I bought this car back in February 2011. It was in perfect condition with 45K original miles. On her first road trip in April 2011, we hit 2 deer. I posted a few pictures on here before the wreck so I'm going to dump a bunch of my pictures now that I'm knee deep in the process. I thought some of y'all might think they are cool. I think it's been kinda fun work putting her back together.
This is her brand new:

Front end with her half bra that I bought her

Full mask and bra

 

Here is her wreckage before I started fixin her up:

 

made a paint booth for the all OEM body parts that I bought. painted the under hood and engine bay fender trim myself.

 

...and?

 

More pics!

 

xNOW

 

keep it coming!

kris

 

sorry gentlemen. i had to leave for work in the middle of my post... ...continuing on...

here was the driver side headlight that still worked... "the good one.."

here are the pieces left of the passenger side... if you think this looks bad, you should see the other guy... the deer that is...

stripped down and on stands...

 

another shot on stands...

fitted the fenders first... you'll notice i left the tape still on them so i don't bash them up when i fitted the hood. Also fitted the headlights after pounding out the core support and tweaking and bending to make everything fit...

other side...

 

with the hood fitted, and bumper starting to slip on...

she's starting to look like a real car again

hood latched and bumper fastened

 

so this is her with the hood open so you can see my under hood painting and engine bay trim for the fenders...

and again...

 

and this is how she sits now until I can get her painted...

lookin at cha...




thanks for lookin

 

I would call around and get quotes if I supplied the materials... that way you're only paying for labor... You'll need probably 2 qts of roma red, 2 qts of clear, reducer, etc... btw did you order the rubber that goes under the very tip of the hood? or are you using your old one?

 

That is a very good idea. I might still do that. Have you ever done what you are talking about? Buying paint and asking a shop to just quote labor? First I have to pay off what I have so far. The body parts and headlights set me back a little bit right now. I'm first going to get a quote from the dealership because I want them to match the paint. I still want this thing to look like it did when i brought it home, ya know?

As for the rubber trim on the hood, I'm planning on using the old one from the original hood. It's still in one piece and looks pretty good. I got very lucky with this wreck. It basically looked like someone jumped on the front of the car, but there was no mechanical damage other than the passenger side headlight assembly.

 

by the way, to you know if Honda uses a different paint on the bumper than the metal parts like the hood and fenders? Most shops usually paint the bumper separately, correct?

 

Honda used the same paint, only added a flex additive to prevent spider cracking in case the bumper was pushed or pulled on. Some body shops will tell you they will only use "their" paint and supplies, however, i call again and find out where they get "their" paint and go buy it from them, then say "this is "YOUR" paint, only cheaper on my end" paint it! But honestly, if you have a paint gun and a compressor, do it yourself... Saves you time and money. Really it doesnt matter if you have a negative pressure booth or not. If you get orange peel, wet sand it after its been cured with 1500 and 2000 grit until all the orange peel is out and smoother than a babys ***, then buff it back to a shine. MAKE SURE you tell them to mask off the inner grill and the "vents" on the front bumper or it just wont look right! Body shops are always looking for money, and ive never had a problem buying the materials, however i let them charge me for sandpaper,etc, but I supplied the paint,reducer, and clear. Since your new oem panels should be primed and ready to paint, you shouldnt have to buy primer. Body shop markups for paint are usually 150-200%, so its always cheaper to supply your own paint. Btw, body shops paint the bumper,fenders, and hood seperate from the body to get a better angle and surface to paint on... that way they can hang the hood vertically and the bumper horizontally to make it easy and prevent sags or runs...

 

Also, the dealership wont be able to match it any better than a reputable body shop. Most dealerships contract body shops to pick up the car to do the work...

 

Shouldve claimed it on insurance... would have saved you a lot of money, and keep the pics for proof of the minor damage for possible buyers...

 

Thanks for all the useful information hyperblu. I was under the impression that they would paint the hood and fenders on the car still but you're probably right that they will paint them separately... I'm still planning on having the outside done professionally. I don't have a compressor large enough for that sort of job or 110 in my garage or anything like that. There's some paint chips on the back bumper too that I'm planning on getting fixed at the same time, too if I can afford it. But this is all going to take me a couple of months again. I'm going to Las Vegas soon so I have some extra expenses too

Yeah. I have shitty insurance. They wont touch this. I have just the basics... "here's my proof of liability, officer..." I wish I would've had collision coverage but anyways... Yeah I am planning to save the pictures too. But I also plan on driving this thing for a long time too. Once it has too many miles I just hope there will be a few B18C Type R spec 98+ swaps floating around still... Thanks again for the good info, brother.

 

If you werent so far away, i would paint it for you and it would look just as good if not better than a body shop.. What did you use to paint the under hood? rattle can?

 

exactly. R97H - (Roma Red) with a flatener. No worries, I'm not ready to paint it yet anyways.

 

ALL RIGHT! GIGGITY GIGGITY! I've got some updates and sorta final results!
this was what she looked like when i brought her in to the paint shop the other day.

this is what she looked like when she came out

this is how she looks all put together as far as i've got her




you can definitely tell that the front is newer, but i don't think it looks too bad. Thanks for looking

 

Hahaha your car is the complete opposite of mine, except I'm gonna repaint my whole car.Because I knew the front end will look newer compared to the rest of the car.

 

damn bro you should have kept the original hood...lol

 

OP, you plan on sellin this lil red hatch???