Civic hatch quarter panel damage - fix or start over!?
#1
Civic hatch quarter panel damage - fix or start over!?
Hey guys, so a few weeks ago my car decided the E brake was going to stop working while my car was idling, long story short, it went backwards into a tree in the worst possible spot on the car to fix. ive been so mad about it ive been avoiding even thinking about fixing it.
anyway, its going to cost what I paid for the car to have it fixed after labor. OR I know the body guy so he will pull the tail light housing back to where it needs to be for free, then i could drill holes and try to beat the quarter into submission then fiberglass over it to smooth it out.. Im not an auto body expert but I love this car, it has a h2b setup in it and its such a torquey little thing. so my question is should i try and fix it myself or should I try and part out the H2B setup and buy a whole new one. Where could I even sell that stuff?
I would really appreciate any opinions thank you.
anyway, its going to cost what I paid for the car to have it fixed after labor. OR I know the body guy so he will pull the tail light housing back to where it needs to be for free, then i could drill holes and try to beat the quarter into submission then fiberglass over it to smooth it out.. Im not an auto body expert but I love this car, it has a h2b setup in it and its such a torquey little thing. so my question is should i try and fix it myself or should I try and part out the H2B setup and buy a whole new one. Where could I even sell that stuff?
I would really appreciate any opinions thank you.
#3
Seagull Management
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Re: fix or start over!?
You can definitely fix it, but you're going to have to replace the quarter. Remove the quarter glass, roof molding strip, and sideskirt. Drill out all the spot welds. Cut the panel somewhere over the top of the door. Get a donor quarter panel and weld it in.
#4
Fish Twig
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Re: fix or start over!?
Yes but this is if he does the work himself, he already noted that the cost of repair will be the cost of another hatch. Cost effective, its best to do it yourself if you can and have the time but if you need another set of hands to do the job of cutting, welding, bondo work and painting than yes its best to find another shell. Worst part is the rear hatch glass is hard to find.
#5
Oh look, I can change this
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Re: fix or start over!?
Yes but this is if he does the work himself, he already noted that the cost of repair will be the cost of another hatch. Cost effective, its best to do it yourself if you can and have the time but if you need another set of hands to do the job of cutting, welding, bondo work and painting than yes its best to find another shell. Worst part is the rear hatch glass is hard to find.
Slice off the whole rear quarter of a junkyard donor. Then weld it on. It's not easy. But it saves your car, plus you learn a lot while doing it!
#6
Honda-Tech Member
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Re: fix or start over!?
The amount of labor into repairing that quarter panel isn't worth it.
Either find a clean panel at a junk yard and replace it or scrap the car. Make sure if you do decide to replace the quarter panel cut the donor one further up the door sill than your damaged one because you're going to have to overlap them when welding the new one in.
Also since youre not going to be using the donor car for anything but the quarter panel use a sharp drill bit to drill out the spot welds. I wouldnt bother with a spot weld bit until youre removing your damaged panel. Ive done one quarter panel on a Mark 4 GTI and it wasnt too bad. Yours should be similar.
Either find a clean panel at a junk yard and replace it or scrap the car. Make sure if you do decide to replace the quarter panel cut the donor one further up the door sill than your damaged one because you're going to have to overlap them when welding the new one in.
Also since youre not going to be using the donor car for anything but the quarter panel use a sharp drill bit to drill out the spot welds. I wouldnt bother with a spot weld bit until youre removing your damaged panel. Ive done one quarter panel on a Mark 4 GTI and it wasnt too bad. Yours should be similar.
#7
Fish Twig
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Re: fix or start over!?
Dude you should start doing that to these eg hatchbacks, start cutting rear quarter panels and take the back glass. Throw up and online store and start selling it.
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#8
Re: Civic hatch quarter panel damage - fix or start over!?
I can get the rear quarter brand new from honda 350 bucks 250 for the rocker. So the whole side of the car would be new but the labor would be a lot. And I don't have time to do this and they're isn't space in the garage that can be taken up for that long. So I'm leaning towards parting it out. But how much would a jdm h2b setup evolution adapter plate and mounts with a tuned Ecu and injectors kstuned manual tensioner and whatever else is in that thing be worth when I have no idea of the mileage. I was told it was rebuilt. And it does have 250-255 compression across the board. But what would that be worth and to who? Haha but I also have a b series tranny that I was told was a shortened Gsr tranny but there is no badges. No LSD stamp. And it feels like shorter gears like a b16 tranny. But again I have no way of knowing. And have no idea of the mileage. Or do I keep it and throw it in my rotted ex coupe. Which probably won't happen. Any advice would be appreciated.
Last edited by Evan125; 02-27-2014 at 06:34 AM. Reason: Spelling
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