Grimsaviour

This is my brand "new" 05 cobalt LS:

There's just one problem:

WHOOPS! Yea so heres the story, some of you might know from my few posts that i'm an automotive repair Technician. ;-) So i bought this baby from ICBC salvage and am planning to fix it up with these!


Nice premium used parts from another wrecked cobalt. Heres the rest of the car:


As you can see ive gutted most of the interior so i can see and replace all the damage and not burn anything welding/grinding etc.

This is the left side little damage on the quarter panel no biggie.

Flame job maybe?


The wrecked door has already been thrown out. So yea a little cutting/grinding/sealing/rustproofing/painting and she'll be good as new. After its passed all the inspections. ;-) Started trimming the used part today and gutted the car yestruday, i love cars. ;-) Anyways i'll post updates on it and maybe for the fun of it make an "how to"
althought this isnt your average how to. lol

Red06LS

That will be intresting to read. There is a place near my house that strictly does saturns and sometimes cobalts and its neat to see the work he does on cars that are FKed up.

joedashow

Should be a funky adventure.

HackAbuse

How much did you steal that balt for?
I want to find a wrecked 2.2 Manual, with the hopes of a tranny swap in my garage

Grimsaviour

Yea i love fixing cars, although it seems nowadays not a lot of people seem to know how to fix major accidents. Most bodyshops just know how to bolt on fenders or change door skins. I've been in the trade now for 5 yrs and got certified last year. I learnt just about all i know fixing totally f-up cars. You learn fast when you have to fix things like this, safely and properly might i add. ;-)

Grimsaviour

i bought this car for 3500$ plus tax and theres so far 1550$ in parts plus tax, materials 1000$ for the whole job. im hopeing when its done out the door on the street for 7500$ CAD including taxes.(this doesnt include my labor since i consider that free.

Grimsaviour

updated sig checking

HackAbuse

I'll trade you an automatic transmission for the manual straight up, if you do the swap, including the ECM/TCM and pedal swaps

Grimsaviour

Eh no thanks. ;-) i like manual, plus swaping trannies is a crappy job, im a bodyman not a mechanic. ;-) i hate grease!

if you really want a cheap tranny/car just look at insurance salvage yards and find a car thats absolutely demolished, i bet you can pick up a roll over for a 1000$ or less and you'll have at the very least the engine and the tranny.

HackAbuse

I LOVE the smell of motor oil

Nothing beats smelling like used motor oil after tearing up an engine!

Grimsaviour

Well for me it depends i have a big problem with mechanical work because usually when i take off mechanical components its either a radiator (big mess sharp metal) or a clutch fan (i hate those f-ing things). Last clutch fan i did was on a 2004 ford f-350, just to change the shroud which is bolted behind it. I had to borrow special tools from a mechanic and it took me two hours and some help to get the f-ing thing off. ><

denniss

Glad to see another bodyman here. I've been doing it for 30 years. You guys actually have a certification program in the BC? I'm near Chicago Illinois and we have nothing (I-Car for what thats worth). Pretty much if you have some tools and can fake your way in, you can be a body tech! Most don't last too long, it's not as easy as people think. But you already know that.
Good luck on your project,
Dennis

xspyder85x

im trying to find a wrecked SS. i want that interior.

g5mike

Doing all that work yourself makes getting the car for a total of 7500.00 sure make this worthwhile

Mercury

This thread looks to be one that you check every day for updates! Can't wait to see the progress.

Grimsaviour

Yes we have a certification program here so noone can really fake being a bodyman. Although the way some insurance works nowadays not a lot of bodymen know a lot more than replacing parts. Its the old school guys like you that know how to straighen full frames and repair real damage. So although theres a Government exam to pass (quite difficult) and 3 months in the books theres still some fake bodymen out there. It still relies heavily on who you learnt it from. Thankfully i learnt the old school way and tossed in some of the new school stuff. I've also noticed that the really good bodymen, the old school guys, have usually kept with the times are the Masters of this trade. ;-)

Also every year i have to do 16 hrs of training in addition, its required by ICBC (the only insurance company in BC) to keep up with whats new. Its a pretty good system here with really good pay.

Grimsaviour

Hehe thanks! I will be posting some more pictures later today. I'm home for lunch going back to work soon, I'm half way done removing the wrecked quarter panel. Probably will have it off today. The used part is cleaned up and ready for fitting, i'm excited!! So far i after today i have 24hrs of labor into it. Three 8 hr days. Not really working my ass off since theres no pressure to get this one done. I want absolute perfection for this baby!

brandisnez

I would definately put a body kit on that if I knew how to do everything like you do lol

Tung

Hey Grimsaviour where abouts in BC are you doing this project?

Grimsaviour

Alright! heres the major update! I dont even know if im aloud to post this many pictures! lol ok. Where to start.... I went in this morning @ 8 and worked till almost 6, just got home now after going for supper. I'm happy to say ive acheived pretty much everything i wanted to get done this weekend. So im pretty excited about it! heres some pics.

First lets look at the tools of the trade quick.


Yea i got a lot of crap, the tiny tool box on the left isnt mine, its the detailers box. ;-) But yea basically you need a lot of crap to do this kinda work.

Yesturdays mess:

Thats all the stuff i didnt need off the used part, it kinda looks like bits an peices but you can see the frame rail there and some of the trim that came attached. Theres no frame damage to this car, its all purely sheet metal damage, which is kinda good it makes the job a lot less complicated. Here's what i ended up with:


I had to do some staggered butt joints which will have reinforcement strips on the middle layer, hopefully i'll get those done later this week. Basically you take some left over cut offs that have the same contours and cut a reinforcement from it thats 2x longer than the width of the panel so for a 3inch pillar you need a 6 inch long reinforment. It would have been nice if there was some factory seams to spilt in there but unfortunatly the nearest joints are underneat the roof skin which would have made it a lot of work. So instead i opted with some reinforced sectioning. It will be just as strong if not stronger than the original unsectioned pillars. I wouldnt be doing this if it wasnt safe let alone let my GF drive the car ;-) Speaking of which she came in to help me out today here she is doing some cleaning on the part! :

She isnt in the trade but she does work at the shop in the office, shes the office administrator, she does all the paper work.

So first thing i did is rip off the quarter panel skin to access some of the spot welds from the outside of the car so i wouldnt have to be contorted inside trying to drill em out on my back.

If you look it doesnt seem nearly as ugly as the outside skin made it look. nothing a little bondo wont fix right?! So these are the suckers we are after:

Every car is held togheter with em, 5/16" resistance spot welds. Just need to drill em out and voila! the parts start coming off.

Hehe, the man behind the scenes. ;-)

Heres the garbage pile midday:

Got a lot of crap there. Thats what the next Hyundai is gonna be made of after it goes to metal recycling.!
I also had to take this molding off the roof line, its kinda tricky but i managed to find a decent method, in case anyone ever wants to take them off their car, i used what i call a windsheild stick, you can get them at your glass supplier, you just carfully work it in and release the two sided tape off the back of the molding, gotta be careful because its made of alluminium so its easy to bend.


Besides drilling to do the sections i like to use an air hacksaw, works pretty good, makes a fine thin cut. All the joints have to be carefully measured so it all fits and stays within spec.

Once i put the car back toghether i will need to measure and position the part back on and test fit all the parts. Door, trunk, interior trim, its all gotta fit right. Heres some pictures of the work acomplised today:


Holy crap i wrecked the car! NOT! ;-) It looks scary tho dont it? ;-)

joedashow

So far, so good!

Grimsaviour

It wouldnt let me post more than 16 pics at once ><

Whats this? Rust on a 05 in mild climate? I havent found the root of the problem yet but this gives you an idea of where your car will start rusting in the future, i will try to figure out why and post about it later.

The matching joints on the B&C pillars.

That garbage pile just keeps getting bigger doesnt it?

I also have a little problem with my rear axle its a little bent i guess the left wheel got curbed pretty hard in the accident.

No biggy i got a replacement one on the way. I'm hopeing its got rear disc brakes maybe i could do a conversion! ;-)

So yea thats whats going on, I'll be working on it a few hours this week hopefully if i have time but nothing major is going to happen till next saturday when i get a full day.Next week i need to straighten the flanges and clean all the sealer on the car so i can start fitting.

Right now i'll avoid putting on a body kit because id rather keep the cost low, i've taken out a line of credit to build this car. I'm saving a lot of money fixing it up but i dont want to get into modding until maybe next year. The most its going to get for now is maybe a flame job and a door panel mod. Maybe a seat mod, who knows.

I'm doing all of this at work, i live in Victoria BC. Nice place, doesnt snow here. So yea i hope you guys enjoy this, i'm having a lot of fun with it!

Red06LS

The # of views on this thread will be nuts...Gotta check this one daily.

JonyyB

how cool keep us updated

Grimsaviour

Will do, i'm enjoying this a lot. Cars are my passion, performance, looks. gotta have it. ;-) Too bad i couldnt get an SS i supposed i could have if i held out a little longer but i really wanted to get this going. The GF is selling her car as soon as this one is done so she can get rid of her loan. ;-)