Repair Cost Estimate

[hjsmith00843]

This is the only bad spot on the car. It appears not to be alot of rust but where a previous bondo job went terriably wrong. I am not a body person so I will need to outsourse this. I do not want it painted just yet just repaired and primed in that spot. I am unsure of the color. I do want to run the car some but looking at the bubbles would drive me up the wall. There is some surface rust but it appears the metal is sound.

It does not have to be show room quality work, this is just a bracket car, but the body is in excellent shape other than this area. Well minus a little ding in the front about the size of a pea.

 

[63RedFury]

It all depends what is underneath.You may be opening up a can of worms when you get into it.

 

[hjsmith00843]

At the worst case do you thik it will be over $1500 to repair this area. Not counting paint just body work and primer.

 

[eldubb440]

usually bubbles like that indicate holes through the metal....... assuming there is welding involved you may want to remove some interior and drop the headliner in that area................ as far as the actual repair, 1500 should easily fix that area without paint........ if you were closer, id tell you to bring it over; probably hook it up for a grand

 

[hjsmith00843]

The car does not have an interior just a drag car. It appears there was a dent in this area at one point and it was filled with a layer of bondo without prepping the area well. The metal under this area is caved in a slight bit but it appears to be solid.

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If it is solid do you think that removing the current bondo and prepping the area and removing any surface rust and coat with a coat of metal fill? Or should I just go and get it done properly. I want to get this car on the track in the next couple of weeks, and during this winter have the car painted and a few odd and ends repair on the body. I am not going for a show car finish but something that will not be a complete eyesore when finished.

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[SureGrip]

I have a friend that lives in Loris (about 25 min. from Myrtle Beach) that could probably fix that. As others said, might be all the way through. That is the factory 1/4 seam and often show rot in that area. The size of the bubbles are the troubling part, they are a bit bigger than I'm used to seeing.

Also, if you're just looking to have that cleaned out, welded up and re-finished in prep for future paint, it should be that much money...provided you're not getting into extensive metal replacement.

Just saw your last post...if it's solid and just a case of someone doing a 'cave-n-pave' job on it before, then you should be out too much to get it looking decent.

 

[hjsmith00843]

Who is he? I live in Loris, I put Myrtle Beach on there because it is more well known.

 

[hjsmith00843]

Wed removed most of the infected area today. The metal is sound, just a decent divit. I think I will attempt to repair it myself since no welding will be needed. I was thinking that I should sand it all to the bare metal, then do a rust treatment, fill with all-metal, shape it, clean, then prime the area.

When the car is painted I will have the painter address the issue better when he does his thing. I am doing this to stop from getting more damage. It actually looks much worse in these pictures than it does in person. Now I need to find the rear trim for the rear window and this car will actually look nice.

 

[YY1]

No one has mentioned that this appears to be the factory roof to quarter seam.

I'd be VERY curious as to why it had to have work done there.

 

[eldubb440]

youre gonna want to blast that clean once the bondo is removed

 

[flypaper]

if that seam is full of bondo and not lead
it was probably a vinyl roof car originally...

 

[CHARGERSTEVEN]

If it bothers you just take some coarse sand paper n sand down to bare metal n remove the bubbles n bondo to really see whats under neath you cant make it worse then it is n you will soon know if the seam or metal needs fixing or just a proper n better job.if you can try n get a body dolly or piece off wood on inside off roof line n take a body hammer n tap litly around dent moving from the outside towards the middle of dent to help make it smaller os to illiminate it all together

 

[mopar 3 B]

If you are going to fix it paint it. Primer is not a sealer and you will just be asking for more rust.

 

[1967coronet]

Looks like it has made its way to the back glass channel, seam looks to have popped loose just from what I can see.

The only way to fix rust is to cut it out until you get to solid steel and weld in new. To fix it right the glass will prob need to come out unless it turns out better than the pic looks.

JMHO don't waste $ on a band aid job , wait until you have time to get it repaired right and paint on it.

 

[SureGrip]

No one has mentioned that this appears to be the factory roof to quarter seam.

I'd be VERY curious as to why it had to have work done there.

Post #6.

 

[Cornpatch MO]

Absolutely take it down to bare metal . Then you know what you will have to deal with in the future. Get all the rust off including what may be in the pits. If you want to temporary cobble it, leave heavy sand scratches in the metal. Bondo or body plastic will adhere to that better. Build it up in layers until you have the contour you like. Use finer sand paper in the final stages. Spray some sealer primer over that , fill in scratches with spot putty , primer again, wet sand with 400 wet or dry paper, and spray can paint that comes closest to matching--Total cost about $50 and your time........................MO

 

[hjsmith00843]

Decided to give this a go myself and it turned out pretty decent I would say. I did end up sand blasting the entire area, what we thought was a dent was just the seal and the bubbles were mostly seam seal. I sand blasted the area very well, non of the metal was rusted completely through. Just a bit of pitting. Ensured all of the rust was out and used all metal to repair the needed areas, and then primed. I will have it professionaly finished after this racing season is over. This was before I cleaned it up a little better. The dust makes it look a little worse than it actually is.

 

[SureGrip]

Good deal. Glad it worked out for you.