duowing

it could be both the door and the fender. A fender doesn't need to get bent in much until it gets in the way of the door. For the prices they gave you, you have to realize that they always overchrage for parts. A lame shop like this one will find anything wrong and blow it out of proportion to scare you into paying. I mean how many people know that you could remove the whole windshield without breaking it. Luckily overall damage doesn't look too bad. $3000+ for rust , fender, and door repair is way too much. Definitely check around and don't go for this place.

Skully

ok well yeah 3000 is way too much..that wouldnt cost much to fix at all...you can get a new fender for udner 200...and the door can be straightened out (too bad you dont know anyone personally that you are close with to help you out and save you alot of money...)

is that it for the rust on the roof??? if it is thats not a big deal..what i would do is take the windshield out and check if the actual seat where the windshield is intact...if thats the only hole you have i would get it fixed sooner then the door and the fender as the damage will only get worse...
it sucks you have to put tape there since it will trap moisture and hold it for periods of time...

for the door to open i think this is your problem spot...usualy is...

jfairladyz

Take Skully's advice and get that roof fixed first and foremost. Otherwise the money you put into the door and fender may end up being lost due to the roof getting too bad. For the door opening problem, either pound the door in or pry it out (whichever way it needs to go) so that you can atleast get it to open in the mean time. If it still hits then pull the fender forward to gain a little more clearance. That would get you by until you can get all that fixed. But definitely take care of the roof first. Oh and that door definitely does NOT need to be replaced. That is an easy fix. The fender would be cheaper to just replace yourself. Dont have a body shop replace something held in place by dozen or so bolts

duowing

the only thing you'd need a body shop for would be just painting the door and the fender unless you can do that yourself, but go for the rust fix first. It doesn't look horrible, but doesn't look too good and you'll feel better knowing the rust is gone. Luckily the damage is on the passenger side so it shouldn't be as a big of a deal that the door doesn't open easily. I've dealt with this on my Z31, you just need to bend the fender outwards.

iluvJDM

Yeah the funny thing is that a guy who used to run a Z shop pointed me out to that wack body shop!(he said "theyll take care of you!") Yeah I really want to get rid of that rust its killing me!!! BTW thats not all of it, it goes along the whole windshield/roof line!

Skully, Tho you may be right about the door/fender meeting i think it might be that spot right above where u cirlced, right above the rubber trim, see those two chipped marks? yeah thats from me opening the door the first time after the accident! Well My uncle may be able to help and my Honda buddy, he just replaced the body panels on his Civic himself after a Ram 1500 rear-ended him (of all cars to hit a little Civic!). Now I plan on taking off the fender, so can I pound out the dent on the flare and hows the best way? And if I remove the door, how much stuff do i have to go through/remove till i can pound out that too? Or can i do that with just the fender off? After I get the dents and all that crap out I can paint the car myself.

Again thanks for helping guys! And to what J said about the push over thing I totally got it (dont worry Im not pissed bro!). Ive kinda done that on purpose...what would you rather have on your forum?: a kid who learns and respects his elders who know way more than he does about his car? or a punk *** kid who talks alot of s***? Yeah Im definitley here to learn from you guys! The reason I seemed like a push over was cuase I didnt want to **** anyone off (especially since I have a different taste in cars and what you do to them, yes that JDM thing!) Hahaa and thanx to Wildman for his always encouraging speeches! Anyway, Ill keep posting on how it goes...

duowing

I think the other thing is the fact that shops see an older foreign car, they're automatically going to quote you more.

jfairladyz

Theres a difference between coming off as a push over and actually being one. A true push over wouldn't have found his way to a 280zx But sometimes people who think they see that will try to take advantage. Just approach a shop with the attitude that you know exactly what you want done and thats what you want them to do. These places make money with their labor so a lot of them are going to try to sucker who they can into paying more then they need to. I wasn't making any assumptions about you actually being a pushover.

and dont worry about pissing us off. Just dont come in with both guns blazing and hitting below the belt

And if you like JDM then you chose the right car. If the 280zx was anymore JDM then it would be RHD. Unlike the "japanese" cars of today, most of our Z's were actually manufactured in the land of the rising sun.

duowing

That's weird when you think about it. The S30 and S130 were manufactured in Japan, so they're very close to JDM so to speak, but these cars were manufactured for the American market so at the same time they're like American cars. It's crazy and in essence really makes for a neat history altogether. It's a car where you don't choose one side, but you really walk the line with the Z. I think the Z31 started to go back more to the Japanese market idea. I have no head room in a Z31 2+2 but I have head room in a S130 2+2. Weird stuff. Man imagine if you could get ahold of the talking lady from the Japanese 280ZX. That would be "JDM TYTE YO!"

jfairladyz

A good deal of japanese cars today have a European influence to them. Just like the Z, it has more of a European look to it then either a Japanese or American car. At the time, while most Jap and US cars were fairly odd looking (some downright ugly) the Euro's were the ones with the style.

So it was a Japanese car designed for the american buyer with European styling.

iluvJDM

Hahah yeah thats true about the Zs actually being made in Japan! I remember reading somewhere on it MADE IN TOKYO JAPAN! My friend's civic hah made in georgia! I always joke with him how my car actually came on a boat from japan and his was just made here. And heres the funny thing about the FairLady name. The name is from the play "My Fair Lady" that Mr.K had watched when he was designing the original Fairlady, but it was intended to appeal more to the american consumers! But it ended being that only the Japanese Zs were branded Fairladys, weird...

jfairladyz

They thought us americans would think it was gay to have a car named "Fairlady". So they went with the more general alpha-numeric name. And in all honesty, had they named it the Fairlady here in the states it probably wouldn't have caught on quite as quick. I mean now the car has a great reputation and the name isn't that big of a deal. But when the Z was introduced it was a make it or break it sort of deal. Japanese cars weren't very popular over here as it was and the last thing Nissan needed was for the "car designed for the american consumer" to flop because of a name. Americans in the 70's were looking for any reason they could not to buy a foreign market automobile (or just foreign products in general), they didn't want to give them another reason.

RodMoyes

This may shock some of you guys, but most shops that I know of are actually in the business to... turn a profit

Also, There's HUGE difference between cheap body work and good body work. Everybody likes to complain about how much auto service or body work that they can't perform themselves for whatever reasons costs, but very few have any understanding of how expensive it is to start and maintain one of these businesses.

I don't know if the shop in question is good, bad or ugly but making sweeping generalizations about the indusrty as a whole is short sighted and akin to racism in a round about sort of way. Pre-judging a business based on pre-concieved ideas is no different than judging a person in the same manor.

As strange as it may sound, there are actually a few shops out there that are run by honest and reputable people.

Sorry, but I get a little pissed when I read stuff about how all shops are shady.

Rod.

Skully

sorry sombody offended you Rod, but ive had shitty experience at every shop i have ever went to...so untill sombody starts treating me nicer, thats the only way im gonna change my opinion..most bad luck i have had is when sombody replaces something and i bring it back and its still under warranty they dont even wanna see you...but before they were my best friend...

on the other note...did you get your stuff fixed JDM...i dont mean to sound like an *** here but screw the door man get to the rust! you are obsessed about opening that door !!! haha

lww

Actually, not quite. The head of Nissan Japan wanted to use the name Fairlady because he so liked the play as you described.

Mr. K on the other hand, knew the name would fail miserably in the testosterone laden US market and didn't like the Fairlady name at all. Initially, he actually had to have the 240Z badges manufactured independantly here in the US and he and several of his team went down to the docks and removed the Fairlady badges from the first several hundred cars to arrive in the US and replaced them with his newly made 240Z badges!

That's why JDM Z's carry the Fairlady name, but Z's around the world carry the Z moniker we're all familiar with.

iluvJDM

DOOR IS FIXED!!! yeah me and my uncle just banged out the fender which actually was twisted inward! it opend and everything and you cant even tell the cars been hit! We even got the dent out of the flare a bit still looks out of shape tho! Skully you are right about me being door obsessed but believe it or not that rust doenst even let me sleep at night! I want it gone so bad!!! but sadly i only have money left for tires for my new wheels so itll have to wait till summer where I can get a fulltime job to take care of it! But yeah its always on my mind and cant wait to have a shiny new roof! How much do you think a shop will charge me for it?

Oh yeah, the Fairlady name I wasnt sure who it was who saw the play, just assumed it must have been Katayama...pretty cool, I didnt know he didnt like it!