msilvia
09-26-2001, 09:21 PM
Guys,
Hey, I've had a '90 240 for about 5 years or so now and it's starting to show both it's age and some of my earlier carelessness. I want to hang on to it as a daily driver for at least a few more years and keep it around perhaps indefinitely, so I'm looking into getting the body back to looking a bit more like new. Right now it's got innumerable little dents (the quarter/half-dollar sized or smaller sort) all over the place. It also has a dent that has curved the drivers side fender and the front bumper inwards a bit (1/2"+ perhaps?) and a decent ding on the back passenger side quarter panel and the rear bumper. I have that stupid styrofoam spoiler, so it's nearly rusted through the hatch in two spots.
What's the best way to go about fixing all this? I'm figuring I'll at least try to grab a '91-'93 front bumber from a junkyard somewhere and probably try to find a new rear hatch w/o a spoiler. I'm thinking the hatch might be pretty expensive w/ all the glass, tho. But what should I do about all these other dents and dings? I'm guessing it would cost quite a bit to have it all fixed, so would I be better off trying to hunt around and replace the panels one by one with straight ones? If I went that route, I'd probably be replacing nearly the whole car... both doors have a bunch of little dings, the left front fender is bent like I said, the other fender has one or two dings and a little creased dent on the bend where the pinstriping would be, the passenger side rear quarter panel and rear bumper would have to go... yikes.
Does anyone have any idea how much a shop might charge to fix these things? Wouldn't have to be perfect-flawless-show quality, just back to a basic fix. And how much would individual body panels cost at a junkyard? Are they even at all easy to take off and reinstall? I'd like to find panels from the same-color car (black) and then just get a fairly inexpensive Maaco paint job or something once the whole thing is back together.
Any thoughts?
Hey, I've had a '90 240 for about 5 years or so now and it's starting to show both it's age and some of my earlier carelessness. I want to hang on to it as a daily driver for at least a few more years and keep it around perhaps indefinitely, so I'm looking into getting the body back to looking a bit more like new. Right now it's got innumerable little dents (the quarter/half-dollar sized or smaller sort) all over the place. It also has a dent that has curved the drivers side fender and the front bumper inwards a bit (1/2"+ perhaps?) and a decent ding on the back passenger side quarter panel and the rear bumper. I have that stupid styrofoam spoiler, so it's nearly rusted through the hatch in two spots.
What's the best way to go about fixing all this? I'm figuring I'll at least try to grab a '91-'93 front bumber from a junkyard somewhere and probably try to find a new rear hatch w/o a spoiler. I'm thinking the hatch might be pretty expensive w/ all the glass, tho. But what should I do about all these other dents and dings? I'm guessing it would cost quite a bit to have it all fixed, so would I be better off trying to hunt around and replace the panels one by one with straight ones? If I went that route, I'd probably be replacing nearly the whole car... both doors have a bunch of little dings, the left front fender is bent like I said, the other fender has one or two dings and a little creased dent on the bend where the pinstriping would be, the passenger side rear quarter panel and rear bumper would have to go... yikes.
Does anyone have any idea how much a shop might charge to fix these things? Wouldn't have to be perfect-flawless-show quality, just back to a basic fix. And how much would individual body panels cost at a junkyard? Are they even at all easy to take off and reinstall? I'd like to find panels from the same-color car (black) and then just get a fairly inexpensive Maaco paint job or something once the whole thing is back together.
Any thoughts?