Ouch, my wallet cries!

[Brando]

I spent some time this morning calling up body shops in my area, asking about getting the frame on my 944 pulled. Here's a little background:

I bought the car for about $500, and have invested maybe $250 on a clutch setup and body panels. I bought the car because it had a new top end, hoses, rubber, lines (looked like a new engine install) -- but the front and rear had been crunched as though it were sandwiched between two cars. The rear tail-light and bumper section has curled in and pressed the rear bumper in about 3".

I spoke to 2 very knowledgeable shops, both which had 30+ years of expertise and both said the same thing: I'm looking at upward of $10kilobucks for the fixture lease/rental, time and labor getting the car perfect. That involves cutting out the rear trunk section and welding a new one in and repairing the front so the headlights will work again. $10,000 is a lot of money. I told the guy I'm not looking for perfection but I just want it to be straight in back and look nice. He said he could refer me to a few mom & pop shops but I'm still looking at upwards of $1000 for some basic frame-pulling that can't be guaranteed to spec.

So now I have one place to check in downtown Riverside that has the machine necesary to pull my frame and Maaco could do the rest. Like I said... I just want it to look nice. When it comes time to paint I'll probably go original color (dark metallic blue). I mean, the car is worth something as the interior is pretty decent, has the 10-speaker option (which I just replaced the blown ones) and the suspension has new parts (still drives straight and aligns true), and finally has a new clutch I installed. But I'm not willing to pay more than $1000 or $1500 at the most to get the bodywork sorted -- excluding cost of materials for me doing some parts. Anything more and my time would be better spent on finding an '88 roller and transfer my engine, trans, interior and electricals to (then repaint).

My next step is going to be finding a place that does professional work in Mexico after checking with a few small-time places here. The currency conversion is way in my favor... what costs about $2000 gets you the equivalent of a $15k paintjob there -- which is tempting to pursue.

I'm kind of venting, but I'd like some suggestions. I don't have the money to buy the heavy-duty equipment to repair this myself, nor the experience. All I have is a little 10-piece bodyworking kit that's good for smoothing panels, dents and doing fenders and/or flares. I don't have a welder nor a plasma cutter, but I can get access to painting supplies and tools. What's the best route?

I'm thinking... Have the frame pulled and do the minor sheetmetal work myself if possible, then do the prep-work for painting and have a shop do a $500 paintjob with the original metallic blue all over.

Thanks

[DP944]

i like the plan...hey if you do some of the body work and prep work yourself you should take some pictures and stuff because im probably taking the same route with the paint. Good luck









-Pendleton

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I know we discussed this at one of our recent beer-drinking sessions but I'd love to keep the Mexico option open. Maybe if we could get someone who knows a shop down there and we got a group of 4-5 guys to go down all at once and have all the cars done same week or somethin' that'd be the way to go. Besides, that way there'd always be one or two people that could keep an eye on the shop and the goings on to prevent any funny business just in case (while the others were out availing themselves of local tequila).

Anyway, yea I'm still interested in looking into it and pursuing it if I haven't done anything about it before you and others are ready. . .

[bryanthompson]

There's a really good shop a lot of the 914club.com guys use that's just south of the border. From all of the pictures and threads I remember, it looked like a good place.

[Brando]

PoP, Bryan... The place is called Los Ponchos, in Tijuana, Mexico. Lagunero (or Alberto as I know him) is the guy who has recently been organizing interior jobs and bodywork/paint jobs with Los Ponchose for the 914 club. I spoke to him and LP doesn't have a frame rack for straightening or a celette bench -- but maybe they know of a place nearby that does... My buddy Aaron just got his car back from LP and it's gorgeous. I think he paid $1400 and they took it down to metal, did a few coats, color-sanded between everything and it came back looking sexy as all hell. They even flared the rear fenders for him.

That's my bodywork/paint choice... but more than anything I need the frame pulled. Once that's done it's cheap having LP do it. Should I even bother getting the frame pulled? Maybe go 930 GTS style headlights and cut/weld the rear clip to look straight? I'm at a loss for a plan and need some direction.

[Wolf1]

Some pics of the front and rear damage would be helpful.



You could remove and replace the rear section easy enough, but if the damage is very deep it would be best to get it pulled first. Same goes with the front, replacement of the nose/radiator support is easy. But if the damage extends deeper, get it pulled first.



Just my .02...................everybody does things differently. But its much easier to mate new panels/quarters to existing metal thats roughly in the right location.

[SoCal Driver]

What happened to; "I'll just wrap a chain around the bumper and a tree and drive off" repair???

[nynor]

socal, the more i see your posts, the more i love ya.

[The Chris]

Is it really worth it?

I mean, sounds like a ton of effort and quite a bit of $$$ to get the car possibly back to a near stock state. With frames, you really need to spend top dollar to get it truely straight....I dunno...I jsut feel like you will prob not be happy with how it drives after all that time and money.

Why not scrap it and spend the $1500 + value of the car on a decent 944???

[josephsc]

Brando -- have you found a frame shop in your neck of the woods that seems to be good? I could use a recommendation.

I have a 968 in SoCal with a bent front end that needs some frame straightening. Back when I was dealing with the insurance company, we were getting quotes of $14k+ for repairs for shops in West LA (pull engine, straighten frame, do body work). Since then, they've totaled the car and now it just sits as a long-term project and I've been distract with other projects to get anything moving....

My plan is similar: find a shop as far as possible from the West Side (Mexico sounds good, too) to straighten the frame and swap body parts myself.

[Razorback1980]

Socal, you are great. That being said, I have straightened many a piece of metat with the assistance of a good tree, but never a frame and never by driving off. I have chained two ends of a piece of metal to one tree and put a chain hoist in the middle and pulled it back straight. Without seeing what is bent, it's hard to know if that would work on his bumper. The part to worry about is the front. You'll probably never get a good alignment and the tires will always wear weird if the front isn't perfect. I would do what the earlier post suggested...get a roller and transfer parts. I'd like to hear more about the shop in Mexico, I want to put a complete new interior in my 87 and I haven't worked up the nerve to go get an estimate yet. I'm guessing around 2500 bucks. Anyone have any idea what it would cost to put all new leather inside?

[AA_Ezra]

If I remember corectly and last time i looked under my car, 944's have a unitized body. So it's a B-word to make it straight on a frame machine from what my dad has told me(autobody dude). Post some pic's if you can of front and back. Under the vehicle, Top of front hood latch Underneath the Back end where you can see the spare wheel well, and inside the hatch.. Or just soem baic pics and describe what kinda frame damage u see under the car. I'll run it past my pop's and he can tell me if the work really need's to go on the rack somtimes you can buy a (forgot what its called at moment) a Hydrolick machine that can push huge dent's out. If the car drives straight the the Unitized body should be cool all thats messed up seems like is the pannals as pushed inn as they might be
regards,
jaime O.

[SoCal Driver]

When Brandon first told me he was working on his new 944 just a few blocks from me I went to visit. I mentioned that the pushed in passenger side rear bumper was a little more than just replacing the bumper shock. That is when I was told how he would fix it. I just nodded not wanting to ruin his determination.

Any serious body bends short of tweaking the alignment just makes the car a "beater with a heater".

[scottmandue]

Ahem... car for sale here... my 944's body has a few small dings.

My car $2500 + paint job + your new engine?

[nota]

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?threadid=258088

here one way to do a cheap fix
start with a strait unit and swap your bits

plus he said FREE take away
so only cost is the tow

[SoCal Driver]

If you shop around SoCal, calling the various Porsche repair shops, you can find a good chassis with a blown engine or trans or even an engine fire before it's hauled off to the junk yard. Even the junk yard may have a decent chassis for a reasonable price.

I would not buy a bent body and expect to make it cherry for less than $4,000. Just does not happen. However you can find a decent chassis/body with a dead engine for less than $1,000.

[dangerous]

I like Hugh's point. Looking for low cost chassis and swapping parts. You'd probably end up with a lot of spare parts. Sell what you don't want to keep and offset the cost of your chassis.

[Dave L]

I would start with a straight frame as well and build up from there.

I know no one likes to talk about it but there is also the consideration of resale. The first question most people ask is about accidents, I can just imagine how quickly a potential purchaser would run after hearing that the car had a bent frame but it was repaired in Tiawana.

You cant polish $#it into a diamond

[Brando]

I'm not considering resale, now. Looks to me like I get to drive it into the ground. It's as SoCal said... Beater with a heater (and A/C). It'll LOOK nice inside and out, but that's about it

[SoCal Driver]

Thought you were moving to Texas?