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Olga the Second Revised

Got a look at the chassis today in the bodyshop. They're taking good care of my girl, even though it's taking a loooooong time to get things done. Not a problem, I got a lot of little things here and there to get done. Mostly just been cleaning and preserving parts :cool:

Sodablasted vs dirty
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My "Gold Box"
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Nice and shiny!
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Ain't putting rusty bolts back where they came from how they came out!
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Rust and corrosion no more, eventually!
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Well, after (only) 7 weeks the bodyshop came back with the chassis.

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Minus a few little things where the shop started to get lazy it does look good and I'm happy to get moving forward with this project!
 
Thanks! I really like what the original color is; a metallic blue with a purple pearl effect. Fantastic to see in the sunlight.
 
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Thanks! I really like what the original color is; a metallic blue with a purple pearl effect. Fantastic to see in the sunlight.

Reminiscent of the late 60's Chrysler "Plum Crazy"...... I'm still thinking to paint my 242 with that color! Keep up the good work on the 7 sedan. :cool:
 
Yes indeed, very nice to have her back in the garage! But the more I look, the more shortcuts I find the bodyshop is cutting in preparation steps to save time and money... I'll have to update with a few choice pictures, but here is a major problem that they just couldn't solve on their own - this here battle tested front SE bumper.

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And with that I mean a problem they couldn't solve without severly botching the job. I saw how they started repairing the rear bumper where the exhaust had melted away a small portion...

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...and it was horrendous! :omg:

Basic method was simply piling on an entire tube of glue at once (35€ a pop) and hoping they could shape a proper form afterwards. The owner of the bodyshop admitted that he was not an expert when it comes to repairing accident damage and asked if there was any way I could get another bumper instead of forcing him to repair this one.

In my head I was screaming A 30 year old original SE bodykit in Europe? SUUUUURRRE, I can source three of them brand new at any moment!!!! :???:

About an hour after leaving the shop I couldn't bear the agony anymore, so I went back to save the front bumper and do the repairs myself.

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Here you can see the rips in the plastic I'm most worried about and on the left side there are some comparatively minor stress fractures, but still nothing that a proper approach can't permanently fix.

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So I bought this here plastic repair kit from 3M, which is an absolutely fantastic product!

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You get these plastic patches that adhere to the backside and together with glueing the frontside, the system offers a very solid repair.

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Afterwards you grind out the frontside, fill it with a flexible 2k glue and sand smooth.

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So far so good. Stil need to fill in a few dimples and do a finish sanding, but it’s already looking fantastic and I finally have a good feeling about it. :dance:
 
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Aye, but your Hausser bodykit, isn't it made of fiberglass? That's even more fun than what I'm doing!

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On a side note: I had an fun idea yesterday, so I shot over to the garage for a bit to get working on it...

TEASER PICS


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Finished! Now it's time to get a few more things in the office done and get off to the workshop...
 
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Time for an update!

The 3D-printer has done its duty and the results are in.

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The final parts are printed with 100% infill out of ABS and even if it did take a few revisions to get the angles and gradients perfect,

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and then there was this small lip I had to add to the bottom edge,

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I'm still quite pleased with the outcome and took the parts to the body shop yesterday to get sprayed.

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Couple of other tidbits...

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The old mounts just weren't holding anymore and the used stuff I found on eBay was going for more than the cost of brand new parts!

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Fresh emblem, so nice!

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Tomorrow the body shop is bringing by the doors, hood, trunk lid, rear bumber and sideskirts. So after this point I should be getting on the fast track and maybe driving again within a few weeks if I don't lose myself in sideprojects again :lol:
 
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Well things got brought by, mostly good shiny things!

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And then remeber when I said they weren't really doing a good job with the rear bumper? Well this is what came back...

For comparision:
The original left side of the bumper

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What the shop decided to be a good repair

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Very nice comparable geometries, eh? It just looks ridiculous when you stand back and look at the entire bumper. :wtf:

So I talked to the shop owner, again, and told him I'd be reforming their repair cause that's just something that is unacceptable. "No problem," he said, "just bring it back when you're finished and we'll repaint it". So I'll just quick jimmy up the right side and be done with it. Then I put the bumper upside down on the workbench to get started and see this wonderful crack on the other side staring me in the face.

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On the back side they just smeared the crack full with polyurethane and called it good...

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Is there just a considerably insignificant number of quality professionals left in this world? Or am I just too much of a perfectionist?
--> That's an honest question to the readers.

Fact is, if you want something done right, do it yourself. And so I will!

This will be an easy fix with the usual backside patch and frontside fill.

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This side, on the other hand, will need a bit more to get back in shape, but it'll be worth it.

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Is there just a considerably insignificant number of quality professionals left in this world? Or am I just too much of a perfectionist?
--> That's an honest question to the readers.

You're not alone for thinking that way. I can say with a straight face that I have not paid for a single service that I've been happy with (besides an upholstry repair I had done out-of-state) since moving to Indiana. I've had three different plumbers, a dry wall guy, three media providers, an AC installer, and probably some others that I'm forgetting. All of them sucked because of careless and shoddy workmanship. I even went to one of the "most recommended" body shops in the lower half of the state for a simple rear view mirror installation. I ended up warrantying it three times before sticking them with a crappy review and successfully doing it myself. :roll:

Good help is very difficult to find. It's forced me to attempt a lot of things I'm not comfortable doing, but in the end I'm satisfied because the work is done to my standard of quality.

I don't like to be THAT GUY, but it's more important than ever to hit these guys where it hurts. If a so-called professional provides a clearly amateur service, they need to be held accountable. Not only will a bad WELL WRITTEN online review steer other customers down better avenues, but you'll be surprised as to what a business will do for you to reconsider that review. One of those plumbers knocked a good chunk off my bill AND completely re-installed a shower pan because of less than 5 stars on google. They still deserve the poor review IMO, but a deal is a deal.

My point is that good work is being replaced by lower standards, and nobody should be okay with that. My eye quivers every time I hear somebody say "if it's stupid but it works then it aint stupid" :wtf: /rant

The car seems to be coming along nicely though! That paint color is going to look hawt!
 
Good help is very difficult to find. It's forced me to attempt a lot of things I'm not comfortable doing, but in the end I'm satisfied because the work is done to my standard of quality.

Thanks, appreciate it. That's pretty much becoming my standard way of thinking. If I botch up a job, then it's because I need to learn more, not because I call myself a professional and just didn't give a rat's ass.

As far as the progression of the build, it's starting to come back together and I'm super excited to get it finished and on the street with the new color :cool:
 
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Spent a few hours on Saturday getting closer to the goal and it was going pretty well!

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Got the underside contours almost to where they needed to be and started sanding the face to take out the bulge when I unfortunately broke through the material in a few spots. So I had to grind out the thin material and added a patch to the inside.

It's very interesting to look at the different layers that were applied here. The light brown material is the actual bumper, but do notice the gauge that was applied to the outside :omg:

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At the end of the day it's looking more or less almost finished (knock on wood). I left a coat of filler primer to dry that'll take care of some air bubbles and then I just need a final sanding to restore the edges.

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And done...

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The body shop now has the bumper back and is going to resand and repaint the entire thing, so they can deal with the gauge that's still poking through.

In the meantime, other projects await! I'm thinking wiring harness and wasted spark :)
 
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Got back to the workshop yesterday and today, but not to work on the car. I got an order for a 3D-Printer, so I have to devote the next few weeks into getting it ready for delivery.

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Since it seems like Olga is going to be put on ice for a while and won't be driven during the winter anymore anyway, I went ahead and canceled the tags. That'll save me a bunch of money on taxes and insurance that I can use for new stuff like an exhaust :)
 
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