600 mile trip: bad body damage + 24mpg + pics - Page 2

z06bigbird · #16 (**permalink**) 10-30-07, 01:59 PM

93.3844938393940402625413% sure that the white will match.

You might be able to remove inner leather door panel to get to latch on door that won't open. Go to some mom & pop body shop for advice. Take them a few tacos, and they will help you. Works for me all the time. If they do more than just provide advice, I always slip the mechanic a few $$.

As you fix this boat, you will have other questions that the body shop can answer.

lochenjons · #17 (**permalink**) 10-30-07, 02:19 PM

haha "slip them a few tacos" i like that because im going into the town where its 90% mexican today to get more quotes. no im leaving the insurance out of it it wont do me any good. b ecause it was partially my fault and partially the guys fault too. plus i dont have collateral and i cant touch the insurance because my rates are already rediculously high because of my previous accident in my old honda.

basically the body shops told me the best way to get the door open wouldbe to take a sawzall and cut a hole in the door around the door handle. i think im going to do this myself so a mechanic wont have to charge me crazy rates. i handle sawzalls alll the time and im more than used to taking one of them to my truck with no regrets.

ill keep you posted on the progress guys. i'm going to 3 junkyards thursday to look for doors.

My_favorite_Brougham · #18 (**permalink**) 10-30-07, 04:31 PM

Well you said you'd work something out right? Did the police come and assign blame? If not, then maybe you can simply coerce him to cut you a check and leave the big cats out of the matter, if he believes he's at fault.

1990CaddyBrougham · #19 (**permalink**) 10-30-07, 09:40 PM

Here is a body mans input....

If that B pillar is bent in any way, when you take your old doors off, the new ones will not fit/ close right.
Your doors now are damaged and bent in WITH your center post. Just taking the cosmetic doors off, and attaching correctly shaped doors on a still bent pillar, your new good doors wont line up and or close.

You have to pull that post out to its proper spot to just slap new doors on. Your new ones wont line up wit the strikers. Your rear door mounts on that post, so if its infact pushed in, the front of your rear door will be mounted furrther in, and where your front door latches will be further in.

If its not affected then new doors should go right on.

As far as painting.....

Even if you have to paint, stay with a white door. Reason being is you wont have to jamb the door, and you wont have to complely prime the door, becasue its a similar color.

To properly fix it, the doors should be painted white, and then your front fender should be blended into the doors, along wiht your quarter panel. If you paint your two doors white, and no blend, your doors may be the correct color, but your aged fender and quarter wont match. If you scuff the whole 1.4 and fender, and blend in you wont notice the color.
Being a white car is especially easy to hide that stuff.

Good luck

lochenjons · #20 (**permalink**) 10-31-07, 01:27 AM

thanks 1990

i went around town and got some more estimates today. ranged from 800-1500 bucks. im going to try and find white doors. im going to have the body shop hang the doors in the jam, then pull out the pillar to make sure they allign correctly.

and as far as painting goes, i know a guy who's damn good. would any of you guess that the front fender on the passenger side had to be repainted because of that time my sister backed into my car? it matches almost perfectly. you can tell ever so slightly if you look straight down the passenger side in bright sunlight. but its not noticable other than that at all.

again, ill post updates soon. junkyard trip thursday! ill bring my camera maybe ill see some old school caddies out there like i did last time. i saw a near mint 1970 fleetwood it made me sad to look at it.

z06bigbird · #21 (**permalink**) 10-31-07, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lochenjons

haha "slip them a few tacos" i like that because im going into the town where its 90% mexican today to get more quotes. no im leaving the insurance out of it it wont do me any good. b ecause it was partially my fault and partially the guys fault too. plus i dont have collateral and i cant touch the insurance because my rates are already rediculously high because of my previous accident in my old honda.

basically the body shops told me the best way to get the door open wouldbe to take a sawzall and cut a hole in the door around the door handle. i think im going to do this myself so a mechanic wont have to charge me crazy rates. i handle sawzalls alll the time and im more than used to taking one of them to my truck with no regrets.

ill keep you posted on the progress guys. i'm going to 3 junkyards thursday to look for doors.

I have a contact person at most local dealerships, and I trade tacos, wine, donuts, for car washes, key fobs, good customer service, etc.

Life is a 2 way street. Many guys/gals at dealerships have done little favors for me. Every once in a while, I drop off some goodies. I live behind a local GM dealership where I go for VIN checks, RPO print outs, etc. Or just to get questions answered. Tonight I bought 2 big boxes of donuts. The service people get a box tomorrow. Nice people to chat and have coffee with. I also learn a few things about how NOT to approach a dealership. Honey works better than vinegar.

Good luck on your car. Remember that the hardest parts for a junk yard to sell are the doors. Most body shops are looking for front and rear ends. You should get them for about $50 each or less.

96BIG_BODY · #22 (**permalink**) 10-31-07, 02:17 AM

at least yours dont look like mine though

good luck with yours even thoug ill probably need it more

lochenjons · #23 (**permalink**) 11-02-07, 03:35 AM

i remember seeing that post i think. luckily my damage isnt that bad. did you get it fixed? how much was the estimate? i found doors for about 450 for two. with no door panels or mirror which is fine because my mirror is fine and my door panels are fine too. pretty good price i guess i'm gonna check a couple other places before i make my final choice.it seems im pouring money into both of my vehicles now. i just spent probably 1500 on beefy 4x4 parts for my suburban, and then this came up unexpectedly. gotta say, caddy takes priority.

anyways i went to the junkyard and took a pic of some old caddys i found. check em out: