Nice job! if you don't mind telling us, how much is the paint job going to be. I need to get my bumper, both fenders and prob a new hood all painted.

 

I have been getting quotes and for the fender, hood, bumper, and rear quarter it will be in the vicinity of $2000. I am trying to find a reputable shop that will do it for $1800 but no luck thus far. I am thinking about trying the hair dryer and canned air trick to try popping the rear quarter out...not sure f it will work though because the dent looks like there is a slight crease. I'll find out tonight!

 

Ouch I was hoping for about 1500 for the front end and 2000-2500 for the whole car.

 

wow thats expensive paint work. When i got my front bumper and hood painted it only cost me an old BMW cylinder head, and the guy did a great job!

 

Well the front bumper and fender have a few deep scratches, the door has a part of the rub strip missing and a few chips on the front edge so they need to replace and blend everything, the hood needs some work on the corner, and the hood has some chips all the way down to metal. I am paying cash and will be pulling everything off/out of the hood, bumper, and fenders to make their job quicker and easier. I will also be putting it all back together. The prices I got for all the work started at $1900 and went up to $2600. One of the shops I went to told me the car is old and was not worth the work; guess they don't need the work. Should be getting the front end painted up in 3 weeks. I have been thinking about heating and cooling the metal on the rear dent to pop it out but have read that it will separate the paint and clear coat...so I am trying to find some definitive proof either way. I was also thinking I could do it from the inside of the panel (it is where the sub housing is) and perhaps that will be better for the paint?

A few things I learned when pulling the front end apart: to get the transmission cooler lines off it is easiest to place the radiator on the ground and soak the 10mm bolts with pb blast (they are very prone to corrosion and sheering the head off which I found out on the other radiator) overnight. After they are removed with rad laying flat on the ground pull them off (lots of wiggling and cussing is also involved), the same for putting them on. I tried it while it was on the car and it was ridiculous...like a monkey ******* a football. I also found that there is enough room to get a screwdriver in between the radiator and its support to pop off the coolant lines. A light tap on the top and bottom with a mini sledge via long flathead equals both coolant lines popping off like butter. Getting them back on is a bitch, wasn't able to come up with a way to make that any easier. I did have the clips pushed in so I was sure they went on all the way. I did loose a bit of trans fluid when I pulled it apart (plugged the lines and had the radiator laying flat so nothing leaked out of it) and the car shifts fine. I have driven the car 300 miles since the work and so far the only leak I have is from the washer fluid tank. I plan on sealing that at the same time I change out my hose clamps for my power steering pump.