Sams Auto Salvation:

Included here are what I have tried to make some brief examples of the mechanical and cosmetic/body repair work I have done over the years. I have completed all sorts of mechanical, structural and cosmetic repairs including engine replacements/rebuilds, axle, transmission, and general drivetrain repairs/replacements, suspension repairs/suspension lifts, replacement of various body metal structures including fender/radiator supports, roof panels, quarter panels, A-B-C-D pillar, rocker panel, frame-rails etc, body finishing including dent repair and body filler, painting with single stage and Base/Clear paints, and finishing paint a mirror like shine through wetsanding/buffing when necessary.

This vehicle is an example of a repair I did in July of 2010. The vehicle was a 2000 Jeep Cherokee support with typical front end offset collision damage. Overall this was a straight forward repair with nothing unexpected on the collision side of the repair. The vehicle had a previously none working AC system that required diagnosis, evaporator replacement, evacuation and recharging all of which were performed by myself.


Old off:


New donor ready to have unused guts removed:


Old off of vehicle, needing to be cleaned up a bit with the grinder:


You need to grind down the nubs from spot weld cutting:


I then use a weld through primer to coat both mating surfaces:





Clamp it in place:


A spot welder works wonders for stuff like this:



Then some small tacks where you can't get the spot welder in(if you do this right you will have no swiss cheese where you can get the spot welder too, and will have plug holes to use to weld onto the existing metal, just takes a little bit of planning)


And then you testfit everything together and wow, look at that, it lines up nicely!


Then I hit the area with a little bit of primer to seal it up good(after cleaning the heat affect areas well and with a self etching primer):



and then a bit of rattle can matching paint:



Then you keep putting back together:



If you do it right all your gaps will come out really nice:


And then shoot some paint(hopefully in a less dusty environment than I have):



And then keep putting it back together:

So from this:


To this:

All Images and materials contained within this site are Copyright 2000-2010 James Slaten unless otherwise noted.