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Project Update With Pics!


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After being in the bodyshop nearly 2 weeks but only been worked on just under a week the car is finally coming together. Jigging has been carried out and the car is perfectly straight and the new front panel along with new bonnet, bumper, wings, headlights are on, albeit not permanatly fixed yet as they've been put on to check alignment yet before their final fitment. When all the final alignment of parts is done then its time for the car to be put back together and go in for spraying but heres some pics of the car as I seen it today.

Also, just so everyone know, the rads etc havent been put back in yet. Bonnet is fitted properly along with wings I think but bumper and headlights still need to be removed. What does everyone think? While I was there I also had the thought of while the car is in the bodyshop should I get the wingmirrors fully colour coded, as in spray the black areas as well? The thought came to mind as on my civic the colour coded mirrors are done fully, I know each manufacturer has their own style but I like the way they're done on my civic.

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Glad to hear it's going well at least your not one of those people who drive it around like this with all the differnt colour parts on, that so annoys me lol..

What colour are you having the car sprayed?

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Glad to hear it's going well at least your not one of those people who drive it around like this with all the differnt colour parts on, that so annoys me lol..

What colour are you having the car sprayed?

I drove my Granite Sky IS round with Plat Ice front and rear bumper when I did the swap with Zee - was getting some proper strange looks everywhere I went :D

Sounds like the car is coming along nicely here, will be good to see it done - don't think I've ever seen the black bit on the wingmirrors colour coded - it will look nice I think!

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Thanks for the comments everyone but since posting these pics I've come into a slight dilemma. As we can see in the pics the headlights have been fitted to the car but this evening I got a call from the owner of the bodyshop asking if the headlights I supplied were in mint condition, I replied that they were excellent condition apart from the lense needing a polish, in return to this he said that they encountered a broken lug on the drivers side headlight and have been trying to fix it but had no luck so therefore want me to get another headlight! I cant believe it! I've been proper fuming all evening about this and said to him that does he know how much headlights cost and how hard they are to get hold of. I'm sure the headlights were mint and I supplied them mint so its their problem. What I cant understand is that the headlights were fitted to the car so how can one of the lugs be broken? During the telephone conversation he said that when they found it broke they had a look around inside the car and found the lug in the car so he said he's not trying to argue with me but somewhere along the way, either when I put them in the car (I put them in the boot wrapped with bubble wrap but a few days later saw them on the back seat not really wrapped) or whilst the car was being moved its broke but cant say if its one of his workers or anything to do with me. Anyway, half way thru one of his sentences the phone cut off so I text him saying that I'd pop round in the morning.

Where do I stand with this people as its really annoyed me and I cant afford to be buying another headlight, and also the pair I bought have got eyebrows on which I like and thats why I decided to chance both instead of just one. I'm thinking of saying that I'm not responsible, which i'm not anyway, and saying I'm not going to buy another light so he should fix it one way or another.

Also, just out of interest, how many lugs are on the headlights? I'm guessing there must be more than one on each side so therefore they can get away with having one lug missing anyway if they cant fix it.

Hope someone can advise me....

Thanks in advance

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Thanks for the comments everyone but since posting these pics I've come into a slight dilemma. As we can see in the pics the headlights have been fitted to the car but this evening I got a call from the owner of the bodyshop asking if the headlights I supplied were in mint condition, I replied that they were excellent condition apart from the lense needing a polish, in return to this he said that they encountered a broken lug on the drivers side headlight and have been trying to fix it but had no luck so therefore want me to get another headlight! I cant believe it! I've been proper fuming all evening about this and said to him that does he know how much headlights cost and how hard they are to get hold of. I'm sure the headlights were mint and I supplied them mint so its their problem. What I cant understand is that the headlights were fitted to the car so how can one of the lugs be broken? During the telephone conversation he said that when they found it broke they had a look around inside the car and found the lug in the car so he said he's not trying to argue with me but somewhere along the way, either when I put them in the car (I put them in the boot wrapped with bubble wrap but a few days later saw them on the back seat not really wrapped) or whilst the car was being moved its broke but cant say if its one of his workers or anything to do with me. Anyway, half way thru one of his sentences the phone cut off so I text him saying that I'd pop round in the morning.

Where do I stand with this people as its really annoyed me and I cant afford to be buying another headlight, and also the pair I bought have got eyebrows on which I like and thats why I decided to chance both instead of just one. I'm thinking of saying that I'm not responsible, which i'm not anyway, and saying I'm not going to buy another light so he should fix it one way or another.

Also, just out of interest, how many lugs are on the headlights? I'm guessing there must be more than one on each side so therefore they can get away with having one lug missing anyway if they cant fix it.

Hope someone can advise me....

Thanks in advance

it could be the light but the DS does look slightly recessed towards the middle...

however, it 'should' be easy to fix with a piece of metal shaped to the same as the lug and bonded to it..

i managed to melt mine back togethere with a mini blowtorch after an oven incident!!

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huh...what u mean DS mate???

anyway, been to the bodyshop earlier and spoke to the owner and they've admitted liability and asked me to get hold of another light and they'd pay for it. I had a look at the light and they showed me the lug that was broke and said it could be fixed with a bit of metal bent into place so I told them to do that but then they noticed that the lense had been melted. The stupidity of one of the workers initially trying to fix the lug resulted in him somehow ending up melting the surface of the headlight which defo means a new one is needed.

Glad everything is cleared up tho so has anyone got a spare drivers side headlight? ;)

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So what does everyone think then? In the pics you can see where after the car was jigged the kink was then removed from the chassis leg as it wouldnt come out just by jigging the car. They had to open the chassis leg up on the opposite side behind the drivers side wheel then tap the kink out and close it up again. I may be going to see the car today and check on the progress but due to the bodyshop being closed over xmas/new year and them damaging the drivers side headlight the cars gonna be delayed a bit. Hopefully a new headlight should be arriving either today or tomorrow which they're paying for then they can continue with the repairs. The car should hopefully be ready by week beginning Jan 12th at the latest. Its taken a while to complete but at least they aint rushed it and I've also taken into consideration they other work they've had to do. Also, as the company know this is my second car I've told them to take their time and do it properly. Up til now I'm happy with the work carried out. Just hope the final bill aint inflated now.

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Tell me about it lol. It doesnt look too pretty when its stripped down like it is but fingers crossed it'll be all done soon. Its been a little bit of a nightmare this project with the little hiccups here and there but today has now brought another hiccup...

Last week the garage damaged the drivers side headlight and asked me to source another one which I did. It arrived earlier today but whoever packed it didnt do a good job even tho the box was stuffed with bubble wrap as the lug on the top of the headlight has broke! This basically leaves me in a similar situation as I was in last week as the lug had broke on the previous light due to worker error at the bodyshop and then when they tried to fix it (they said they tried glueing it but I know they tried melting it back together) they melted the lense of the headlight somehow! The bodyshop said they'd pay for another light but after seeing the break in this one have asked me to try and get some money back from the salvage place I got it from. Just got off the phone to them and they've basically said if you cant use it then return it but we aint doing a partial refund.

I cba with these little stupid problems now which are being inflated by the bodyshop so have told them to deal with it and not melt it etc this time. As for the salvage place, I wont be buying anything which is breakable from them again.

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Regan , have they jigged it or have they just used a body dozer?

If they have jigged it , I would be intrested to hear what Jig system they used? As that o/s leg looks abit messy, but could be just the camera angle, im surprised they didnt just replace the chassis leg ends and joined them in whilst on the jig...I could be wrong though just from what I see from the pics :)

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They've used a dozer if I'm correct. They said its very similar to using a jig but for something like this a dozer would be used anyway. I think they're doing a good job but am I wrong?? The car is apparently all straight and the measurements have been double checked. As for the leg, it was kinked quite a bit and not all of the kink was coming out even with the leg now straight so they had to open it up and sort it. I got a bit scared when the replacement of chassis leg ends came up in the past as when I was looking for parts one garage asked if the front panel from the scrappy came with chassis leg ends and I didnt really fancy my car being chopped up for a quick/easy fix. I may be wrong so please feel free to correct me if u wish.

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They've used a dozer if I'm correct. They said its very similar to using a jig but for something like this a dozer would be used anyway. I think they're doing a good job but am I wrong?? The car is apparently all straight and the measurements have been double checked. As for the leg, it was kinked quite a bit and not all of the kink was coming out even with the leg now straight so they had to open it up and sort it. I got a bit scared when the replacement of chassis leg ends came up in the past as when I was looking for parts one garage asked if the front panel from the scrappy came with chassis leg ends and I didnt really fancy my car being chopped up for a quick/easy fix. I may be wrong so please feel free to correct me if u wish.

Hi Regal, dont worry nothing looks wrong to me.

Jigging is far superior to just dozing, dozing is ok for light damage which believe it or not yours is classed as light damage [mine is light/medium]...jigging is used for when the chassis rails etc are bent in such a way that it effects the suspension set up of a car..Jigging is also the only way you know for 100% that car is straight, it is a very complex procedure to carry out, I have just put mine on the jig today just to make sure things are ok which they all are and like yours all mine needed is a simple pull by the dozer you can actually see in my thread the car on the dozer.

Also I refer to replacing the chassis leg ends, as thats the true way of doing it properly with all new parts and welded in , in exactly the same place and method as the manufacturer did, its the only way of doing it properly.. i mean properly as, back to manufacturers standard, as all the repairs we carry out [50-70 a week] have to be repaired to factory standards as we are approved by most manufacturers..

Thats not to say yours isnt being repaired correctly because from what I can see it is.

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Cool, thanks very much for your comments mate. Its really good to hear something from someone who deals with this everyday and espcially does insurance work. Have you had a look at my other thread mate with the initial pics of the car before it went to the bodyshop? Seeing as the car has been straightened is there anything else that you could recommend tho that should be checked? Where are you located btw mate? When I bought the car it was stated as light damage which I could tell it was anyway but stupidly I didnt notice the kink in the chassis legs but glad it was repairable tho as when I first found out I was thinking of getting rid of it.

Just out of curisosity, how much should I be paying for the work mate? I've supplied all the required parts so its just the straightening and bodywork/ labour which is needed really

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Cool, thanks very much for your comments mate. Its really good to hear something from someone who deals with this everyday and espcially does insurance work. Have you had a look at my other thread mate with the initial pics of the car before it went to the bodyshop? Seeing as the car has been straightened is there anything else that you could recommend tho that should be checked?... Where are you located btw mate? When I bought the car it was stated as light damage which I could tell it was anyway but stupidly I didnt notice the kink in the chassis legs but glad it was repairable tho as when I first found out I was thinking of getting rid of it.

Just out of curisosity, how much should I be paying for the work mate? I've supplied all the required parts so its just the straightening and bodywork/ labour which is needed really

Well apart from the obvious, you wanna be checking slight swages in the roof, engine mounts, exhaust mounts etc basically anything that could have secondary damage due to the initial impact..But the main thing is to get a 4 wheel alignment check done, not a cheap tracking kob at one of these kwik fit places, but a thorough 4 wheel alignment by a specialist or a reputable bodyshop we do them before the repair and after to make a comparison I take you didint have 1 to start with but make sure you get one done after, you want to ask for the computer printout of all the results ,its quite hard to understand but fax me over a copy amd I will soon tell you if the cars straight or not...

Im located in Norwich Norfolk

Hard for me to say without seeing the job and different bodyshops charge different amounts depending on what standard of repair you want, I personally dont allow any 2nd hand parts to be fitted to any of our customers cars but then differenfor us as we have to maintain manufactures warranties and gurantee the work pretty much for the life of the car.

Basically a dozer works by a hydraulic arm that pulls out damage by attaching clamps fixings to the car it then pulls againt itself by attaching sill clamps to the car with a bar through the middle, very simple design but dam affective.

Hope that is of some help.

Just out of interest I take it you got the car stupidly cheap, as surely if yu have to pay a decent bodyshop to carry out all the repairs and painting ,you may aswell have bought a straight one?

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Cool, thanks very much for your comments mate. Its really good to hear something from someone who deals with this everyday and espcially does insurance work. Have you had a look at my other thread mate with the initial pics of the car before it went to the bodyshop? Seeing as the car has been straightened is there anything else that you could recommend tho that should be checked?... Where are you located btw mate? When I bought the car it was stated as light damage which I could tell it was anyway but stupidly I didnt notice the kink in the chassis legs but glad it was repairable tho as when I first found out I was thinking of getting rid of it.

Just out of curisosity, how much should I be paying for the work mate? I've supplied all the required parts so its just the straightening and bodywork/ labour which is needed really

Well apart from the obvious, you wanna be checking slight swages in the roof, engine mounts, exhaust mounts etc basically anything that could have secondary damage due to the initial impact..But the main thing is to get a 4 wheel alignment check done, not a cheap tracking kob at one of these kwik fit places, but a thorough 4 wheel alignment by a specialist or a reputable bodyshop we do them before the repair and after to make a comparison I take you didint have 1 to start with but make sure you get one done after, you want to ask for the computer printout of all the results ,its quite hard to understand but fax me over a copy amd I will soon tell you if the cars straight or not...

Im located in Norwich Norfolk

Hard for me to say without seeing the job and different bodyshops charge different amounts depending on what standard of repair you want, I personally dont allow any 2nd hand parts to be fitted to any of our customers cars but then differenfor us as we have to maintain manufactures warranties and gurantee the work pretty much for the life of the car.

Basically a dozer works by a hydraulic arm that pulls out damage by attaching clamps fixings to the car it then pulls againt itself by attaching sill clamps to the car with a bar through the middle, very simple design but dam affective.

Hope that is of some help.

Just out of interest I take it you got the car stupidly cheap, as surely if yu have to pay a decent bodyshop to carry out all the repairs and painting ,you may aswell have bought a straight one?

Apart from all the obvious bits, I've checked the car very carefully mate, including panel gaps etc and upon checking the car when I got it, later on I noticed a very slight dent near the rear corner of the sunroof. I've pointed the dent out to the bodyshop but have been advised that the car is straight now but its still kinda doing my head in. The engine mounts seem ok but the exhaust backbox seems a bit to the right but think that it just needs moving across on its hangers. Once the car is fixed I will be getting a full geometry/alignment check done to see if its straight and then will fax it to you but will also fax it to our resident "wheel specialist" Tony @ Wheels In Motion, as he knows a lot about the geometry of the IS200.

Once I've had a professional opinion from yourselves I'll then make a decision on whether I should keep the car or just sell it and make my money back while I've got a chance. I've been looking forward to getting this car on the road so much but with the advise from professionals like you and tony my mind is starting to sway a bit.

As for the price of the car mate, I did get it stupidly cheap but you got a better bargain with yours I think. It does make me think tho if it has been worth all the hassle and I shoulda got a perfect one in the first place possibly but then again I have saved a lot of money and it has been an interesting project.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok its time for another update....

I went to see the car today to drop off the new radiator which was unfortunatly needed when the original sprang multiple leaks when it was put back into the car once the car was all straight. Anyway, the front end has been prepped and its ready to go into the spray booth, actually should be going in today if all goes to plan and the new rad should be put in today as well. I havent got any photos today as dads taken the camera with him on holiday but I'll have the camera on tuesday so will pop down then for some pics. As long as nothing else crops up then the car will be ready by the end of not week, possibly earlier! I cant wait!

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Hi mate like the progress so far.

Realy need some advise or link please, please?

I have a pair off the same ones, but one corner came in contact with the central barrier due to black ice. So mine is about to go through the same proccess as yours but i can not find one eye brow and corner spat. Can you please tell me where you got them eye brows from? (i now they come in pairs so i do not mind in buying the set).

any links or sites etc is appriciated mate.

cheers

Dibs

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