the spotwelds had let loose. I started by bolting it on the car, securing the top with a chain, and pulling on the driver's side of the lower horizontal member with a come along. That helped some.
I took it off the car and laid it on the floor, engine side down. Measuring from the floor, the lower horizontal member had an inch difference side to side. So I blocked the passenger side up with some 2x4s and stepped on the driver's side. That helped some more.
Growing weary since it was close to the end of the day, I flopped it over so the grill side was down and started working the big dent on the close-out panel. I put one end of the previously-mentioned piece of 3/16" plate on top of the dent, into the recess, and the other end on the floor. I put all my strength into the hits, and the metal started to move. I actually got it to move quite a bit:
But not enough. (In this picture I turned it upside done.)
I will work it some more, but given that several of the spot welds are not holding anything, I might end swapping the panel from the other core support.
More to come...
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