Thanks to Bruce Stone I have some sheet metal to work with. My plan is as follows:

* Plan A:
Use a Port-a-power to push as much of the metal back in to shape and hammer and dolly from there. I have at least one line on an affordable body shop to do the finish work after I rough it in.

* Plan B:
Push some metal back and cut and weld in parts from the lot that Bruce secured for me.

* Plan C:
Push the fronts back in as close as I can get and flare the rear with QRS panels and Duz fastners.


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Here's pictures of the damage again:
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For race only, I like the detachable fenders with Dzus.

Started work pushing the dents out using a port-a-power. I'll be moving to a hammer and dolly from here to do the finishing work.

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Looking good. Good luck with the repairs

Wow your door gaps look great compared to where they were! Nice work.

Looking good. And familiar. I didn't have the guts to start beatin' on mine until I had replacement panels sitting there. Amazing how fast the dents come out.

Here is the front fender after some hammer and dolly work.

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I think the rear quarter is a goner though. I'm trailering the car to a buddies house who is a metal master with the assumption that we will cut and replace.

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You shoulda gone with plan C. Is that my old airdam?

Don't tempt me Elliot! That extra $400 would cut in to the paint job...

That bit of spoiler you can see is still my old, LE style aftermarket one. The car is so damn low I'm not sure I could drive it on the street with yours. That and your spoiler needs a TON of TLC. I still appreciate your generosity though!

Spare panel is cleaned and ready. Starting work on the car itself.

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Just some loose cuts to help start fitting the new panel.
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If your friend has an English wheel.....see if he can stretch the fender for fatter wheels before you cut it to fit...

He does, but I'm only doing one fender, so I may be back to hammer and dolly for that.

Test fitting has begun.
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A few more pictures of us fitting the replacement panel from last night. Getting close now to welding.

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Nice work!!!

Looks like its working out fine!

Trial fitting is over and we have started welding. We are using TIG with silicone bronze rod.

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Starting to work on the tail light/bumper sections.

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It looks really good Aaron.

If you are going to grind down those welds....

I don't recommend Evidure for any structural stuff. It is great for bonding body panels and such.

It doesn't have the same shear strength and will crack over time.

Never heard of Evidure...

I am going to grind them down and skim coat them. I'm planning on welding in the Mad Dog Motorsport inner long kit, installing the new trailing arm roller bearing bushings, alignment/corner weight at Iron Canyon Motorsport, and then a round testing the car before making it pretty. After I thrash her around the autocross course a few times I'll gussy her up a bit.

Sorry....I'm getting old.

I think it is spelled Everdur....Silicon Bronze welding wire. That is what I used to call it.

It flows really nice and you'll get lower weld distortion on the body panels, since there is lower heat input.

Any structural stuff like longs and the such, I'd use regular welding wire for that purpose.

Ah... I've had really good luck with the stuff (whatever we are using) for mounting things that WOULD normally crack over time. I've used it for all kinds of tab mounts with great success. My welder is really, really good, so maybe he has some magic stuff.

Turns out I had a cracked/torn stub pipe too. Used the shop vac to find it!

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I drilled the ends of the crack/tear to relieve any stress and welded it up. I re shaped the oval and made sure it was flat. No leaks!Click to view attachment

any updated pictures of the welding/ paint progress?

Nothing new there. I plan to weld in the longitudinal stiffening kit and finish my testing (autocross) before deciding whether to finish the transformation to track rat or make it look pretty again. Stay tuned...

Finally got some time yesterday to make some headway on the finish work. Used the angle grinder and a flappy paddle sanding disk to take of any runs/drip/defects and the weird, gummy black spray paint that the rear quarter came with.

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After sanding I laid down a guide coat. I've got good sanding blocks on order... Progress.

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Closer still... Going to use some 2 part glazing to get some of the finer bits taken care of then do a once over the rest of the car.

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