What Did You Do to Your A-Body Today?

[Ciera91]

Changed my tire to the donut. What a scary ride with that thing ha. Got a flat somehow. Discount ordered a new tire. Glad I bought the tire certificates for free replacement!

[85_Ciera_Rebuild]

Changed my tire to the donut. What a scary ride with that thing ha.

Hey now, I use the old VW-Beatle's 165/80R15 on the rear of my 245-Volvo...should make good winter tires:-)

[Ciera91]

Trailing is a little different probably haha. This thing already handles as good as a brick on wheels can taking corners felt like I was doing 3 wheel haha

[Century7667]

So, what did I do TO my a-body today....

Let's see, um... I left the door open, backed my S-10 out of the garage into the open door fracturing the weld securing the lower hinge ot the car body. Fortunately I was going very slow, keeping an eye on the sides of the truck getting out, before looking backward just in time to halt the truck before shearing the door completely off the car.

I suppose I should be grateful for that. Nevertheless, the door now sags w/o a secure lower hinge, and I will have to pay someone to adjust the door and lay down a new bead.

I did get to the bone yard today and secured a pulseboard for the wiper.

Ken T.

[thesam1984]

Like in Tommy Boy eh?... Dont feel bad. The day my mom moved into her house, I was late driving over to help her and I didnt close my passenger door tightly... Needless to say I was backing up quickly to the garage to empty my wagon... I was letting the door bounce and forgot that there was a stump near the garage wall... nearly ripped the door off and put a huge dent in the bottom of the door.

[85_Ciera_Rebuild]

So, what did I do TO my a-body today....open door fracturing the weld securing the lower hinge ot the car body.

When backing out of garage, hit the remote to close door, and get slammed on roof:-)

And let kid have door opened when backing out so it hits garage's frame:-)

Or, let wife go to grocery store, who puts groceries into trunk with purse/keys...so, bust off rear key latch assembly:-)

[Century7667]

Thanks guys! I feel a little better.

Yeah, when I looked over to my side view mirror, I gazed in horror as I was seeing the door of that Dodge from the Tommy Boy movie superimposed on my Buick's driver side door. Fortunately, I was not not moving fast at all, but it was enough. Hopefully I can get a body shop to re-hang the door. Maybe I can take this opportunity to get the deck lid paint situation (clear coat fail) and the door frame black taken care of.

Ken T.

[Ciera91]

Replaced the ashtray mount with the one I grabbed last weekend. Crappt plastic tracks broke on my original.

[StreetCav]

Ciera91 is replacing the ashtray hard to do?

[Ciera91]

No the little ashtray pulls out then you can see the clip in the back on top to pull the whole piece out. Then there's 4 screw nuts that hold the metal mount and ashtray light on. Literally less then a 5 min job.

[Century7667]

Took the '95 in to the body shop for an estimate. $300 and change to re-weld the lower hinge / adjust the door. An expensive mistake to be sure, but hopefully they'll do a good job. If they do a good job, it will be worth it. The rest of the car is in good shape, and it drives well.

I'm also having the shoot the deck lid. The clear coat failed years ago before I bought the car, and it really makes the car look ghetto. I'm taking this as an opportunity to see what the body shop can do. They've been in business for a real long time. If it looks good, I'll have the door frames re-blacked, and see about doing something with the headliner.

Ken T.

[thesam1984]

I'm also having the shoot the deck lid. The clear coat failed years ago before I bought the car, and it really makes the car look ghetto. I'm taking this as an opportunity to see what the body shop can do. They've been in business for a real long time. If it looks good, I'll have the door frames re-blacked, and see about doing something with the headliner.

Ken T.

Ken it is so easy to paint the window frames, I would do that one yourself... mask off around the frames and buick logo with painters tape and paper and get a can of duplicolor trim paint... you get it anywhere. Then paint it.. it is the smoothest spraypaint I have ever used and it never turns out bad unless you dont clean the surface... half the time my only prep is a wipe down with alcohol to clean it...literally an hour job and it makes a difference

Today I ran over a nail on my way to work and when I pulled out the spare, the knob holding thebtire in place wouldnt budge... ended up ripping the cover of and using a lighter to melt the knob to get it off.. was only an hour and a half late

[Century7667]

Ken it is so easy to paint the window frames, I would do that one yourself... mask off around the frames and buick logo with painters tape and paper and get a can of duplicolor trim paint... you get it anywhere. Then paint it.. it is the smoothest spraypaint I have ever used and it never turns out bad unless you dont clean the surface... half the time my only prep is a wipe down with alcohol to clean it...literally an hour job and it makes a difference

Today I ran over a nail on my way to work and when I pulled out the spare, the knob holding thebtire in place wouldnt budge... ended up ripping the cover of and using a lighter to melt the knob to get it off.. was only an hour and a half late

I fully intended on doing myself, but I am so far behind on my home/auto projects as it was, and one of the frames was heavily scaled. So, I sorta bundled it all together with the door and the deck lid (lost its clear coat and oxidized).

I may get it back today, or I'll pick it upon Tuesday. The big thing of course is the door. I hope they can re-hang it. Still kicking myself on that one.

Ken T.

[Ciera91]

My window frames are starting to peel and show wear. Weather probably won't be nice enough to paint until spring now.

[Century7667]

Well, I picked up the car today from the body shop. I didn't think it was possible, but the door opens and closes better than it did 6 years ago when I purchased the car originally. The body guy who came in was hispanic, so didn't pick up the Spanish real well, but when the lady translated to me, she told me that something was up with the frame (I'm guessing they were referring to the subframe). When I bought the car from the original owner, one of the things he pointed out was that the front fender was bowed out just in front of the driver door. He told me, "I messed it up by jacking it up the wrong way."

Well, I didn't mention it to the body shop, but they fixed that as well, and it may be related to the door hinge. When I drove it home, I thought I detected some tire noise. Drove ok though. It is ready for tires, so I'll be sure to have it on the alignment rack.

The deck lid looked fabulous, and the door frames were beautiful. The paint match wasn't perfect because of the old sun faded paint, but the car no longer looks ghetto. We'll see how it holds up, and maybe we'll shoot the whole car in the future!

I'll put that black RTV on the pulse board cover, and call is square! Get back to the LIM project on the other car.

Ken T.