Nellie, ME's HHR

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

So you're becoming a pro at refendering HHRs. Maybe you should consider bright orange, like GM used back in the 60s, hugger orange. And hire a sign painter to plaster it with graphics that say "Please don't hit me". Something! Altho that bright yellow Corvette we had had a few too many close calls, and it was hard to miss...

[cstmwgn]

... and it was hard to miss...

It seems ME's HHR is also hard to miss!

[DanStokes]

It seems ME's HHR is also hard to miss!

Evidently, impossible to miss!

Dan

[Captain]

PM me when you are coming thru.
maybe can meet for a meal together.

[DanStokes]

I been workin' I'm removing the bent stuff and fitting the new bits before I take everything over for paint. Here's the current situation:
Here you can see the damage to the A pillar. That hinge is pushed in at the back pretty significantly.




After a heat and pull session I was able to install the new hinge and fit the door. Here's my first try at a sling but I think I'll go to padding and tie wraps on the fresh paint. The sling off the shop crane worked great - I just need to refine the technique. Maybe you can see the pulled A pillar if you look close. I probably need a better pic of that.




Door in place and fitted to the hole. I left the original back door on for the fitting as it still fits fine though it has a dent. I'm pleased with the nice gap at the hood. Obviously, I took this pic after I stripped and removed the rear door.




If you noted in the "before" pics the rear of the door was sprung out of shape. Here's a pic of the new and improved door fit. There's no latch mechanism in place right now so the door is open a tad. Also interesting on these cars, the top of the door is designed to be higher than the roof by 1/8" to 3/16". That's pretty much how the door bolted up and I was thinking "That can't be right" until I looked at the other side.

The new doors had those vent shade thingies fit. Since this pic I've removed the crud you can see in the pic by using an eraser wheel which works pretty good. It leaves lots of little crumbly bits of eraser but they vacuum up pretty well. I followed the eraser wheel with lacquer thinner and it took off all of the crud.

[cstmwgn]

Santa must have stolen most of the pics. Good progress on the repairs

[DanStokes]

Santa must have stolen most of the pics. Good progress on the repairs

Weird - everything shows on my screen. I'll post them here.....



Hope this fills in any gaps.

Dan

[DanStokes]

Everything fitted. I'm quite pleased with all the body gaps and can happily live with this.



I took all the new bits back off and they're in the van ready for transport to Harry for paint. He doesn't know they're coming yet so I hope he can work them in. I didn't get a good pic but I drilled and pinned the hinges with roll pins (some call them split pins) so I can put them back on as they came off. An old custom car builder trick.

While Harry does the paint I'll make the A pillar pretty and ready for bolting it all back together.

Dan

[Beagle]

I learned something similar from CarCraft back in the 80's... Carefully drilling a 1/8 hole in the hood/hinge made things a lot easier to realign when putting the hood back on. I just used the same 1/8 drill, I hate roll pins.

[DanStokes]

I learned something similar from CarCraft back in the 80's... Carefully drilling a 1/8 hole in the hood/hinge made things a lot easier to realign when putting the hood back on. I just used the same 1/8 drill, I hate roll pins.

A drill bit works too. I tend to use roll pins because drill bits are so brittle and can break pretty easily but they DO work. I've gotten along with roll pins after they and I had couples therapy........

Dan

[DanStokes]

Not much to report except the colorful panels are at Harry's to get made white. I sent him the paint code we used on the bumper covers - this gave a good color match so ought to work well.

I'm trimming up the A pillar and will paint it probably today. Then when the panels are painted I can reassemble everything and Nellie will be back on the road.

Dan

[DanStokes]

The A pillar fix:



'Tain't perfect but it IS a door jamb! I sprayed a second coat of white and a layer of clear after this pic but you get the idea. The part in the hinge pocket is covered with the hinge so I didn't put much effort into that. Still, SO much better than what I started with and the door hangs well.

Dan

[DirtyWhiteBoy]

WOW! You need to rename this thing Christine and sell it ASAP!

[DanStokes]

WOW! You need to rename this thing Christine and sell it ASAP!

That'll never happen. ME LOVES that little truck (yes, it IS a truck. Says so right on the title.) And none of the collisions have been ME's fault nor Nellie's.

Dan

[DirtyWhiteBoy]

That'll never happen. ME LOVES that little truck (yes, it IS a truck. Says so right on the title.) And none of the collisions have been ME's fault nor Nellie's.

Dan

I had one as a company car many moons ago. It was a very utilitarian AUTOMOBILE.